STORRS, CT – Sue Bird remembers her first unofficial visit to UConn.
The current Basketball Hall of Famer came with her coaches from Christ the King High School in Middle Village, New York.
“We saw a game and Gampel Pavilion was packed, everyone was going crazy, and I was like, ‘Well, that’s pretty cool,'” said Bird, who made her return to Storrs to get his number was retired on SundayDecember 7.
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“And I remember thinking, which is so stupid… ‘Well, if I went here, I could probably go home on the weekend to do my laundry, so that’s a plus.'”
Bird, who won two national titles at UConn, remains the school record holder in 3-point field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (89.2). She is the third player to have her jersey number retired at UConn, joining Rebecca Lobo (50) and Swin Cash (32).
When asked how many schools she received offers from at the time, Bird joked, “A lot. Like, a lot. Like all of them.” All except Tennessee, which had just recruited its leaders of the future. She said she quickly narrowed the list down to five, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford, UConn and Vanderbilt, and took official visits to the latter three.
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She remembers sitting in UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s office during that visit and being a little overwhelmed.
“He’s extremely confident, charismatic, he can be intimidating, especially for a teenager,” Bird said. “I just remember sitting in his office, listening to him talk about who knows what, and I was just… Like, what’s happening right now? And then you fast forward and you get to the whole process.”
Auriemma paid tribute to Bird on Sunday, calling her: “Maybe, wait, no maybe, she’s the best point guard to play the game of basketball, male or female.”
Bird has nothing but praise for his alma mater, which is currently ranked #1 and won its 11th national championship against South Carolina last spring.
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“There’s something really wonderful, not just about what they’ve built, in terms of winning, but it’s also why you do it,” Bird said. “They’ve really built something where when players come here, it’s because something speaks to them, something connects for them.
“For me, it was being in a place where I knew I was going to be challenged.”
Bird averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 assists in 118 games with the Huskies. She won the 2002 National Player of the Year and was the first UConn player to be drafted first overall in the WNBA draft. Bird won four WNBA championships with the Seattle Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020). She has also won five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020) and four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018).
Bird spent most of 2025 being honored. First, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June. Then the storm unveiled a Bird statue in front of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena in August. Eventually, she was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
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“What’s been great about this year is that it was under this excuse that I brought together all my family, all my friends, all my former teammates, my former coaches, etc., everyone who touched my life in any way, it brought them together,” Bird said. “…To be able to share it, I already mentioned, like, remembering, that’s really what all those moments represented.”
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Sue Bird’s No. 10 jersey retired by the UConn Huskies
