The Athletic has live coverage of UConn vs. USC in the women’s March Madness Elite 8.
PORTLAND, Ore. — There were times last year when they were both undergoing treatment to rehabilitate their injured knees when UConn forward Ice Brady can remember Paige Bueckers barely being able to walk.
Bueckers tore her ACL in August 2022 during a summer pickup game that sidelined her for the entirety of the 2022-23 season. This, after missing 19 games the season before with a tibial plateau fracture from a non-contact injury. She couldn’t help the Huskies when their streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances came to an end last season. Couldn’t give her head coach any on-court contributions in what became one of the most trying seasons of Geno Auriemma’s career.
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So when Brady watched Bueckers drop 32 points, grab 10 rebounds and finish with 6 assists and 4 steals against Syracuse last week in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, she made sure to take it all in.
“After the last game, just watching everything back, I’m just amazed,” she said.
She wasn’t the only one.
“We have the best player in America,” Auriemma famously said last week. “And you know, (I’m) just saying that because the numbers in this world of analytics — the numbers say that she is.”
Welcome back to March, Paige Buckets.
Paige Bueckers is Paige Bueckers.
There is no comparison. pic.twitter.com/PpWmPQkC84
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 26, 2024
“Everybody knows I haven’t had the smoothest sailing in college,” Bueckers said Friday. “I’ve had injuries, a lot of adversity. But (I’m) just taking whatever life throws at me, continuing to conquer it with a great mentality.”
Bueckers said she was surprised by Auriemma’s comments after the Syracuse game, perhaps for two reasons.
The first: “You sort of wouldn’t expect him to say it because of what happens in practice and what happens in the game — how much he yells at you during that,” she said, smiling. Auriemma demands much of his players and makes no bones about it.
The second: “I was sitting right next to him. … I definitely didn’t think he would say that (where) I could hear it.”
But Auriemma knows that UConn is a different team when Bueckers — the 2021 Wooden Award winner as a freshman — is on the court. She has scored 27 points in each of her past five games, with double-digit rebounds in three of them.
Maybe that’s why Auriemma — asked about his comments creating a stir last week considering Caitlin Clark’s run through the sport — not only defended them Friday, he doubled down.
“I bet if you asked USC, they wouldn’t tell you Caitlin Clark is the best player. I bet if you asked LSU, they wouldn’t tell you. I bet if you asked Texas, they wouldn’t tell you,” Auriemma said, referencing JuJu Watkins, Angel Reese and Maddie Booker’s dominance for the Trojans, Tigers and Longhorns, respectively.
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“I think every coach thinks the player that’s on their team that’s helping them the most is the best player. Listen, I’ve coached the best player in the country a lot more than anybody else coaching in this tournament. It’s OK for somebody to say their player is (the best).”
Those weren’t just empty platitudes, of course. In 13 career NCAA Tournament games, Bueckers has averaged 20 points per game, and she was especially instrumental in guiding the Huskies to the Final Four as a freshman and sophom*ore. This season, the Huskies could have collapsed with season-ending injuries to starters, such as Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme, but Bueckers kept them steady.
Bueckers already announced she is returning for her fifth season of eligibility next season, so her time in Storrs won’t be over even if UConn falls short of reaching the final weekend.
Paige Bueckers will RETURN next season to UConn “This will not be my last Senior Night” 🚨#ncaaw #bleedblue pic.twitter.com/gC1a4VKdo1
— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) February 17, 2024
But it’s obvious Auriemma and her teammates aren’t just thrilled about Bueckers’ return because she’s such a key to the Huskies’ success. They realize as much as anyone the difficulty of her journey and the fortitude it required to return.
Brady said that while she and Bueckers rehabbed together, the two friends relied on their shared faith as they each worked to return to full strength. There’s an understanding in the UConn locker room that the Huskies are a more confident, more dangerous team when Bueckers is on the floor. That they’re playing alongside a different caliber player who can take over the game at any moment.
It doesn’t hurt, either, that Bueckers has great snacks and is always willing to share her Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies.
“She’s an amazing player. To be out there on the court with her, it’s just — I’m so grateful for the experience and to be able to learn from her and grow with her,” freshman guard Ashlynn Shade said. “She makes the game so much easier for everyone else. … She’s probably the best scorer I’ve ever seen, passer, she has amazing defense. Everything she does is amazing.
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“To be here with her, you don’t get many chances like this as a player.”
Bueckers credited Auriemma for her continued growth — “I know with him there’s no choice,” she quipped — and said playing for the 70-year-old Hall of Famer has pushed her to reach a higher level of greatness.
When UConn plays Duke in the Sweet 16 on Saturday, the Blue Devils must make it their highest priority to have an answer for the 6-foot guard who also moonlights as a forward for the Huskies. Bueckers is shooting 54 percent from the field, 41.8 percent from deep and is averaging career highs with 21.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
To be back on this stage at this time of year only feels right.
“If you go by stats, if you go by efficiency, if you go by the entire box score and what she means to our team … I think she’s done more for our team than anybody else could have done on our team,” Auriemma said. “I wouldn’t trade her for anybody else.”
(Photo of Paige Bueckers: Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)
