The days are dwindling for Paige Bueckers. In eight days, a national champion will be crowned. In 16 days, she’s projected to be selected No. 1 in the WNBA Draft.
That April evening in New York will officially bring an end to her collegiate career. In the blink of a 40-minute game that doesn’t bend her way, that could happen anyway.
She didn’t let it on Saturday, erupting in the second half of the Spokane 4 regional semifinal for a career-best 40 points. No. 2 UConn advanced past No. 3 Oklahoma, 82-59.
“Little by little it's dawned on her, I think, that there is no next year, there is no, you know, 'I can get this anytime I want,'” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “You're going to have to get it now or it won't be available anymore.”
Bueckers wants a national championship, a goal that has eluded her through four years and a myriad of injuries in her collegiate career. She has an extra year available to her, but has said repeatedly she plans to leave UConn and enter the WNBA.
When she came into the program as the No. 1 recruit in the 2020 class — three spots ahead of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark — she and Huskies fans dreamed of a streak of championships. It would be the great ascension of the powerhouse back to the throne.
The Naismith Award finalist is three wins from winning one and only one. Time is running short.
“You do know in the back of your mind that every possession counts, and it will be my last season here at UConn,” Bueckers said. “So obviously, you know that, but you try to just stay in the present.”
For years, fans and basketball junkies have lived in the other tenses to place this present generational star in context. The future will bring more for Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and a long list of Huskies. But the past is how we measure her, because it was more successful.
Fair or not, Bueckers is playing for legacy in her final NCAA tournament.
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