The University of Connecticut’s Women’s Basketball team is synonymous with success.

Under the guidance of Head Coach Geno Auriemma, UConn is the NCAA’s premier basketball program, winning half of the national championships in the last two decades. The level of excellence that has been achieved in Storrs, Conn. may arguably rival any team or franchise in modern sports history.

Auriemma is appropriately acknowledged for leading the program to these heights, however, without the incredible players that compete for UConn each season, the Huskies wouldn’t be the dynasty that we know them to be.

After their years of dominating college basketball, many UConn players have transitioned to the WNBA. Currently, there are 14 former UConn alums in the league. That number almost doubles the closest university with alumni in the WNBA (University of Maryland – 8).

The list of players that formally represented UConn include stars like Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tina Charles (New York Liberty), Stefanie Dolson (Chicago Sky), Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury).

This season, there will likely be three additions of Lady Huskies in the WNBA. Kia Nurse, Azura Stevens, and Gabby Williams are widely considered first-round draft picks in the draft coming on April 12 at the Nike New York Headquarters.

The sheer amount of current players that hail from UConn (14) is impressive, but the surplus of talent that is continuously matriculated into the WNBA from there further shows the impressiveness of the program.

If drafted in the 2018 WNBA draft, Nurse, Stevens, and Williams will join the “new crop” of UConn alumni in the WNBA.

Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm), Stefanie Dolson (Chicago Sky), Moriah Jefferson (Las Vegas Aces), Bria Hartley (New York Liberty), Kiah Stokes (New York Liberty), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Seattle Storm), Morgan Tuck (Connecticut Sun), and Saniya Chong (Dallas Wings) are the UConn alums that are in their third year or less in the WNBA, exemplifying that it is not just the veterans that represent UConn well.

Although the dominant college program is coming off their second straight year of falling short of the National Championship, the talent that is being developed under Auriemma – and then ushered into the pro game – remains strong. That will be on display again in Thursday night’s WNBA Draft.