Though the UConn Huskies made it to the Final Four last season, they ultimately faced a challenge that had little to do with skill or strategy. When they fell short, it wasn’t solely the dominance of Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes that defeated them—it was an ongoing struggle with injury prevention and recovery.

In a recent interview, with FOX61 Sports Director Jonah Karp Auriemma expressed his frustration with the insufficient rehab and training some high school players undergo.

“We do more testing now of those kids coming out of high school, so we know more now before they get here. But all that does is tell us what we have to work on. A lot of the issues these kids have, when they have issues in high school, they’re not addressed the way they need to be addressed.” Auriemma shared that while UConn has ramped up testing and monitoring, these measures fall short of fixing ingrained issues.

In fact, players from Tessa Johnson, Aubrey Griffin to Azzi Fudd all have had devastating injuries in high school. These injuries have surely affected their game in their college careers, especially for Fudd, whose knee injuries continue to haunt her even at UConn. While Tessa Johnson broke her femur in high school, which made her miss her sophomore season, Aubrey Griffin tore her ACL while coming down from a layup in her sophomore season at Ossining. The former, however, has managed to keep out of any persistence. But the same cannot be said for Aubrey who had to miss second-half of last season.

For Fudd, the setbacks have been especially relentless. While competing in a USA Basketball under-18 3-on-3 tournament in Colorado Springs, she tore the ACL and MCL in her right knee, missing much of her junior year. More recently, during a game last season, she set up a play behind former teammate Aaliyah Edwards, who fell back and collided with Fudd’s knee, reigniting the lingering knee issues.

Thus, having seen just six healthy players by the end of the 2023-24 season, Auriemma highlights the need for a keener catering to the injuries at the initial level. “They’re not rehabbed the way they need to be rehabbed. So now, all of a sudden, they come here, and they’re already damaged. And now you have to manage that damaged situation. How do we go and fix that at the high school level? I think each player that’s playing high school basketball, that wants a future playing basketball, needs to understand this is all you have,” he added in the interview.

Injury-plagued years for Geno Auriemma’s roster

For Auriemma, injuries are not only disruptive to team strategy but often emotionally wrenching. Take Aubrey Griffin, who has endured a devastating knee injury following a previous absence due to back surgery. Auriemma acknowledged the personal toll of her injuries, in another interview where he stated, “The basketball part is actually secondary. You try to say, ‘How are we going to replace her on the court?’ But I don’t think anybody thinks like that.”

This theme has resonated throughout UConn’s recent seasons, as other top players—such as Caroline Ducharme and Ice Brady—have also been forced to navigate long recovery periods from major injuries. Ducharme’s journey, for example, has been plagued by head and neck issues, stemming from a series of concussions. Despite increasing her playing role when other teammates were sidelined, Ducharme herself missed several games, complicating UConn’s roster consistency and altering player roles.

Last season, the team had started with 14 players, but by the time they reached the postseason, Auriemma was left with just 8 healthy. It wasn’t just last season though. The Huskies have been dealing with the same for three years now, starting with 82 player-games lost to injury in 2021-22, 121 the next year, and 177 the past season. So Auriemma has also come to urge players to take ownership of their physical health.

“You have your body, and you need to learn to take care of it,” he emphasized while highlighting that players must be proactive, seeking out long-term recovery methods. This will be the most crucial for the team this season, considering most of their roster remains inexperienced in UConn jersey.