Paige Bueckers wants to make it her last season at UConn… and go out with a bang

If there’s one overriding lesson from the past four years of Paige Bueckers’ college basketball career, it’s this, she explains: “You never know what each day will bring.” You never know what life has to offer you.”

There was a time when Bueckers didn’t necessarily think that way, when she assumed her plans would come to fruition. Like when she lived in Storrs, Conn., in the fall of 2020. arrived. She knew then that her freshman season — already outlined with COVID-19 protocols of testing, masks and isolation — wouldn’t look exactly like she always imagined. a child. Still, as she reflected on the four seasons ahead of her, there was a sense of anticipation and progress: four years of healthy play, a pair of national titles, a graduation ceremony and, at the end of it, a seat in the 2024 WNBA Draft. .

Very little has gone according to plan. Bueckers was actually at the 2024 WNBA Draft, but she was there in support of her teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl being drafted. She described the evening as “surreal,” because she always imagined that the class she went in with next to Edwards and Mühl would be the class she would leave with. Instead, she’ll now watch them begin their WNBA careers on television as she returns to offseason workouts in college, using one of two available redshirt years.

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Bueckers has played just two healthy seasons of college basketball: as a freshman, when she was named National Player of the Year, and last season, when she was again an All-American. She reached three Final Fours in four years, but never won a title.

She has adjusted her expectations and envisions her name being called in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She plans to make the 2024-2025 season her final season at UConn, she said The Athletics.

“There is a much greater sense of urgency,” Bueckers said. “This is my last year that I get what I came here for, which is a national championship. … No more ‘passive Paige.’

As Bueckers enters her final chapter in Storrs and goes through her first (and final) offseason workouts in which she is completely healthy, she is focused on permanently changing her mindset while recognizing the need for flexibility. After all, that’s the lesson the past four years have taught her.

Bueckers’ last chance at a national title will be accompanied by some adjustments. Edwards and Mühl are gone. The three returning senior men – Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and Caroline Ducharme – are injured. Kaitlyn Chen, a transfer from Princeton, is beginning to adjust to the program after arriving on campus in late May.

But that roster change — nothing new for Bueckers — makes her mental shift all the more important as she prepares to carry so much more.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma can point to March to remind Bueckers of her focus. The conversation about Bueckers’ aggressive mentality has been “constant” since she arrived on campus in 2020, he said. But the Huskies’ recent history, an unexpected run to the Final Four led by Bueckers, provides all the evidence she needs to remain a little more selfish on the floor. Before the Big East tournament, Auriemma said he told Bueckers, “Paige, you need to get 30 every night. Just make life easier for everyone. We don’t have many options. We don’t have much choice. So this is what we have. And we can’t walk around with this stuff.”

In short: no more passive Paige.

Through five NCAA Tournament games, Bueckers’ game was completely improved. After averaging 21.3 points, 3.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game during the regular season, she averaged 25.8 points, 4.6 assists and 8 rebounds per game, leading the Huskies to their 23rd Final Four pulled.

“I like to score. I’ve always felt like I’m a pass-first player. I enjoy involving my teammates. I like to make sure everyone is happy,” says Bueckers. “But at the end of the day, everyone is happy when we win, and I think we have a better chance of winning if I’m aggressive.”

Auriemma added: “She’s too nice, too concerned about what other people think. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great, great quality. I just don’t know if it’s a good quality for a great superstar.”

Bueckers has learned too much over the past four seasons to make too many plans. Everything can change in an instant. She knows because she has been there (several times). But she’s approaching this offseason differently with a heightened sense of urgency. She wants to come in as a better scorer, passer and rebounder. Ask her where her game can be improved, and there’s no shortage of options that come to Bueckers’ mind: her range, 3-point shooting, off-the-dribble shooting, one-on-one movement, ball handling, playing on two feet. , experimenting with tempo.

She tries not to live too much in the past or to look too far into the future. She hasn’t yet rewatched the Huskies’ final game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament — a loss to Iowa — but she will get there. She knows she needs to watch it to completely turn the page on last season. Like the NCAA Tournament, there are lessons to be learned from those 40 minutes, but Bueckers still wonders if she had been a little more aggressive, maybe the match would have gone differently. A senior year at UConn will ensure she doesn’t feel that again after a single game, she said.

“I want to be an unselfish player, someone that people enjoy playing with, but at the same time I try to balance that by also being a killer, a scorer and a bucket getter,” she said. “It’s always been a struggle of trying to find the happy medium, but I think from now on, for the most part, I just have to be more aggressive first.”

(Photo by Paige Bueckers: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)