All Things Paige Bueckers Recruitment Thread - Videos, Analysis, Tid-Bits, Articles

I went to some elite 16 tournament, 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams. The boys teams were really fun to watch. Bueckers was worth the price of admission. She is so skilled, deceptively athletic and strong. Love her game. Honestly was really enjoyable to just see her dominate a game without breaking a sweat.
 




She was her usual amazing self- that late 3 she made in OT was crazy !
 




Paige is good no doubt about it, but how about giving Geno some credit for how he moves Paige around, coming off of doubles, always moving from one side to the other, never standing around. If you watch our offense we stand and watch the PG too much. I would like to see a stat, Uconn touches in each half court possession.
on the flip side I thought South Carolina was terribly undisciplined, the coaching and allowing crazy shot after crazy shot was very poor. SC game plan is use all that athleticism to not allow the other team to score, which isn't a bad plan - but the offensive game plan was horrendous.. They had Paige in foul trouble and instead of going at her, they settled for playing pick up ball shots.
 


"She's that player," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said afterward. "She's that player that comes along that people talk about — 'Hey did you see that kid from Connecticut?' She's that kid."
 



I love Geno, and his big complaint about Bueckers is that she does not shoot enough. That is says a lot of her. I thought UConn did not play that well, and they still won.
 

If you want to see quality Minnesota basketball, look outside the borders.
The two stars of the best men's and women's teams on display last night were from MN. For me it's hard to watch but am happy for them as individual athletes.
 

The two stars of the best men's and women's teams on display last night were from MN. For me it's hard to watch but am happy for them as individual athletes.

At least we will only be jealous of Gonzaga for this year (unless Holmgren goes there), We will have to watch Paige for 4 years.
 


ESPN Story on Azzi Fudd
SIX WEEKS LATER, after her own season had been shut down, Bueckers pulls up to the Fudds' home. Like Fudd, Bueckers has been in remote learning for more than a month, and her spring club basketball season seemed more doubtful by the day. She'd heard all about Fudd's piecemeal routine and decided she needed to be there too.

"The way they just find places to work out, even if it's in their house," Bueckers says. "I wanted to be a part of that."

Every morning, Bueckers says, the alarm goes off at 6 or 7. If she and Azzi don't get out of bed, Katie yells down the stairs to get them to move. The first stop of the day is to get shots up at District Sportscenter in Alexandria, Virginia, empty except for them. Then they get breakfast before helping Katie with the camp she runs outside for a group of girls in the neighborhood. Strength and conditioning is in the afternoon, either at a track or in the yard or street, anywhere they could run. Then maybe more shooting on their makeshift court or some more cardio.

"It was almost two- or three-a-days that we did," Bueckers says. "She never gets tired of working out."

Azzi and Paige sometimes play one-on-one. But it's never just one game; always a series. Best of five games from each corner, each wing and the top of the key.

The ball bounces between them. Check. Over and over, move after move. Sweat pours as they grind -- iron sharpening iron. Fudd hasn't played consistently in weeks. Her knee still bothers her. And Bueckers, the top recruit in the 2020 class, is formidable. "She might have won two spots," Bueckers says, "but I always won three. If she told you any different, then she's lying."

"I think if we played now, I'd definitely be more of a competition," Fudd says.

Even after Bueckers moves on from the Fudds' and heads to UConn, Azzi continues the routine. Up early to shoot. Run wherever she can. Ballhandling in her basement. She heads to New York for private sessions with renowned skills trainer Chris Brickley, or to South Carolina to work with Brandon Payne, who trains Curry.

"She is, quite frankly, better than some of the NBA guys I've worked with at understanding what needs to be done day in and day out to create new improvement opportunities for herself," Payne says.

Says Brickley, "At the high school level, I don't think I've ever worked with anyone that could shoot the ball as well as she does."
 





My vote is for Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the national freshman of the year.
The competition in the Big East is no where near the Big Ten - not even close.
It will be hard for UCONN to win the NCAAs when they have faced a schedule of cream puffs all season. Geno Auriemma is a good coach, but much more important - a super recruiter.
 

My vote is for Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the national freshman of the year.
The competition in the Big East is no where near the Big Ten - not even close.
It will be hard for UCONN to win the NCAAs when they have faced a schedule of cream puffs all season. Geno Auriemma is a good coach, but much more important - a super recruiter.
Another reason it would have great to have landed Bueckers.

At least 8 games of Clark vs. Bueckers.
 

My vote is for Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the national freshman of the year.
The competition in the Big East is no where near the Big Ten - not even close.
It will be hard for UCONN to win the NCAAs when they have faced a schedule of cream puffs all season. Geno Auriemma is a good coach, but much more important - a super recruiter.
IMO Caitlin Clark is Steph Curry, and Paige Bueckers is Larry Bird. Both are great players.
 



First team AP All-America:

Paige Bueckers came to the UConn women's basketball program with a lot of hype surrounding her.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press All-America team Wednesday. She's only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and UConn's Maya Moore.

Bueckers received 28 first-place votes from the national panel of 30 media members that vote each week in the AP Top 25 poll. She was joined by Dana Evans of Louisville, Aliyah Boston of South Carolina, Rhyne Howard of Kentucky and NaLyssa Smith of Baylor.

"Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Who's done more than her? And if you can give me a better argument, then I would say I'll vote for them, too. But I don't think you can."

Bueckers averaged 19.7 points, 6.1 assists and shot nearly 54% from the field and a remarkable 47% from 3-point range. She became the first UConn player to score 30 or more points in three straight games, including a 31-point effort against South Carolina. She also set the school record for assists in a game (14) and the freshman mark.

"You see some of the things that Paige does with the ball, and you realize that if somebody told you she was a senior, you wouldn't be surprised," Auriemma said. "She handles the ball like one and she sees the floor like one."
 


Bueckers and Suggs:

Before they were separated by thousands of miles, before they became two of the most exciting basketball players in the country, Jalen Suggs and Paige Bueckers were little kids with common dreams growing up together in the Twin Cities metro area of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Over never-ending games of 21 at Suggs family barbecues or while sipping milkshakes side by side, they discovered a shared truth: When the game is on the line, and when the lights are brightest, they want the ball in their hands.

Never is that truth more important than now -- on the eve of the 2021 NCAA basketball tournaments. Suggs, a projected lottery pick in the 2021 NBA draft, looks to deliver undefeated and top-seeded Gonzaga its first national championship in program history. And Bueckers, who has had one of the most prolific freshman seasons in UConn history, looks to bring the title back to Storrs for the first time since 2016 and the 12th time in all. For the next three weeks, and for years to come, the basketball brilliance forged in Minnesota will be on display for the entire country to see.
 









I have probably a stupid question, can a woman college basketball ball player skip school or leave early to play professionally over seas then come back to the WNBA? Or does it specifically mean you have to play certain amount to time in NCAA? I know foreign players are often drafted in the WNBA. Regardless it should be Paige’s choice if it’s a choice on the men’s side.
 

They can play outside the U.S. as a pro. But they can't in the WNBA. U.S. players have to be turning 22 that calendar year or be four years out of high school.
So you answered my question while I was posting it-thanks. So realistically Paige could leave the US and play professionally for a few years, where I hear they make more money then the WNBA, come back at 22 or 3 years from now to play. Meanwhile WNBA loses a good marketing player and we can’t enjoy watching her play, seems stupid to me.
 




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