Copyright Hartford Courant
NEW YORK — Olivia Vukosa had no idea Tina Charles was going to make an appearance during her official visit with the UConn women’s basketball team until the former WNBA MVP walked through the door while she was watching the Huskies practice on Oct. 10. Charles, an eight-time All-Star and the league’s career record holder for rebounds and double-doubles, isn’t only a UConn legend. She’s also one of the most prominent alumni of Vukosa’s high school Christ the King, and she grew up just a few miles south of the five-star recruit’s home in Queens. Vukosa said her surprise chat with Charles was mostly about that shared history, connecting over coaches and teachers who shaped their experiences even decades apart. But when it came to the recruiting process, the former Huskies star’s advice was simple. “It was special,” Vukosa’s father Damir said after his daughter publicly announced her UConn commitment Tuesday on Christ the King’s court. “I got a chance to talk to her and ask her questions about her life here, her going through here and then going to UConn. She said it: ‘Listen, you go to the best place for basketball.’ End of story for her.” Vukosa, the No. 3 prospect in the Class of 2026, committed to the Huskies later that weekend during an evening at coach Geno Auriemma’s house. The 6-foot-4 forward had no intention of making a decision when she arrived in Storrs — she was still scheduled to take her last official visit to South Carolina later this month — but Vukosa felt certain that she’d already found her new home. It was the authenticity at UConn that stood out, from coaches to players to the team’s support staff. Vukosa pulled Auriemma aside to tell him first, then broke the news to the whole group soon after during a team bonding game orchestrated by associate head coach Chris Dailey. “Seeing how those girls were treating me and how I felt around them, even one of the managers was telling my parents how it felt like I wasn’t even on a visit,” Vukosa said. “It just felt like I was already on the team, and that’s what I was looking for the whole time was a family environment and girls that would accept me for who I was.” Vukosa’s recruitment came down to a final five that included the Huskies, LSU, Ohio State, South Carolina and Texas, but it’s no surprise that she felt an immediate comfort at UConn. Christ the King head coach Bob Mackey, who has led the prolific high school program since 1991, has a rich history of producing players that fit with Auriemma’s style on and off the court. Charles won back-to-back state championships with the Royals from 2003-2006, and former Huskies guard Lorin Dixon played with her on both title teams before following Charles to UConn in 2007. Hall of Famer Sue Bird also graduated from the school with a state championship in 1998. “Those names aren’t small at all, so I have big shoes to fill,” Vukosa said with a laugh. “But it’s alright. I’m not scared of it, and I’m looking forward to it … I’m honored to join that legacy, and I hope I do big things with it.” Mackey has known Auriemma since the Huskies coach’s days as an assistant at Virginia in the early 1980s, and Vukosa said she quickly recognized the similarities between the two while watching UConn practice. “(Auriemma) is always on top of everybody, and he’ll call anyone out on anything. He has no shame in doing it,” Vukosa said. “Mackey and (assistant coach Joe DeLuca) here are always on me about doing my best and pushing and keeping going, and there’s always that next step. Geno was doing the same thing with Sarah Strong in practice that day, and I just knew that I wanted to be a part of that.” Mackey’s office behind the the gym at Christ the King is wallpapered with newspaper clippings from his 32 state titles, and the Sue Bird doll from Barbie’s ‘Inspiring Women’ collection is perched proudly on top of a filing cabinet next to Bird’s picture book biography “The Heart of the Storm.” In Vukosa, Mackey said he sees the same relentless work ethic that made Charles and Bird great during their high school days. “She’ll finish a drill, get back up in the front of the line and go again because she didn’t feel it was right,” Mackey said. “You’ve got to, once in a while, say, ‘Get off the line. Stop, just breathe for a minute.’ .. She’s got a great engine, loves the game. She’s definitely an aficionado. She loves to watch and study the game, and I think the ceiling is endless.” On the court, Vukosa is also a perfect fit for the Huskies’ 2026 class. She was named the New York Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 19.2 points and 17.9 rebounds plus 5.5 blocks and 3.8 assists in her junior high school season, and she boasts impressive athleticism and scoring versatility for her size. Mackey said Vukosa is capable of playing either the four or five position at an elite level, and he also described her as a “wicked shot blocker.” Vukosa said she models her game after another pair of UConn stars: Two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart and two-time All-Star Stefanie Dolson. “Definitely my post work (is my strength). I mean, I’ve been working on it my whole life,” Vukosa said. “I’m starting to get better on my outside shooting, but there’s always room for improvement in everything, and I think another one of those things is my handle. I want to be able to be that all-around player that Coach needs from me.”
