The UConn women ’s basketball team parade celebrating the Huskies' 12th NCAA title will now be Sunday starting at 1 p.m. in downtown Hartford.
The parade was rescheduled due to heavy rain in the forecast Saturday.
Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong led the way as UConn returned to the top of women's college basketball by rolling to an 82-59 victory Sunday over defending champion South Carolina.
The team will step off from the state Capitol building at the intersection of Trinity Street and Elm Street, proceeding north on Trinity Street through the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch.
The parade will then turn right onto Jewell Street, left onto Trumbull Street and end at the intersection of Asylum Street and Trumbull Street.
A rally will kick off at roughly 1:30 p.m. outside the main entrance of the XL Center on Trumbull Street. Players, coaches and others are expected to speak and celebrate the national title win.
Gov. Ned Lamont is urging fans to come out and celebrate the team.
“They are the best in the nation, and now it’s time for Connecticut to give them the victory celebration they have earned,” Lamont said in a statement. “The student athletes on this team have worked very hard and they deserve to know how much we appreciate everything they’ve accomplished.”
The parade will be funded by private donations and sponsorships without using state or city funding, Lamont said.
'A second home to me'
On Monday, an emotional Bueckers addressed fans during a welcome home rally at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Bueckers is widely expected to be the first pick in the WNBA draft on April 14. Bueckers got choked up and hid her face behind the brim of her cap as she discussed the end of her time with the team.
"It's an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the whole entire journey, the entire five years that I've been here. This place is a second home to me," Bueckers said. "I'm forever indebted to you guys; we are all forever indebted to you guys."
Fudd was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after leading the Huskies to Sunday’s victory. The guard scored 24 points in the title game.
Fudd scored 11 in the third quarter when the Huskies broke the game open. It was the most points in a single quarter of an NCAA title game by a UConn women's basketball player and sixth-most by any women's player in a championship.
“I think all of our mindset was just to be aggressive, stay locked in, stay disciplined, stay together,” Fudd said. “And that’s exactly what we did. I happened to score 11 points, but I was doing what the game was giving.”
For Bueckers, Sunday’s championship capped her stellar career with the Huskies' first championship since 2016, ending a nine-year drought for the team. That was the longest period for Auriemma and his program without a title since Rebecca Lobo and Jen Rizzotti led the Huskies to their first championship in 1995.
Connecticut Public’s Matt Dwyer, John Henry Smith, Patrick Skahill and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
