Paige and Clark

Starting Five: Paige Bueckers earning the title of 'Miss March'
The superstar has taken her game to another level in the postseason.

Daniel Connolly
March 30, 2024

Before the Big East Tournament, Paige Bueckers had a conversation with herself. After an at-times grueling regular season in which UConn dealt with a slew of injuries and suffered five defeats, the start of the postseason provided a chance to hit the reset button.
Bueckers wanted to make sure she took advantage of it.
“I just told myself before the Big East Tournament, before this tournament, just to embrace it and have fun,” she said after the win over Syracuse.
The result? Only a stat-line of 28.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 3.2 steals and 2.8 blocks while shooting 53.9 percent overall and 44.1 percent from three across UConn’s five postseason games. Bueckers has been unstoppable since the calendar turned to the March.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. Aaliyah Edwards has been trying to tell everyone.
“I've been saying she’s built for March,” the senior forward said. “She is Miss March herself.”
In the Huskies’ second-round win over Syracuse, Bueckers carried the team with 32 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals on 25 shots. She refused to let UConn lose and was so spectacular that Geno Auriemma declared her the “best player in America.”
He would know, too.
“Listen, I've coached the best player in the country a lot more than anybody else coaching in this tournament,” Auriemma said.
Despite coming off a torn ACL, Bueckers already put together a spectacular campaign. She was named an AP and USBWA First Team All-American and then brought home Big East Player of the Year.
Somehow, she’s gotten even better in the postseason.
“If you go by stats, if you go by efficiency, if you go by the entire box score and what she means to our team playing power forward, I think she's done more for our team than anybody else could have done on our team,” Auriemma said.
“I wouldn't trade her for anybody else.”
Back in Portland
UConn got into Portland a day ahead of its official practice day at the Moda Center, so it went over to the Nike World Headquarters to get a workout in. For plenty of freshmen, that would’ve been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But for Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold, they’ve now done that twice.
“KK And I were on the (Nike) Hoop Summit team last year so we played here (at the Moda Center) and we practiced at the Nike (campus),” Shade explained. “We toured Nike.”
The different buildings at Nike HQ are named after famous athletes and coaches associated with the brand. So there’s Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, C. Vivian Stringer and Ken Griffey Jr. buildings, for example.
UConn practiced at the LeBron James Innovation Center — which, considering the opponent on Saturday, is certainly a better option than the one Shade has been in previously.
“It’s good we didn’t practice on the Coach K court,” she laughed, referencing the building named after former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The difference a year makes
It’s hard to believe UConn and Duke faced off just last season considering how much turnover both teams have experienced.
The Huskies won that contest, also in Portland during the PK85 tournament, behind 23 points from Lou Lopez Sénéchal and 14 points from Azzi Fudd. Aubrey Griffin started while Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson provided big minutes off the bench.
Just three of UConn’s current crop of healthy players played in that game: Aaliyah Edwards, Nika Mühl and Inês Bettencourt.
As for Duke, it has just four players still on the roster that were on the court in the last meeting: Kennedy Brown, Reigan Richardson, Ashlon Jackson and Vanessa De Jesus.
“They're a much younger, much different team than the team we played here last year. We're a little bit different team, as well,” Auriemma said. “I think both teams will be trying to get to know each other a little bit.”
Practice players
UConn arrived in the Rose City with a larger-than-usual contingent. In addition to the 14 members of the roster, coaches and support staff, the Huskies brought five male practice players with them. Granted, some serve in other roles — one of them is graduate assistant Jake Gallo — but it’s still unusual to see practice players on the road with the team.
Such is life when only eight players are healthy enough to practice, though.
“They are everything to us — and not just this year. I feel like for four years without them, we would never reach the things that we always reach,“ Mühl said. “Without them, we don't exist.”
Only the first 10 minutes of UConn’s practice were open to the media but there were no surprises during it. The team had full attendance — the eight active players all appeared to participate while the six injured players were present as well.
View from the other side
While our coverage is obviously UConn-centric, it’s always interesting to hear what the opposition thinks about the Huskies.
Kara Lawson on Paige Bueckers: “She's obviously a really talented player. Pretty complete in every area. I guess what stands out is there's not a lot of weaknesses. You have to be really disciplined, really sound. Even when you do that, she's good enough to still make plays… She's one of the best players in the country.”
Kennedy Brown on how Duke stacks up against UConn: “They're like a well-oiled machine. I think Coach Auriemma has them prepared and they just function really well as a unit. So being able to be be disruptive and get some disruption into that flow that they like to play with, then pushing the pace for us I think will be important as well. That's something we focus on every game, though. Our game plan hasn't really changed. Give what you can when you're out on the court, push the pace, then we'll get subs in. I think our depth will be crucial for us, as well.”