Paige Bueckers has unfinished business, leads UConn into Final Four

• The UConn Huskies are in their record 24th NCAA Final Four. Paige Bueckers is this season’s unparalleled leader.
• Bueckers has scored 31, 40 and 34 points in her last three NCAA tournament games.
• The Huskies will take on UCLA in the first game of Friday’s Final Four. They will need another magic performance from their senior guard.

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Connecticut senior guard Paige Bueckers is the star of the show once again. Monday, March 31, she led the Huskies into the Final Four for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

How is Bueckers leading the way this season?

In the Elite Eight win over USC, she scored 31 points and took over the game when the Trojans made a third-quarter run to get close. In the last three games of the tournament, she scored 31, 40 and 34 points. Afterward, she was asked how she knows when to give the team exactly what it needs. Of course, she deflected the question, giving credit to her teammates and coaches.

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“Having a great team that has so much confidence in you, a coaching staff that has so much confidence in you and just builds you up, so you feel confident in these moments,” said Bueckers. “But none of it would happen without the team and everything that goes into a performance. So just trying to read what the game is calling for, read what we need at that moment, at that time, whether it’s passing, rebounding, scoring, just trying to do whatever it takes to win.”

Where will her dynamic play take her next?

In two weeks, Bueckers will very likely be the number one pick in the WNBA draft. Her career numbers speak for themselves. She plays a balanced game that fills up every statistical category, but it’s the winning she is becoming most known for.

Other than the 2022-23 season, which she missed with an ACL injury in her left knee, she’s been to the Final Four. She’s still looking for that elusive national title. Geno Auriemma, who has coached over a dozen UConn all-time greats, such as Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, had high praise for Bueckers in his own way.

“I trust Paige to do the right thing ever since her freshman year. I trust her to always do the right thing after she’s tried all the s— she wants to do, then she’ll finally do the right thing,” Auriemma said.

He continued, saying Bueckers is the most positive player he’s ever coached and one of the most unique. He gave an example right there at the podium after the win over USC.

“She always takes the absolute highest view of what can happen, and no matter what anybody points out to her, like when she was sitting up here, I pointed to her four turnovers,” said Auriemma. “I said, ‘What was that?’ And she immediately went to the next column, and she said, ‘Look, I got it back, though I got four steals.’ Like that’s her mentality is always, ‘This is what I did to help us win. I’m not worried about what the other stuff was,’ and I’ve admired that in her forever.”

What’s next in the NCAA tournament?

Bueckers is trying to keep her young teammates in the moment, especially during tournament time when opponents can take advantage of anything that might be a distraction. UConn is the betting favorite to win the title in most sports books. But in the first game of the Final Four, Friday, April 4, they’ll face a UCLA team that has lost just twice all season.

They’ll need another focused “Paige Buckets” performance to make it to the championship game.