STORRS — A few games back, Paige Bueckers scored 31 points and didn’t have an assist. Her coach loved it.
Geno Auriemma, and even some opposing coaches like Dawn Staley, have suggested Bueckers should take more shots, maybe be a little more selfish. But she likes to pass and, if she had her way, Bueckers would have delivered the Big East Player of the Year award into the paint for Aaliyah Edwards. A layup.
“She had my vote,” Bueckers was saying Friday, after the UConn women’s basketball practice. “It’s not even a testament to what she has done this year, but to her entire four years here at UConn, the way she’s held it down, she’s been our most consistent player the last four years, the fact she has always been in the lineup, always been available to play.
“She has just done so much for us at both ends of the floor, the way she rebounds for an undersized team, almost averaging a double-double, the force that she plays with, the domination that she plays with, the consistency she plays with, I just thought she played extremely great throughout the whole year, especially in the Big East.”
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In a free-flowing, 13-minute conversation with state reporters before the Huskies headed down to Mohegan Sun for the Big East tournament, Bueckers revealed that one of her non-basketball childhood aspirations was to be an FBI agent or, since she likes to argue, maybe a lawyer. So when it came time to make an effective closing argument for Aaliyah Edwards, the rock to her roll as UConn dances in March, she was right to the point.
“I’m always advocating for her,” Bueckers said. “For her to get more spotlight, more attention, not only in the Big East but in the national media as well. Huge fan of Aaliyah Edwards.”
Auriemma said he was hoping Bueckers and Edwards would tie for the award in the coaches’ balloting. That couldn’t be orchestrated, but there is a lot of stuff going on here. Cool stuff.
This, first of all, is what Bueckers’ leadership and teammateship looks like. This is what the bond between the classmates that came in as freshmen, Bueckers, Edwards, Nika Muhl, who has announced this is her last ride, looks like, fiercely loyal to each other after four years of COVID, injuries, disappointing finishes.
Bueckers was willing to give herself a break when it came to the other conference award she collected, the scholar-athlete honor, even if she referred to herself as “a nerd” on social media. “Should’ve worn my glasses,” she said.
“I work hard in the class room, take pride in getting good grades, take time in getting my assignments in on time,” Bueckers said. “It’s something my parents instilled in me, that pride in taking everything seriously, taking everything as important as what you do on the basketball court. It’s kind of nice to get a different award, acknowledge for hard work in class.”
Bueckers has a lot on her schedule to handle without an administrative assistant. She’s no longer the freshman with time to hang out in the coaches’ office, and while she still plays with exuberance, there is more to her game now. Though she is coming back to play as a fifth year, try to reclaim some of the year and a half she’s lost to knee injuries, this player of the year award bookended the one she earned as a freshman in 2021.
If Edwards, who is averaging 17.9 points and 9.5 rebounds, is deserving of the award — and she is for all the reasons Bueckers laid out in her brief — that doesn’t mean Bueckers has not had an MVP-type season in her return from the ACL tear. Beyond her stuffed stat line, 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 35 blocked shots, she has had to do it in an unfamiliar frontcourt role. Injuries robbed from UConn many things, including the normal approach of building around the talents of its resident superstar. It has had to be the other way around.
Last ride with my G <3
✌🏼out Uconn Nation, I will miss you so much! pic.twitter.com/QLSe2tEs1j— Nika Muhl (@MuhlNika) March 8, 2024
“When I was watching her play in November, I thought, ‘This isn’t the same Paige that used to play,'” Auriemma said. “So from November to the present, I think she has had an opportunity to grow back into her game, have the players learn how to play alongside her and not watch her and, with very few exceptions, make big shots, make big plays, probably the first power forward to ever be nominated for top shooting guard in the country. It goes to show you how she has learned to do anything she has to do to help her win.”
The Huskies (26-5, 18-0 in the Big East) will play No. 9 seed Providence in the conference quarterfinals Saturday at noon. Naturally, they dominated the awards. Edwards joined Bueckers on the first team, Ashlynn Shade the top freshman, Auriemma, nearing the end of what he considered one of the most difficult of his 39 seasons, was coach of the year.
There’s not much to prove with the conference they yet again overmatched, or at least not much to be learned this weekend. The real tests will come in the NCAA Tournament. UConn depends so heavily on Bueckers and Edwards, perhaps too heavily on two players to make a run to the Final Four. They’ll need another to step up each game, Shade with perimeter shooting, KK Arnold with her rim-attacking ability, Muhl with her defense, passing and just enough threes, Ice Brady with quality minutes behind Edwards.
A couple of ill-timed fouls could doom them in any game against a top opponent, because Auriemma just doesn’t have the personnel he trusts to sub, let alone go with different looks. The way they play is the way they play.
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The coach has said it would take miracle, or something like that, for UConn to make the Final Four. If anyone could make the case for such a thing, then go conjure it up, it’s, well, you know.
“The odds may not be in our favor,” Bueckers said. “But I don’t believe it’s not possible. I understand what he’s saying, understand our circ*mstances. Would it be different if we had a full, healthy team? That’s trying to figure out the unknown. We just try to stay focused with what we do have. We realize our margin of error is what it could be. Some things might have to roll our way, but we have tremendous pieces, great talent, great coaching staff, nobody is saying it’s not possible.”
Now, maybe she can assist Auriemma and make the case to Edwards, dangling that player of the year award, to return for another year?
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