Paige Bueckers, UConn basketball alumni rooting for rare dual championships
Paige Bueckers said UConn women's and men's teams being in the Final Four proves Storrs, Connecticut, is "the best basketball capital in the world."
PHOENIX — Paige Bueckers said both the UConn women's and men's teams being in the Final Four is proof that Storrs, Connecticut, is "the best basketball capital in the world. " She may be a little biased. Bueckers, the former UConn superstar who led the Huskies to the program's 12th national title last season, said she's rooting for both programs to pull off rare dual championships.
A university has had its women's and men's teams advance to the Final Four 15 times in March Madness history, including the 2026 Huskies, but winning both championships has only happened two times. The UConn Huskies achieved the feat both times. "We didn't get to have a dual year.
We were close," Bueckers said Wednesday at the Team USA basketball camp in Phoenix. She's referring to the UConn women falling short of the title game in 2024 after a Final Four loss to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes , while UConn men's basketball went on to win the national title. The championship double was last pulled off by UConn in 2014, when Breanna Stewart and the women's team hoisted the NCAA title trophy within 24 hours of Shabazz Napier and the men's team.
Stefanie Dolson was a member of that women's championship team and recalled the excitement of both teams winning it all. "It was a really special moment for us when we won and then the men have won the next day," Dolson recalled at the Team USA basketball camp on Wednesday. "I know how the girls feel right now, just that they're all in the Final Four.