Paige Bueckers and Geno Auriemma had traveled side by side, every mile of a long, rough road. There was a pandemic that threatened to ruin everything they’d planned, and injuries that very nearly did. At last, in the late afternoon hours of April 6, Bueckers checked out, the last time she’d be seen on a basketball court in her iconic No. 5 UConn jersey. She walked over to her coach and threw her arms around him. Looking back on Connecticut sports in 2025, that was the moment. “Just gratitude for all that Coach has meant to me,” Bueckers said, after the Huskies finished off South Carolina for the long elusive national championship. “Just putting it all together in one hug, what our journey...
