Big things are expected of the defending national champion Huskies in the 2025-26 season, but head coach Geno Auriemma says the team must be confident and not "too cocky" heading into the Nov. 4 opener against Louisville.
The expectations have been set for head coach Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies now that the media and the Big East coaches have spoken.
The Associated Press Preseason Top 25, voted by a media panel, pegged the defending national champion Huskies as the No. 1 women's team in the nation entering the season. The Big East coaches selected the Huskies as tops in the conference, gaining 10 of the 11 first-place votes, with the remaining one going to Seton Hall.
And the voters expect nothing less from sophomore forward Sarah Strong, who was named a preseason All-American and the preseason Big East Player of the Year.
Named to preseason All-Big East team were four UConn women – junior guards KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade, senior forward Serah Williams and guard Azzi Fudd, a grad student – with guard Kelis Fisher recognized as the conference’s preseason Freshman of the Year.
Managing the Expectations
But is all the attention too much for the Huskies, who have new players on the roster and are minus All-American Paige Bueckers, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft?
Auriemma, who has led the Huskies to 12 national championships, doesn’t think so as long they go about their business the right way.
“I have found over the years that the hardest thing for a team, post championship, is having a balance between two things. One, because we've done it already -- 'Let's be bored during the season and wait for the NCAA Tournament because that's the most fun' -- and they forget what a what a road it was to get to that point and what a struggle that is to get to that point,” Auriemma said Tuesday at Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“So we’ve got to remind them of that and not be too cocky going into the season but confident. The other thing that happens is they look around and a couple of the people that really got them over the hump in some ways are not there and they start to look at themselves and go, ‘Do I have it? Can I replicate what some of the guys that left were doing?’ Those two things have to be balanced out. And I think as time goes on, it does.”
And, he said, the players need to remember the season is an evolution. They will be a vastly different team at the start of the NCAA Tournament than they are as the opener against Louisville approaches.
“The danger is everybody that has a vision of what we looked like last April. On November 4th against Louisville, they're going to think it's going to look just like that. And it's not. So, we have to keep in mind what it looked like last November.”
Strong and Fudd surely remember the run of the 2024-25 season that culminated in an 82-59 win over South Carolina and a national championship in April at Tampa, Fla.
It’s all been a blur for Fudd, but she’s trying to take in everything one last time.
“I'm trying to embrace everything. I feel like I haven't really had time to fully reflect on everything that's happened,” Fudd said. “And I feel like I've lived like five different lives since last April. And all the traveling and stuff that I've done. But I feel like just everything I'm trying to embrace. Like I've said, like trying to stay present, embrace everything, like just learn and grow and like be a sponge. Soak everything up.”
Fudd and Strong likely will take key leadership roles. Both scored 24 points in the title game in April, and Fudd was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Strong said she is focused right now not on repeating the championship but instead on building her skills and the team day by day.
“I feel like our expectations start every day at practice. It's going hard every drill, trying to win every possession,” she said. “So, I would say just winning every day at practice is my expectations.”
Related UConn Stories
FROM NEW YORK TO CROATIA TO STORRS: Five-star recruit Olivia Vukosa commits to UConn’s 2026 class. READ HERE
PREDICTING THE BIG EAST'S BEST: 3UConn men named to All-Big East preseason teams. READ HERE
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: Defending champ UConn sits atop women’s basketball preseason rankings. READ HERE
FUN MEMORY: Alex Karaban provided a memorable moment in the Huskies’ exhibition opener. READ HERE
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