UConn makes history as the 1st school with both NBA & WNBA Rookie of the Year in the same season

The UConn Huskies legends did something that no other school has done and it is quite remarkable.

Mar 3, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Stephon Castle (5) drives the ball against Seton Hall Pirates guard Isaiah Coleman (21) in the second half at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

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Storrs, Connecticut for a long time has been deemed the basketball capital of the world and that still holds true as a recent award handed out, has made UConn history as they are the only school to accomplish this feat. Former UConn basketball stars Stephon Castle and Paige Bueckers got awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year and the WNBA Rookie of the Year in the same season.

That has not been done by any other college ever. UConn made history for that, and it is an amazing accomplishment. Castle was one-and-done at UConn in the 2023 season as he won a National Championship with the Huskies and head coach Dan Hurley and then declared for the NBA Draft. Castle was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers and was a menace, there was a reason he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

For Bueckers, she spent all four of her years at UConn, finally winning a National Title in her senior year in 2024 After the National Title, Bueckers declared for the WNBA Draft and was selected first overall by the Dallas Wings, Bueckers was pretty much the whole offense for the Wings and there was no secret that she was going to win the Rookie of the Year Award.

Sep 11, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) celebrates after the game against the Phoenix Mercury at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Bueckers and Castle were both extremely talented coming out of Storrs. Fans knew that both players were going to be drafted pretty high in their respective draft classes. Castle and Bueckers were both five-star recruits coming out of high school so huskies fans knew that there was going to be something special with the both of them.

Respective head coaches Dan Hurley and Geno Auriemma have to be so proud of their former players. They both coached them for a limited amount of time, Hurley coached Castle for one season and Auriemma coached Bueckers for four, but Bueckers missed a good chunk of one of her four years with an ACL injury that she miraculously came back from.

It was a long road for a player like Bueckers to recover from that and still win a National Title in her senior year. But for both Castle and Bueckers, there is plenty more success for each of them to achieve, an NBA title and a WNBA title.