October 24, 2023 9:49 p.m. • Last updated: October 24, 2023 9:49 p.m.
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma answers a question during the Big East NCAA college basketball media day, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
New York — Here’s a scary thought about Paige Bueckers:
“Paige is a better basketball player now than when she was the national basketball player of the year,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of his star guard.
Big East coaches selected Bueckers as the Big East Preseason Player of the Year despite missing last season with a knee injury.
UConn’s opponents will soon find out what its teammates already know.
Bueckers, a redshirt junior, returns to the basketball court even better than before.
And she can’t wait.
“It’s a huge feeling of excitement to get back on the court, to start playing basketball again and doing what I love the most,” Bueckers said during Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden.
It’s hard to top what Bueckers accomplished as a freshman, winning several major awards including Associated Press Player of the Year, Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and All-America status, as well as Big East Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Then injuries started to hit, forcing Bueckers to sit out more than half of the 2021-22 season and all of last season.
Bad luck spread to the team.
Only two players on the roster appeared in all 37 games last season. The short-handed Huskies were eliminated by Ohio State in the NCAA Sweet 16.
But the Huskies are healthy this season. Ice Brady and Azzi Fudd have fully recovered from their past injuries.
Highly regarded recruit KK Arnold, named Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year, is a great addition.
“It’s the closest feeling I’ve ever had personally that we’re complete,” senior Nika Muhl said. “It’s going to be exciting to see how good we can be when we’re all together and we don’t have anyone on the sidelines and on the bench.”
There is no doubt that the Huskies are national championship contenders. They are the preseason pick to win the Big East, a conference they have dominated over the years. The Huskies received 10 first-place votes.
Big East coaches named senior Aaliyah Edwards, junior Azzi Fudd and Muhl to the preseason All-Big East team.
Bueckers’ return was a hot topic at Big East Media Day.
“She changes everything,” Muhl said. “There’s nothing she won’t change.” … She does everything on the field. She inspires confidence in everyone and she makes everyone so much better. She brings that feeling of comfort and relief to the field.
“For me, personally, I’m so happy for her as a friend and I’m really excited for her as a teammate too.”
Auriemma, now in her 39th year, said Bueckers took advantage of her time on the sidelines and returned an improved player.
“Any time you’re out for a long period of time, it takes a little time to get back into the swing of things,” Auriemma said. “She may not have played competitively, but she never left the game. So her workouts and her individual workouts right now, it’s the best I’ve seen her look like, even more than the first year.
“Unfortunately it took this kind of injury. But she used it to her advantage; She’s bigger, stronger, faster. She just sees things a little differently now than she did when she was a child. I don’t want to say that people have forgotten who she is, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen her perform at a very high level.
“Even the year before her injury, she was sitting around a bit. So the difference between having Paige and not having Paige is that your chances of competing for a national championship have increased exponentially.
