Paige Bueckers and her UConn Huskies teammates met young fans at a charity event organized by the Connecticut Children's Pediatric Center and Huskies HC Geno Aurimema's annual For the Kids charity golf outing. The event took place at Hartford Gold Club on Tuesday.
The annual gold tournament is set up to benefit the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, and the event also raises money for the children.
The UConn Huskies squad was present to support the children and meet and greet them. Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin, Ashlynn Shade, Kaitlyn Chen, Jena El Alfy and other players were snapped at the event.
All the players will return to the Huskies for another year of college basketball. Under coach, Geno Auriemma, the team will aim for a national championship title after getting ejected from the NCAAW tournament in the Final Four round.
Huskies HC Geno Auriemma happy not to take blame for Caitlin Clark exclusion from USA Basketball team
The UConn Huskies coach answered some important questions at the golf charity event. Before the event started at The Hartford Gold Club, he was asked for his thoughts on the exclusion of former Iowa star and current WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark from the USA basketball team.
Geno Auriemma, who has coached two Olympic teams, has been criticized for the way he has assembled the rosters. Therefore, this time he was happy that no blame was being pointed toward him.
“My favorite part (this year) is that nobody mentioned me,” Auriemma said on Tuesday, as per Hartford Courant. “I thought that was great. First time in 16 years I wasn’t the reason somebody didn’t make the team, or somebody did.”
The basketball world buzzed when they learned that Clark, who is said to be the reason the WNBA is gaining a spike in viewers and popularity, was left out of the USA basketball team, which will represent the country at the Paris Olympics next month.
Auriemma continued to say that everybody always "makes a big deal" when a player doesn't make the team. He thinks that centering discourse around one player's exclusion is disrespectful to those who make the team.
The UConn HC sided with Clark two weeks ago when he was asked if she was getting targeted by the league. Despite Clark's absence, Geno Auriemma is happy to see other deserving players getting the chance to represent the country in Paris.
Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, or Kim Mulkey - who is NCAAW's highest-paid coach? Find out here