One UConn legend met a potential future UConn great when Diana Taurasi surprised Huskies signee Olivia Vukosa at her school gym in New York on Thursday.

Taurasi was there to present Vukosa with the trophy signifying she is Gatorade National Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year.

And the senior at Christ the King High School in Middle Village was stunned.

"I didn't even see the trophy," Vukosa told CBS Sports. "I didn't see anyone. I saw her through the door and I started crying. It's definitely a surreal experience and something I'm definitely going to cherish forever. … She's someone I've looked up to for a long, long time and it just doesn't feel real. It feels like a dream."

She will be living in a dream-like state when she arrives in Storrs after high school graduation, then. The program legends don’t stay away.

Her teammate will be Sarah Strong, selected Wednesday as a unanimous first-team Associated Press All-American. And this season, a collection of former Huskies dropped by Gampel Pavilion, including Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, Napheesa Collier, Moriah Jefferson, Katie Lou Samuelson and Paige Bueckers – all first-team All-Americans, like Taurasi.

Before Vukosa, 11 women who went on to play for UConn were named Gatorade National Girls Player of the Year: Tamika Williams (1998), Ann Strother (2002), Tina Charles (2006), Maya Moore (2007), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (2011), Stewart (2012), Samuelson (2015), Megan Walker (2017), Christyn Williams (2018), Azzi Fudd (2019) and Bueckers (2020).

Vukosa is 6-foot-5 but isn’t tied to the post. Like Strong, she can play anywhere on the court and averaged 17.8 points, 18.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.4 blocks in the 2025-26 season. Christ the King (22-6) lost in the Catholic High School Athletic Association state championship game.

Taurasi already is a fan.

"I think when you talk about the way Olivia plays basketball, it's the new generation. It's the positionless, it's having all the skills on the court," Taurasi told CBS Sports. "I don't think it's good enough just to be good at one thing anymore, and I think Olivia shows that when she's on the court.

"Her IQ, her footwork, her great hands. I think when you play with great players, can they make things that are really hard look easy? She does that, and that's a testament to her work ethic, on and off the court, the way she works. I think when she's on the court, it's hard to know what she's going to do next because she's just as great a passer as she is a scorer.”

That’s high praise from a woman with a long list of college and professional accolades, including becoming the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer in 20 seasons with the Phoenix Mercury.

The Gatorade award is given to an athlete in each state, and Vukosa won the New York honor for the second consecutive year. She was one of three nominees for the national award, which honors "the nation's best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community."

Off the court, Vukosa maintains an A average and has volunteered as a youth basketball coach, as a peer tutor in math and science and as a supervisor of campus tours for prospective students and their families.

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