Record 17 UConn alums make WNBA rosters

It was another historymaking day for the UConn women’s basketball program.

With the 12 WNBA teams needing to finalize their rosters for the upcoming season, a total of 17 former Huskies made the cut to break the mark of 15 alums from one school set by UConn in 2016.

Five different WNBA teams have more than one former Husky on its roster led by the New York Liberty with Tina Charles, Bria Hartley, Kia Nurse and Kiah Stokes as part of the 12-player squad. Indiana, Los Angeles and Washington are the only teams without a UConn product on the roster.

Nurse and Gabby Williams continued a remarkable trend for the Huskies.

Since 1999 when Kara Wolters and Jen Rizzotti were selected, there have been 33 players who spent either four or five years with Geno Auriemma’s UConn program who have been taken in the WNBA Draft and only Shea Ralph, who suffered a career ending knee injury in her final collegiate season, failed to make it onto a WNBA regular-season roster.

Natalie Butler, who played two seasons with the Huskies after beginning her career at Georgetown and ending it with George Mason, became just the second former Husky to be drafted by a WNBA team who failed to make the roster.

Sue Bird, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart give Seattle three UConn products, while Atlanta with Tiffany Hayes and Renee Montgomery, Chicago with Stefanie Dolson and Gabby Williams, Dallas with Saniya Chong and Azurá Stevens all have multiple UConn graduates. Morgan Tuck of the Connecticut Sun, Maya Moore of defending champion Minnesota, Moriah Jefferson of Las Vegas and the Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi complete the record-setting number of Huskies in the WNBA.

It is not just a case of quantity. The WNBA released results of a survey of the league’s general managers on Wednesday with Moore the preseason pick to be the league’s most valuable player and the best forward.Moore, Taurasi and Bird were the top three finishers in the category of which player would you want taking a shot with the game on the line while Stewart was named the player that GMs would sign if starting a franchise.

The Connecticut Sun, which opens at home on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Las Vegas, were selected as the team that is the most fun to watch.

Associated Press file photo Maya Moore, left, is one of a record 17 UConn alums on WNBA rosters this season.