The Huskies were picked first in the league’s preseason poll as well.
UConn women’s basketball swept the Big East’s preseason honors at the league’s media day on Wednesday. The Huskies were unanimously picked first in the coaches’ poll, Paige Bueckers was tabbed as preseason player of the year and Sarah Strong received preseason freshman of the year. KK Arnold, Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade all landed on the all-preseason team while Kaitlyn Chen was an honorable mention selection.
Not only has UConn won every Big East regular season and tournament title since it joined the conference in 2020, it won every game by at least 15 in an undefeated campaign last year. Bueckers took home the conference player of the year in 2024, becoming just the eighth player in the league’s history and the sixth Husky to win the honor twice (she also did it in 2021).
Meanwhile, Strong is the No. 1 freshman in the country. Listed at 6-2 out of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, she projects to have a big role at UConn from the jump.
“She’s got a lot of skills that she can take advantage of,” Geno Auriemma said earlier this month.
Shade is the reigning Big East Freshman of the Year after a stellar first season in Storrs. She started the final 33 games and averaged 11.0 points on 48.1 percent shooting to go with 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
Alongside her was Arnold, who entered the starting lineup at the same time and also impressed as a freshman. She finished the year with 8.9 points, 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game while landing on the Big East All-Freshman squad.
Meanwhile, Fudd makes the all-preseason team despite missing almost all of the 2023-24 campaign with a torn ACL. When she’s healthy, the redshirt junior can be one of the best players in the country but injuries have hampered her since she stepped on campus. Fudd is expected to miss the beginning of the season while working her way back but could make her debut within the first month or so.
As for Chen, she only received honorable mention after transferring to UConn from Princeton over the offseason. The two-time All-Ivy First Team selection and 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year been one of the Huskies’ best players during the preseason and projects to be a reliable second scorer to Bueckers in the backcourt.
The Huskies begin the season on Nov. 7 against Boston University while Big East play starts on Dec. 15 vs. Georgetown.