Paige Bueckers is confident Geno Auriemma would have been “lost” without UConn’s Chris Dailey

Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies will celebrate a huge landmark with their coaches, Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey. The two have been coaching together for 40 years this season, and the Huskies will commemorate the moment during Wednesday's game against Fairleigh Dickinson.

Before the tip-off, Bueckers commented about the relationship between the two. She was asked where Geno Auriemma would be without Dailey, and she said:

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"Lost. I feel like every man needs a woman to be around and keep them in check, so they're really a great duo. Because they both bring different things to the table, and they both help each other to be better.

"They have, I would say, I have a great relationship with coach where we have an open dialogue. They have great relationships where they can challenge each other, hold each other accountable, and also support each other. So yeah, there's not one without the other." (1:48)

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UConn's Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey comment on 40 years together

Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey were hired in 1985 and have since built the UConn Huskies to be one of the most successful programs in college basketball. They have won 11 national championships together, including four straight title wins.

Auriemma spoke about his time at Storrs to the media after the game against UNC on Friday.

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“Forty years ago, UConn took a chance on me, those players early on took a chance on us [me and CD…],” Auriemma said. “They should feel incredibly proud because we built it out of nothing in a place, they said it couldn’t be built.”

Assistant coach Chris Dailey also reminisced on her time with Geno Auriemma, highlighting their growth.

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“We never looked at what we didn’t have. We always focused on what we had.” Dailey said. “And at the beginning, we just had our vision and each other to kind of say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’"

"And we were able to convince enough people to believe that same dream and eventually, 40 years later, a lot more has happened than we ever thought would have.

With the last championship in 2016, the Huskies are set to finally battle it out for the title this season with Paige Bueckers at the front. UConn has an entire celebration planned for the 40th anniversary with a fan fest at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by the ceremony at 6:30 p.m. and the game tipping off at 7 p.m.

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