UConn star Paige Bueckers is back, stronger and ‘even more confident’-ZoomTech News

It was an early October day in Storrs, Connecticut, and UConn girls’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma gathered his coaches collectively for a movie session on the Werth Household UConn Basketball Champions Middle. The Corridor of Fame coach found some points together with his workforce that he needed to repair, totally on the defensive finish. In looking for out who the principle wrongdoer was in these errors, he noticed a first-rate alternative to interrupt down his finest participant: Paige Bueckers. 

“Your entire movie session was me b—-ing about her,” the 11-time nationwide champion mentioned when recalling the story at Large East media day inside Madison Sq. Backyard earlier this week. “It is by no means occurred earlier than the place a whole movie session has been about her. [Bueckers] simply sat there stone-faced taking a look at it. You can see that she was actually, actually embarrassed by it as a result of she does not ever wish to appear to be she does not have all the pieces underneath management.

“Afterward, and for this reason I like teaching, she came visiting to me and mentioned, ‘I do know why you probably did that. You had been simply choosing on me as a result of the opposite guys cannot take it. That is OK, I get it.'”

Auriemma’s response to his All-American level guard: “No, I did it since you sucked.” 

It has been a protracted and winding highway for the 22-year-old Bueckers, who missed all of final season with a torn ACL and solely noticed motion in 17 video games as a sophomore after having surgical procedure to restore a meniscus tear and tibial plateau fracture in December 2021. However after spending numerous months away from the court docket whereas recovering from damage, getting criticized for issues she was doing on the hardwood was sarcastically … satisfying for the 2021 Nationwide Participant of the Yr.

“[Auriemma] really had been extraordinarily good to me the primary couple weeks of follow as a result of I believe he was joyful to have me again. I used to be sort of over that … that was sufficient for me,” Bueckers mentioned. “He wasn’t yelling at me or getting on me. Possibly I used to be doing nicely. Who is aware of? However that movie session was like, ‘Rip Paige on each single factor she did.’ 

“He would at all times pause the video after I wasn’t trying on the ball, simply after I was turning. It was a ‘Decide on Paige’ factor, nevertheless it was enjoyable. I loved it. I missed that, and I am prepared to take that at any time when. I used to be not in the fitting spot on protection, and he let me hear it. He let me know.”

In some ways, that sums up the connection Auriemma and Bueckers have had all through their journey collectively at UConn. Sadly for Bueckers, who was lately named a Preseason AP All-American and Large East Participant of the Yr, she has spent extra time recovering from damage than really enjoying.

Nevertheless it’s throughout these moments, when Auriemma is giving Bueckers some “powerful love,” that she shines. It is why the Corridor of Famer adores his celebrity guard.

“In Paige’s thoughts, that is OK, I might be that particular person that you may simply get after, and I am OK with it,” Auriemma mentioned when reviewing his movie session of Bueckers. “To me, when the most effective participant in your workforce thinks it is OK if you wish to hit them with all the opposite pictures that different guys on the workforce cannot take, that is when you realize you may have one thing particular. That is what I’ve at all times preferred about her. The more durable you go at her, the more durable she responds and the higher she is. Not all people’s like that right this moment.” 

When Bueckers has been wholesome, she’s been practically unstoppable on the basketball court docket. Throughout her freshman season, Bueckers averaged 20.0 factors, 5.7 assists, 4.9 rebounds and a couple of.3 steals per recreation en path to a Remaining 4 look. She was the primary freshman in girls’s faculty basketball historical past to earn the Wood Award, Naismith Trophy, AP Participant of the Yr and USBWA Participant of the Yr in the identical season, main the Huskies in factors, assists, steals and 3-point subject objective proportion. 

As a sophomore, when she recovered from her surgical procedure, Bueckers proceeded to drive Connecticut to 10 consecutive wins, a Large East Match crown and a visit to the nationwide championship recreation earlier than getting defeated by South Carolina. 

Now, Bueckers is trying to have a season of redemption following a yr by which accidents piled up once more. She missed the complete 2022-23 marketing campaign because the Huskies’ NCAA report of 14 consecutive Remaining 4 appearances ended with a Candy 16 loss to Ohio State. 

After experiencing the style of falling wanting the nationwide semifinals, you might really feel the sense of starvation and depth from the Huskies inside Madison Sq. Backyard on Tuesday afternoon. Each time preseason expectations are mentioned with this yr’s group, it begins with a knock on wooden for Bueckers, Ice Brady (missed all of final yr with dislocated patella in her proper knee), Azzi Fudd & Co. to remain wholesome. 

However amid all that, there was one thing the 69-year-old Auriemma mentioned on Tuesday that stood out above each story, anecdote and one-liner he shared.

“Paige is a greater basketball participant now than she was when she gained Nationwide Participant of the Yr,” Auriemma mentioned. “I believe whenever you watch as a lot basketball as she does, otherwise you love the sport as a lot as she does, you are always studying. She is aware of extra in regards to the recreation of basketball and the nuances of basketball than she did as a freshman. She is aware of her physique higher and she or he feels extra assured on the market. She knew she wasn’t large or sturdy sufficient to deal with what was coming at her, and she or he appears like she’s prepared for all of that now. She has extra of an edge now than she did again then. Again then, she performed for enjoyable. Now, she performs with a function — to win. 

“I simply see a maturity in her that I believe will assist her and assist us. She simply has one thing about her that is completely different. She’s extra intentional about issues now.” 

As for Bueckers herself, the redshirt junior guard from Minnesota was fast to level out her personal self-belief and management qualities she has developed throughout her time away from the hardwood.

“I believe I am much more assured than I used to be earlier than,” mentioned Bueckers, who can have not performed in 584 days when she steps on the ground for the Huskies’ season opener on Nov. 8. “In my physique, I really feel loads stronger. I believe I can learn the sport otherwise, and I am utilizing my voice now. I believe I am a greater chief.” 

After a number of surgical procedures and experiencing fixed setbacks and adversity all through her journey, Bueckers has gained a brand new perspective on all the pieces in her life.

“I believe over these previous couple of years, I’ve simply been so grounded in being humble, and being appreciative of each little factor that I expertise in life,” Bueckers mentioned. “Even the damage, I really feel prefer it was a blessing in disguise as a result of it modified plenty of who I’m.

“Wanting on the longevity of how I would like my profession to go, I wish to play for 20-plus years, so altering the habits I’ve now will assist me in the long term. So, each time I can put on the UConn jersey, placing that jersey on and going out on the court docket to play a recreation, it is a surreal feeling. I by no means wish to take it without any consideration. I wish to respect it as a lot through the a hundredth time as I did the primary time.” 

Bueckers adopted that by citing a topic that may be very close to and pricey to her coronary heart: serving to develop the game of girls’s basketball.

“Simply to see what number of youngsters look as much as me, simply because I used to be simply that little child trying as much as individuals, so for me to be a optimistic function mannequin and create as a lot ‘I might be her someday’ as I can, I believe the massive factor for me these days has been displaying individuals that you may come again from an ACL damage and be simply nearly as good, if not higher than you had been earlier than,” Bueckers mentioned. “I wish to present little ladies that they will do the identical factor. To be part of the rise of girls’s basketball is superb as a result of girls’s sports activities have at all times been nice. We’re now getting the media consideration that we deserve.” 

Auriemma has seen one other shift in his star level guard heading into this season.

“When it is [basketball] taken away from you, a part of your soul is lacking,” Auriemma mentioned of Bueckers’ mindset. “Then you definitely get it again, and all the pieces modifications.” 

Connecticut, ranked No. 2 within the Preseason AP Prime 25 Ballot, will depend on Bueckers, Brady, Fudd (15.1 PPG final yr), Aaliyah Edwards (16.6 PPG, 9.0 RPG) and Nika Muhl (7.1 PPG, 7.9 APG) this season, in addition to Large East Preseason Freshman of the Yr, KK Arnold. It is clear that Arnold, a 5-foot-9 rookie guard from Wisconsin, has added one thing contemporary to UConn’s backcourt. 

“KK’s a pleasure to play with,” Bueckers mentioned. “The energetic particular person that you just see up on the stage is what she is as a basketball participant as nicely. She’s extraordinarily quick, fast and aggressive. She creates plenty of havoc and is someone who will at all times decide up full court docket and tackle an task. She’s actually enjoyable to play with.” 

Auriemma mentioned the depth of this yr’s workforce is the largest power, as a result of for the primary time in a number of years, UConn has a number of models it will possibly follow with and construct up forward of the season. There have been video games lately when the Huskies have been all the way down to seven scholarship gamers as a result of damage bug hitting this system so arduous. 

How does Auriemma reply to questions surrounding accidents and staying wholesome? 

“Apart from not enjoying, stopping accidents is unimaginable,” the eight-time Naismith Coach of the Yr mentioned. “And anyone who thinks they’ve the key to stopping accidents might be promoting you one thing out of a bottle in a lined wagon. All the pieces that may be completed is at all times completed at each college to attempt to stop issues from occurring. 

“What are we doing in a different way at follow? We’re going more durable than we have ever went at any time within the final two to 3 years. So, my response is, ‘Let’s follow more durable.’ You may’t do that each one yr, clearly, however now that you’ve extra gamers, it is a lengthy yr and a protracted trip. We’re within the preseason part proper now. It is presupposed to be troublesome and arduous. So, we’re taxing them.” 

With the season set to get underway in lower than two weeks, and the anticipation constructing round Bueckers’ return to the court docket, there is a degree of vitality surrounding his new-look Huskies workforce, which options two of the top-15 freshmen within the nation, along with the veteran core.

“It is identical to an amazing feeling of pleasure, simply getting again on the court docket and getting again to enjoying basketball, doing what I like probably the most,” Bueckers mentioned. “There is a starvation and a brand new vibe on the workforce, getting a brand new freshman class in, Ice and I getting back from accidents, there’s only a optimistic aura about this workforce. The theme of our season shall be quick tempo, each offensively and defensively, getting pictures fast throughout the shot clock and inflicting havoc defensively, choosing up full court docket or attempting some junk defenses. There’s plenty of various things that we have been engaged on. I will not say an excessive amount of, however there’s plenty of various things we will do.” 

Smiling from ear to ear whereas fielding questions from the media at MSG, Bueckers despatched a reminder in regards to the upcoming season to anybody who was listening.

“All people at UConn is aware of a nationwide championship makes it profitable,” she mentioned. “For me personally, it is having enjoyable enjoying the sport once more, being wholesome, and having fun with being on the court docket with my teammates.” 

John Fanta is a nationwide faculty basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports activities. He covers the game in a wide range of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Community to offering commentary on The Area of 68 Media Community. Observe him on Twitter @John_Fanta.

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