Geno Auriemma confident in another UConn title - 'Just matter of when'

STORRS, Conn. — 2020-21 national player of the year Paige Bueckers may be out this upcoming season due to injury, but UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma is still confident in his program's ability to bring in another national title at some point in the future.

«We're going to win another one,» Auriemma told reporters prior to the school's «First Night» pep rally. «It's just a matter of when. I don't know when that is, but we're going win another one. Sooner rather than later would be good for me.»

Auriemma, 68, led his squad to the national title game in April, the program's first appearance since 2016, where it fell to South Carolina. It marked the first time UConn fell in the national championship game, having gone 11-0 in prior instances.

With reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston back this season as a senior and three other returning starters in tow, the Gamecocks figure to be the favorites to win it all in 2022-23.

The Huskies were thought by many to be the best challenger to South Carolina before Bueckers went down with an ACL tear in early August. The 5-foot-11 point guard from Minnesota missed 19 games in 2021-22 with a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear, also in her left knee, but returned in time to propel UConn to the national championship game behind a spellbinding performance in the Elite Eight against NC State.

While the UCLA men also have 11 titles, Auriemma is the only DI basketball coach with that many of his own; a 12th national title would be the best mark for any school. Aside from Bueckers' absence, the Huskies — ranked No. 6 in ESPN's Way-Too-Early preseason rankings — will also be looking to fill the voids of their senior trio who were drafted into the