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The desire to win a national championship is fueling Paige Bueckers’ final season at UConn.
“I want to prove that I’m a winner at every level,” she told The Ringer’s Mirin Fader.
Fader explained how the remark came as Bueckers was at the Huskies’ team facility, which is adorned with photos of legendary players from the program’s history and reminders of past success.
The 6’0″ guard has already put together an impressive career. She was the national player of the year as a true freshman. She returned from a torn ACL to become a unanimous All-American for the second time last year. And UConn has reached the Final Four in all three seasons in which she was healthy.
Head coach Geno Auriemma knows what’s at stake from a legacy standpoint, though.
“If, for whatever reason, we don’t win a national championship this year, she’ll feel like, ‘I’m the best player to ever play at Connecticut that didn’t win a national championship,'” he said to Fader.
Breanna Stewart was not just a four-time champion but a four-time NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player winner. Diana Taurasi won three titles. Sue Bird, Tina Charles and Maya Moore claimed two titles apiece. Rebecca Lobo, Nykesha Sales, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters were on the 1994-95 team that lifted a title and signaled the start of UConn’s dynasty.
The women’s basketball landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, even just in the time since Stewart graduated in 2016. The talent is becoming more dispersed and Auriemma can no longer count on having the kind of star-studded rosters that were a regular sight in Storrs.
Just as UCLA couldn’t be the kings of the men’s game forever, the rest of the field was going to chase down the Huskies sooner or later. Because of that, it would be a little unfair to hold Bueckers up against the standards of previous generations of UConn royalty.
Should she fail to win a national title, however, it will be a notable omission from an otherwise spotless résumé.