If there’s an overriding lesson from the final 4 years of Paige Bueckers’ faculty basketball profession, it’s this, she explains: “You by no means know what every day will convey. You by no means know what life is gonna throw at you.”
There was a time when Bueckers didn’t mandatory assume that manner, when she assumed her plans would come to cross. Like when she arrived in Storrs, Conn., within the fall of 2020. She knew then that her freshman season — already outlined with the COVID-19 protocols of testing, masks and isolation — wouldn’t look precisely the way in which she at all times imagined as a child. Nonetheless, when she thought concerning the 4 seasons in entrance of her, there was a way of expectation and progress: 4 years of wholesome play, a number of nationwide titles, a commencement and on the finish of it, a seat on the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Little or no has gone to plan. Bueckers was, in actual fact, on the 2024 WNBA Draft, however she was there supporting her teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl being drafted. She described the evening as “surreal,” having at all times imagined that the category she entered with alongside Edwards and Mühl can be the category with which she exited. As a substitute, she’s now watching them start their WNBA careers on tv as she returns to school offseason exercises, utilizing one of many two accessible redshirt years.
Paige Bueckers supporting her teammates on the #WNBADraft pic.twitter.com/iQnI3sjNht
— The Athletic WBB (@TheAthleticWBB) April 16, 2024
Bueckers has performed solely two wholesome seasons of faculty basketball, as a freshman, when she was named nationwide Participant of the 12 months, and final season, when she was once more an All-American. She has superior to a few Remaining Fours in 4 years however by no means gained a title.
She has readjusted her expectations, imagining her title known as within the 2025 WNBA Draft. She plans to make the 2024-25 season her final at UConn, she advised The Athletic.
“There’s a a lot bigger sense of urgency,” Bueckers mentioned. “That is my final 12 months to get what I got here right here for, which is a nationwide championship. … No extra ‘Passive Paige.’”
As Bueckers enters her closing chapter in Storrs, going by means of her first (and final) faculty offseason exercises wherein she’s fully wholesome, she’s centered on definitively shifting her mentality whereas recognizing the necessity for flexibility. In any case, that’s the lesson the final 4 years have taught her.
Bueckers’ closing shot at a nationwide title will include some changes. Edwards and Mühl are gone. The three returning upperclassmen — Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and Caroline Ducharme — are coming off accidents. Kaitlyn Chen, a Princeton switch, is settling into this system after arriving on campus in late Might.
However that turnover in roster — nothing new to Bueckers — makes her psychological shift that rather more essential as she prepares to shoulder a lot extra.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma can level to March to remind Bueckers of her focus. Dialog round Bueckers’ aggressive mentality have been “fixed” since she arrived on campus in 2020, he mentioned. However the Huskies’ current historical past, an sudden run to the Remaining 4, led by Bueckers, supplies all of the proof she must proceed to be a bit extra egocentric on the ground. Earlier than the Huge East event, Auriemma mentioned he advised Bueckers, “Paige, you want it to get 30 each evening. Simply make life simpler on all people else. We don’t have plenty of choices. We don’t have plenty of selections. So that is what we acquired. And we will’t be milling round with these items.”
In brief: No extra Passive Paige.
By way of 5 NCAA Match video games, Bueckers’ recreation fully elevated. After averaging 21.3 factors, 3.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds a recreation throughout the common season, she averaged 25.8 factors, 4.6 assists and eight rebounds a recreation, pulling the Huskies to their twenty third Remaining 4.
“I really like to attain. I’ve at all times felt like I’m a pass-first participant. I like to get my teammates concerned. I really like to ensure all people’s blissful,” Bueckers mentioned. “However on the finish of the day, everyone seems to be blissful after we win, and I believe we have now a greater probability of successful once I’m aggressive.”
Added Auriemma: “She’s too good, too caring about what different folks assume. Don’t get me unsuitable, that’s an ideal, nice high quality. I simply don’t know if it’s an ideal high quality for (a) killer celebrity.”
Bueckers has realized an excessive amount of over the previous 4 seasons to make too many plans. All the things can change instantly. She is aware of, as a result of she has been there (a number of instances). However with a heightened sense of urgency, she’s approaching this offseason in another way. She desires to return in as a greater scorer, passer and rebounder. Ask her the place her recreation can enhance, and there’s no scarcity of choices that come to Bueckers’ thoughts: her vary, 3-point capturing, off-the-dribble capturing, one-on-one strikes, ballhandling, enjoying off two ft, experimenting with tempo.
She’s attempting to not dwell up to now an excessive amount of and likewise not look too far into the long run. She hasn’t rewatched the Huskies’ closing recreation of the 2024 NCAA Match but — a loss to Iowa — however she’ll get there. She is aware of she has to observe it to fully flip the web page from final season. Identical to the NCAA Match, there can be classes to glean from these 40 minutes, however Bueckers nonetheless wonders if she had been only a bit extra aggressive, possibly the sport would’ve turned out in another way. With one closing 12 months at UConn, she’ll be sure to not really feel that after any recreation once more, she mentioned.
“I need to be an unselfish participant, anyone that individuals like to play with, however on the identical time, I’m attempting to stability that with additionally being like, a killer, a scorer, a bucket getter,” she mentioned. “It’s at all times been a battle of me looking for the blissful medium, however I believe for probably the most half from right here on out I gotta be extra aggressive first.”
(Picture of Paige Bueckers: Steph Chambers / Getty Photos)
