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


UConn sophomore guard Paige Bueckers underwent surgery on Monday afternoon to repair an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear. The timetable for her return is estimated to be eight weeks from Monday, which would make her available in early February.

Bueckers suffered the injury on Dec. 5 during the final minute of UConn's matchup against rival Notre Dame. At the time of her injury, Bueckers led the Huskies in points, assists, and steals
 

Unfortunately set of circumstances. Feel for her. I made a point of watching her perform whenever I could as she could Dom I nate a game with such apparent little effort.
 

Unfortunately set of circumstances. Feel for her. I made a point of watching her perform whenever I could as she could Dom I nate a game with such apparent little effort.
The other thing about her, that is really rare, is that she can dominate a game with-out needing to score. And she makes it look pretty easy. If one is just looking at her stats to see what kind of player she is, you're missing a lot of what makes her great.
 



I want to be an optimist and think nc st can win, but I'm also not stupid. Ncaa will do everything in their power to have her in the final 4 or they won't sell out.
Kinda curious about exactly what, specifically, the NCAA plans to do, to ensure that UConn wins. Will they directly communicate with officials on the floor during the game to make sure the "call" goes the right way? Or will they meet with officials before the game to remind them which way the close calls need to go to make sure Paige makes it to the Final Four? Is there a specific fund from which the money needed to buy off officials is alotted?

Just asking because you brought up the idea that the NCAA suits might try to unfairly influence the outcome. I'm guessing that any 50/50 call that goes against UConn tonight will be an obvious sign of unfair influence as opposed to just being what that particular official saw and called?
 


Kinda curious about exactly what, specifically, the NCAA plans to do, to ensure that UConn wins. Will they directly communicate with officials on the floor during the game to make sure the "call" goes the right way? Or will they meet with officials before the game to remind them which way the close calls need to go to make sure Paige makes it to the Final Four? Is there a specific fund from which the money needed to buy off officials is alotted?

Just asking because you brought up the idea that the NCAA suits might try to unfairly influence the outcome. I'm guessing that any 50/50 call that goes against UConn tonight will be an obvious sign of unfair influence as opposed to just being what that particular official saw and called?
I would say if NCAA did anything to help UConn, it already did by where the game is being played, essentially home court advantage. The ones with the whistles will call what they see.
 


I want to be an optimist and think nc st can win, but I'm also not stupid. Ncaa will do everything in their power to have her in the final 4 or they won't sell out.
No need to worry. According to Julie Manning, Deputy Athletics Director at the U, they were only a few hundred seats short of a sell out as of the middle of last week.
 


Kinda curious about exactly what, specifically, the NCAA plans to do, to ensure that UConn wins. Will they directly communicate with officials on the floor during the game to make sure the "call" goes the right way? Or will they meet with officials before the game to remind them which way the close calls need to go to make sure Paige makes it to the Final Four? Is there a specific fund from which the money needed to buy off officials is alotted?

Just asking because you brought up the idea that the NCAA suits might try to unfairly influence the outcome. I'm guessing that any 50/50 call that goes against UConn tonight will be an obvious sign of unfair influence as opposed to just being what that particular official saw and called?
the usual just like Indiana's game, let Uconn players push Indiana players and no call foul, but if Indiana even looks at Uconn the wrong way FOUL! Let's not forget last season's elite 8 where Baylor player was fouled by both players and nothing was called.
 



the usual just like Indiana's game, let Uconn players push Indiana players and no call foul, but if Indiana even looks at Uconn the wrong way FOUL! Let's not forget last season's elite 8 where Baylor player was fouled by both players and nothing was called.
Wouldn't it be great if Gophers were criticized the same way UConn is...it would mean we were winners.
 

the usual just like Indiana's game, let Uconn players push Indiana players and no call foul, but if Indiana even looks at Uconn the wrong way FOUL! Let's not forget last season's elite 8 where Baylor player was fouled by both players and nothing was called.
So you're saying that the NCAA will meet with the game officials before the game and tell them to "Let this go if one team does it, but call it if the other team does.", or do they poll the officials to see which team they're rooting for, then assign the correct group to call the game so as to get the desired result? What if one official has decided he wants one team to get the calls, but another is working for the other team? How exactly does the NCAA get all the officials to be pulling for the same team? Who is the person who meets with or calls the officials to give them the word on which team is supposed to win and how soon before said game does that official get the call?

What if the NCAA Suit tells the officials to call everything on one team and nothing on the other, and it appears the officials say "Yes Sir!" and then partway through the game, it becomes obvious that one official is actually calling the game straight up? Does the NCAA meet with the crew at halftime and tell the officials who are following orders to make sure Team A wins, that they need to make even more one-sided calls than they are already doing? Please, explain how this works!

I did not see the Baylor game to which you referred, but I'm very curious if the officials were told ahead of time by the NCAA Suits to favor one team with calls and screw the other team. Your original post inferred that's what will happen. I'm just curious about your thoughts on the process to make sure that happens.
 

So you're saying that the NCAA will meet with the game officials before the game and tell them to "Let this go if one team does it, but call it if the other team does.", or do they poll the officials to see which team they're rooting for, then assign the correct group to call the game so as to get the desired result? What if one official has decided he wants one team to get the calls, but another is working for the other team? How exactly does the NCAA get all the officials to be pulling for the same team? Who is the person who meets with or calls the officials to give them the word on which team is supposed to win and how soon before said game does that official get the call?

What if the NCAA Suit tells the officials to call everything on one team and nothing on the other, and it appears the officials say "Yes Sir!" and then partway through the game, it becomes obvious that one official is actually calling the game straight up? Does the NCAA meet with the crew at halftime and tell the officials who are following orders to make sure Team A wins, that they need to make even more one-sided calls than they are already doing? Please, explain how this works!

I did not see the Baylor game to which you referred, but I'm very curious if the officials were told ahead of time by the NCAA Suits to favor one team with calls and screw the other team. Your original post inferred that's what will happen. I'm just curious about your thoughts on the process to make sure that happens.

let me know if this was a foul or not, if it was don't ask me again about how Ncaa and refs helps Uconn.
 






let me know if this was a foul or not, if it was don't ask me again about how Ncaa and refs helps Uconn.
So every questionable call is obviously part of a plan to screw one team over the other?

You still haven't been able to give a plausible explanation as to how the process might work. I mean, if you're going to make those claims, you should be able to explain how the process might work and show some examples of that process in action. Remember, we're focusing on your claim that the NCAA somehow influences and directs how an officiating crew is going to call the game to make sure one team is favored over the other. Otherwise, it's just another crazy voice from the wilderness with wild conspiracy claims.

As any fan knows, there are literally at least 25-50 violations or fouls in every game that never get called. Do college officials miss calls? Absolutely. Nobody disputes that! Do they do it because of orders from higher up or because of a personal agenda? After talking with many basketball officials over the years, it's not a factor that I would even consider. BTW, if you're thinking that I must be one of them, I have actually officiated 2 8th grade girls basketball games in my life, about 40 years ago, and realized that it's not for me. :)

Also curious as to whether or not you've ever had a chance to sit down and have a calm conversation with a college level officiating crew and ask them about what they're looking for and their thought process while officiating games. You should do that sometime. It's incredibly illuminating and you realize that officials are trying to be as fair as they can while managing a game that is impossible to make every single correct call.
 

So every questionable call is obviously part of a plan to screw one team over the other?

You still haven't been able to give a plausible explanation as to how the process might work. I mean, if you're going to make those claims, you should be able to explain how the process might work and show some examples of that process in action. Remember, we're focusing on your claim that the NCAA somehow influences and directs how an officiating crew is going to call the game to make sure one team is favored over the other. Otherwise, it's just another crazy voice from the wilderness with wild conspiracy claims.

As any fan knows, there are literally at least 25-50 violations or fouls in every game that never get called. Do college officials miss calls? Absolutely. Nobody disputes that! Do they do it because of orders from higher up or because of a personal agenda? After talking with many basketball officials over the years, it's not a factor that I would even consider. BTW, if you're thinking that I must be one of them, I have actually officiated 2 8th grade girls basketball games in my life, about 40 years ago, and realized that it's not for me. :)

Also curious as to whether or not you've ever had a chance to sit down and have a calm conversation with a college level officiating crew and ask them about what they're looking for and their thought process while officiating games. You should do that sometime. It's incredibly illuminating and you realize that officials are trying to be as fair as they can while managing a game that is impossible to make every single correct call.
guess you missed the and one that was not called for Nc st to get an and one play. Again keep living in that bubble, let me know when a #2 seed had home court in the elite 8 over a #1 in wbb.
 



let me know if this was a foul or not, if it was don't ask me again about how Ncaa and refs helps Uconn.
An obvious missed call by the “C” center official. I think the lead could also have made this call. However there is no conspiracy or pressure on the officials to make calls that favor one team. Don’t we have enough unhinged political conspiracies without going down the rabbit hole again?
 

An obvious missed call by the “C” center official. I think the lead could also have made this call. However there is no conspiracy or pressure on the officials to make calls that favor one team. Don’t we have enough unhinged political conspiracies without going down the rabbit hole again?
So they've gotten to you too huh? :)
 


let me know if this was a foul or not, if it was don't ask me again about how Ncaa and refs helps Uconn.
They can miss a call because they’re human and it happens in every game, not because of some conspiracy with no foundation. I suppose you believe Trump won the 2020 election too.
 


The Athletic:

While Mainstreet Bar and Grill might not have seen this coming (at least not to this extent), those around Bueckers did because they’ve seen it over the last decade. People have shown up here at games simply to watch Bueckers: A 10-year-old girl traveled from North Carolina to Minnesota to witness Bueckers’ final game as a high school senior. Fifth graders arrived every summer day at 7 a.m. for Hopkins’ Breakfast Club because “that’s what Paige did.” Hundreds of people lined the center court at Kennedy High School in 2018 when Bueckers’ AAU team played Azzi Fudd’s AAU team.

“She has blown it all the way up in every aspect,” says Tara Stark, who coached Bueckers for seven years in AAU and is now Hopkins’ head coach. “From people just wanting to know where she played and wanting to play at her school to the kids who know she was a part of Hopkins summer camps that now want to sign up for Hopkins summer camps.

“And it comes from the kind of person she is. She has always been the person that wants to give love to her fans, give love to the people who have made her reputation what it is. … She has just grown the game. It makes every kid — who has a dream or wants to be really good — believe that kind of a player can come out of Minnesota.”
 


Chip Scoggins

She stood at the edge of the basketball court all by herself facing the crowd, fists clenched, arms locked, and unleashed a full-throated scream, a moment captured in a photograph that quickly went viral.

Staring back at her is a sea of faces in various forms of exaltation. Adoring fans cheering and fist-pumping and answering back with their own screams, all of them captivated by a single player. Even the opposing team's cheerleaders, sitting on the court inches from her sneakers, have their eyes locked in, staring up in wonderment.

Add that snapshot from last weekend in Connecticut to the pile of evidence, a pile stacked so high now that this is undeniable: People can't take their eyes off Paige Bueckers.
 


Bueckers led the Huskies to the Final Four with an incredible performance in a double-overtime thriller against NC State in the Elite Eight. The sophomore poured in 27 points and snagged six rebounds in the 91-87 victory that earned the Huskies their 14th consecutive Final Four berth. And she did it while continuing to work her way back from surgery to repair a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus in her left knee.

"Our program is not going to win this game," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, addressing reporters after the win against NC State on Monday night. "Programs can get you to this game, but somebody needs to be big. Without a performance like that, there is no [Final Four]."
 





The Athletic:
Bueckers’ plan to bulk up revolves around a plan to help her stay healthy and achieve goals this season and beyond. She can better contend with opponents who gameplan to stymie her by playing physically against her — just look how South Carolina swarmed the point guard in the title game and how Bueckers was tossed around in an NCAA Tournament win over UCF. Though Bueckers loves challenging moments, she’s constantly in the fray and making the play often means ending up on the hardwood. This past season especially, every fall to the floor sent waves of worry through fans who were concerned about another injury.
[...]
Instead of going home like the rest of her teammates, Bueckers is dedicating the time to bulk up by staying on campus. Coach Geno Auriemma said to her, “Paige, you know, you do a lot for a lot of people. I think it’s time to start doing a lot of stuff for yourself.” Bueckers admits she’s “sort of a people pleaser” who likes to do everything for everybody else. So the biggest change for her was taking a step back this summer and staying in Storrs.
 


Draft eligible along with Boston and Brink and Van Lith (Azzi and Clark not for another year) but she'd miss most of 2023 WNBA season and would be taking a pay cut to be drafted so I'd imagine she returns
 




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