Geno Auriemma was looking up at a postgame press conference one night when he saw two of his former players seated side by side. Gabby Williams and Tiffany Hayes, both from the Golden State Valkyries, were answering questions, and Auriemma said he kept shaking his head in amazement as he watched. It was a proud moment for Auriemma, who had watched four of his former UConn players help the Valkyries set an expansion franchise regular-season record. So when someone assumed he would be rooting for Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings during their first-round playoff series against the Valkyries, Auriemma wanted to set the record straight.
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“I’m really proud of all of them, and that’s probably the one team that I’ve watched play the most,” Auriemma told reporters on Saturday after the Huskies’ practice, per Nathan Canilao. “They were playing Dallas, and somebody said, ‘Hey, you know, you’re rooting for Paige.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not. I’m rooting for Golden State.’ (They have) four to (Dallas’) one and a half (Huskies) because Azzi (Fudd) didn’t play.”
All four—Tiffany Hayes, Gabby Williams, Kaitlyn Chen, and Kiah Stokes—are Auriemma’s former players. And all four come from different stretches of UConn history. Hayes featured prominently as a shooting guard in the early 2010s, when the Huskies put together a then-record 78-game winning streak and captured consecutive undefeated national championships. Stokes was part of the teams that began UConn’s four-title run, while Williams joined during its closing years. Chen, meanwhile, spent just one season playing for Auriemma, ending her collegiate stint with a national championship in 2025.
“… You look at them, and they’re all the same. They’re all the same, but they’re all unique in their own way, right? And to me, that’s the most amazing thing: that every kid that spent that time here has certain qualities that make you win and make you win championships.
“I don’t think I’d be overstating it that if those four were not on that team, they wouldn’t be where they are today.”
The four players, too, reminisce about their time at UConn.
“I played with Tiffany Hayes for a year at UConn. I played with Gabby [Williams] for a year. And then little Kaitlyn Chen, she didn’t play with any of us. We talk about all the “horror” stories. Not like it was bad, but everybody has their stories of one practice that was just terrible or one game where the coach just wouldn’t let you live. But there’s also a lot of fun stories, and I’ve never been called old so much in my life now that I’m here, ’cause we got some younger UConn folks too,” Kiah Stokes told San Francisco Standard in July 2026.
Moreover, when the coach was asked earlier this week which WNBA he’d pick to coach for a season if he had the option, he replied without missing a beat.
“If I could coach one team for one season, probably Golden State, they got four of my ex players on that team.”
For Williams, though, Auriemma had special praise this time around.
During the regular season, Williams averaged 14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Those numbers have skyrocketed in the postseason. In six games after two series, she is averaging 22.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. She is also shooting 44.9% from the field and 40.5% from the 3-point line.
“The best story in all of the WNBA is the impact that Gabby Williams is having on the league, offensively and defensively,” Auriemma pressed.
Much to his delight, the Valks toppled Paige Bueckers and Co., and then swept the defending champions 3-0, closing it out with an 87-77 overtime win. They will now face the Atlanta Dream in the Finals. And while Williams will be an obvious player for Atlanta to account for, the Valkyries’ collective scoring and ball movement mean the Dream cannot afford to focus exclusively on her.
“That is a TEAM, and I think they really play great team ball…On any given night, any of them can have 15, 20 on you because they share the ball, and…it seems like nobody cares who gets the credit,” Las Vegas coach Hammon told reporters after the semifinals loss. “And that’s a really special thing to have on a team, and I think Golden State has that.”
When the Valkyries were introduced as the WNBA’s newest expansion franchise on October 5, 2023, co-owner Joe Lacob predicted that they would win a championship within their first five years. Now, in just their second season, the Valkyries have reached the Finals, putting them within reach of that ambitious target.