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          Tributes for the UConn players whose careers came to a halt after cancellations

          David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
          • ESPN.com staff
          Mar 16, 2020, 04:00 PM ET

          The UConn women's basketball team was in the midst of its longest drought in nearly a decade: going on four years without a national championship.

          The drought will continue for at least another year. The women's NCAA tournament -- and all NCAA winter and spring sport championships -- was canceled Thursday due to the coronavirus.

          The cancellations mean that players all over the country -- including some Huskies -- played their last games at the college level without realizing it.

          Although they didn't have a chance to revel in their final moments on the court or finish their UConn careers with a national championship, ESPN's Scott Van Pelt wanted to give them an opportunity to be embraced.

          'My heart breaks'

          Kyla Irwin knew she wouldn't be playing in the NCAA tournament. When she fractured her elbow in the American Athletic Conference semifinals, her senior season -- and college career -- ended abruptly.

          Although she won't go in the UConn record books as one of the most prolific scorers, she was UConn's captain for a reason.

          "My heart breaks thinking about how I'll never play in another college basketball game or never put this jersey back on," she wrote. "The world works in mysterious ways, but I'm beyond grateful and blessed to have spent my last four years playing here and meeting some of the greatest people in my life."

          A junior farewell

          Megan Walker still had her senior year to look forward to, but she decided Saturday that she would forgo it to declare for the 2020 WNBA draft.

          Walker was named AAC player of the year and led the Huskies with 19.7 points per game, totaling 1,251 points and 615 rebounds in her career.

          "Due to the unfortunate circumstances that caused the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, it saddens me that I was not able to finish my junior season in the way that I would have liked," Walker said in a statement. "I am, however, ready to move on to the next phase of my life and career."

          A recruit's goodbye and hello

          Paige Bueckers is the No. 1-ranked prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Class of 2020, the Gatorade National Girls' Basketball Player of the Year and a UConn commit. But she saw one chapter of her playing career end just like that.

          The Minnesota State High School League canceled the girls' basketball tournament due to the coronavirus, taking away the Hopkins High School team's chance to win a state championship.

          Huddle up

          UConn finished its season with a seventh consecutive AAC title and a perfect 139-0 record in conference play. Maybe the Huskies would've won their first national championship since 2016. Or maybe it wouldn't have been.

          But there is one word the Huskies used to describe themselves: special.