One of the perks of playing for the UConn women’s basketball team is the fact that there are so many great alumnae. But what makes it even more special is the fact that they come back to Storrs, CT to practice with the team or just hang around.

Sue Bird, Kalana Greene and Kelly Faris to name just a few have come back to practice. The likes of Rebecca Lobo, Kara Wolters, Meghan Pattyson, Swin Cash, etc, etc are around the program at different times. Some are around all the time, some at different points of the season.

All of those names are iconic in UConn women’s basketball lore. They were all a part of something special at UConn. They are sisters, a family. That’s what UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and his consigliere Chris Dailey have established at UConn.

When you listen to them talk when they are together, it’s like none of them have left. I was able to listen to Swin Cash tell a story about Auriemma and CD while in Albany. And the way they all interacted, it was like they were never apart at all.

It’s not the nine National Championships that makes UConn women’s basketball special. Of course they help.

It’s the culture that’s built there. There’s nothing else like it.

Watch and/or listen below as members of the current UConn women’s basketball players talk about what it is like when the former players come back to practice: