There are a few programs and teams throughout American sports that will always be associated with excellence and winning. Whether it be the Nick Saban-led Alabama football team, Eddie Robinson-led teams at Grambling football, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots, or Phil Jackson-coached teams in the NBA, the expectation is simple and clear: win.
The standard also remains the same for Geno Auriemma and his 11 national championships at UConn.
According to Huskies star guard Paige Bueckers, one of the program’s commits, Kelis Fisher, has tangibles that can help add to the legacy of winning.
“She competes,” Bueckers told rolling out after coaching Fisher in the Overtime Takeover 5v5 game in Atlanta on Aug. 16. “I think she went back-and-forth with players from the other team tonight. They competed well. Her energy level reminds me a lot of KK Arnold. She brings high intensity, she’s vocal, she speaks and talks [on the court]. That’s huge to have, especially at a young age.”
Fisher is a 5-foot-8 guard from Baltimore who grew up as a UConn fan. She told rolling out that the program’s legendary head coach Geno Auriemma began recruiting her when he was at one of her games to watch somebody else play.
“I can say I’ve only been nervous one time in my life,” Fisher said. “When I saw him at my game, I wasn’t fully paying attention to him because I was focused. But I knew he was there, so there were little butterflies in my stomach with the understanding I had to show out.”
I’ve been blessed to have great coaches in my life on and off the court! 1 of few!!! 💙💙💙#ThankfulThursday #UConn #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/ayummTX2YE
— Kelis Fisher✨ (@FisherKelis) June 29, 2023
After visiting the campus and talking to the players and coaches more, Fisher committed to the historic program in January 2023 as a high school sophomore.
“I felt like I was a part of a family,” Fisher said. “That’s what separated them [from other programs]. It was no longer about me being a UConn fan, they accepted me for who I am.”
The school is renowned for women’s basketball historically. Even at a university whose men’s side of hoops features great players like Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler and Kemba Walker.
Auriemma has coached the Huskies from an afterthought program in the early 1990s to a dynasty decades later. Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Napheesa Collier, Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart are just a few of the big names he’s coached over the years.
Now, his biggest star is Bueckers. The Minnesota basketball prodigy launched the current surge in popularity for women’s basketball as a viral walking highlight in high school.
Upon entering UConn, Bueckers was already a national sensation, having graced the covers of magazines like Sports Illustrated. Since then, she has fully lived up to the lofty expectations. As a freshman, she won National Player of the Year and took up so much space of the sport’s national media coverage that fans begged to shed a little more of that spotlight on then-little-known Caitlin Clark. As Bueckers suffered injuries the next two seasons of her career, Clark took the national spotlight.
But for one weekend in Atlanta every August, none of that matters for Bueckers. She — along with Flau’jae Johnson — are coaches at the annual Overtime Takeover.
“Going against Flau’jae is super fun, being here is super fun,” Bueckers told No Cap Space WBB‘s Tyler DeLuca. “Just bonding with the girls has been great … I told them to enjoy, embrace and don’t take these things for granted. Especially coming from me, I’ve injuries, so I know how quickly it can be taken. So, just have fun, compete and get better.”
