The UConn Huskies women’s basketball program retired Sue Bird’s jersey number (No. 10) before the team took its ninth straight win over DePaul on Sunday.
She joins Rebecca Lobo (No. 50) and her teammate, Swin Cash (No. 32), as the only players to have their jersey numbers retired in the history of the UConn Huskies’ women’s basketball program.
Given the many gifted athletes to pass through UConn, the Huskies of Honor include 34 players, head coach Geno Auriemma, assistant coach Chris Dailey, and championship teams. Among those honored are Paige Bueckers, Napheesa Collier, Maya Moore, and Diana Taurasi.
“It’s really a place where I grew up, a place where a lot of who I am as a person and as a player, that foundation was built,” Bird told reporters before Sunday’s ceremony.
During her collegiate career with the Huskies, Bird won two National Championships and famously hit a buzzer-beater to win the Big East title over Notre Dame in 2001.
She had a stellar senior season, taking home five major honors: the Honda Sports Award, Wade Trophy, Naismith, AP, and USBWA Player of the Year awards.
Post-UConn, the Christ the King (Queens, N.Y.) product was drafted first overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm and went on to lead the team to four championships over her 19-year career.
In August, Bird became the first WNBA player to have a statue in Seattle and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame the following month.
SUE BIRD! pic.twitter.com/TaCpk8HE4H https://t.co/gOLTHgUyc4
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 12, 2023
Next UConn Husky Jersey Retirements?
There have been many players who have made a tremendous impact on the Huskies’ program and on the game itself.
In 1985, Auriemma was hired by UConn to take over a struggling program which had only one winning season prior to his arrival.
Since then, he has led the team to 12 national titles and 36 appearances in the NCAA Women’s Tournament, becoming the winningest coach in college basketball history with 1,250 wins (and counting).
Here are the UConn alums who should one day see their jersey numbers hanging in the rafters of Gampel Pavilion.
No. 3: Guard Diana Taurasi (2000-2004)
Bird has a special friendship with longtime teammate and best friend, Diana Taurasi, in which they shared the court together from their days at UConn to their tenures with the USA Women’s National Team.
She made a name for herself in her hometown of Chino, California, where she played for Don Lugo High School and finished second in state history behind Cheryl Miller in points scored with 3,047 at the time of her graduation (Miller’s record has since been surpassed according to the Cal-Hi Sports State Record Book).
Taurasi went on to lead UConn to three consecutive NCAA titles from 2002 to 2004. Auriemma made a notable statement about why UConn was the best team in the nation: “We have Diana. You don’t.”
During that time, she also won the Honda Sports and the Naismith Player of the Year awards twice in her junior and senior seasons. She also had an impressive junior campaign, winning a Wade Trophy and USBWA, and AP Player of the Year awards in 2003.
Taurasi was drafted first overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2004 WNBA Draft after her four-year tenure with the Huskies. She went on to lead the team to three WNBA Championships and become the WNBA’s All-Time leading scorer with 10,646 career points during her 20-year career.
She also won six Olympic Gold medals with Team USA, in which she became the first basketball athlete to achieve that feat in the Paris Olympics. Earlier in February, Taurasi announced her retirement after playing in the WNBA for two decades.
Since then, a three-episode documentary, Taurasi, was released in August and is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
No. 23: Forward Maya Moore (2007-2011)
During her basketball career, forward Maya Moore won at all costs, from high school at Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.) to the professional level, while making a lasting impact on the game.
She is the all-time leading scorer at UConn with 3,036 career points and holds the single season scoring record with 868 points during her senior season.
During her collegiate career, Moore was remarkable, winning three Wade Trophy, two Wooden and two National Player of the Year awards.
After leading the Huskies to back-to-back national championships in 2009 and 2010 alongside Tina Charles, Moore was selected first overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.
She went on to lead the Lynx to four titles in seven years. After playing her final season in 2018, Moore stepped away from the game of basketball and officially retired in 2023.
Her jersey number was retired by the Minnesota Lynx in 2024 and she was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame the following year.
It is pretty fascinating to mention the fact that Moore and Taurasi share the same birthday, June 11. Maybe they will have their UConn jerseys retired at the same time?
No. 31: Forward Tina Charles (2006-2010)
Forward Tina Charles, alongside Moore, became an unstoppable duo for the Huskies that won back-to-back National Championships and finished undefeated in 2009 and 2010.
Throughout her collegiate career, Charles won many accolades, including Naismith Player of the Year and the Wooden awards in her senior season.
Additionally, Charles became the program’s all-time leader in total rebounds with 1,367 and finished No. 5 on the all-time scoring list with 2,346 points.
She went on to become a top pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun, winning the W’s Most Valuable Player award in 2012 and three Olympic Gold medals.
Charles is one of the best players in WNBA history. She also is No. 2 in W history in points scored in 2024, trailing only Taurasi.
No. 30: Forward Breanna Stewart (2012-2016)
Recruiting forward Breanna Stewart, one of the highly ranked recruits of the 2012 class, to the Huskies’ program is one of the best moves of Auriemma’s coaching career. She, along with Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson, formed a trio that became unstoppable for their four years as UConn teammates.
“Stewie” led UConn to four consecutive national titles from 2013 to 2016 and has an unmatched resume. She not only swept major individual awards as a junior and senior, she earned an unprecedented four consecutive NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player awards.
After her collegiate career, she won three WNBA Championships– two with the Seattle Storm (2018 and 2020) and one with the New York Liberty (2024) — and took home two league and Finals Most Valuable Player awards.
She is also a three-time Olympic Gold medalist and was named to the WNBA’s 25th anniversary team in 2021.
Retiring Stewie’s jersey is a no-brainer.
No. 5: Guard Paige Bueckers (2020-2025)
Guard Paige Bueckers is one of the future faces of women’s basketball, as she is known for her all-around scoring and defense.
In her freshman year with UConn, she made an immediate impact on college basketball, earning USBWA, AP, Naismith and Wooden Player of the Year honors.
She led the Huskies to their first National Championship since 2016 earlier this April after overcoming injuries during her collegiate career.
The women that came before her were incredible, but Bueckers has her own unique place in UConn lore.
