The legacy of Paige Bueckers

Last season Paige Bueckers made the decision to forgo the WNBA draft and return to UConn for one final go around. This decision paid off as Bueckers got her storybook ending to a legendary career.

The Hopkins, Minnesota native etched her name in UConn history and put herself on a long list of Husky greats that have won a national championship.

In Bueckers’ first three seasons she accomplished more than most players achieve in the entirety of their collegiate career.

Bueckers had arguably the best rookie season in women’s college basketball history and she was rewarded by becoming the first ever freshman to earn National Player of the Year.

In her sophomore season, Bueckers battled a knee injury which caused her to miss 19 games. However, she returned for the NCAA Tournament and led the Huskies to their first title game appearance since 2016, in which they fell to South Carolina.

The rest of the year didn’t go much smoother for Bueckers as she tore her ACL in August of 2022, causing her to miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season.

After facing some adversity, Bueckers returned to the court in the 2023-24 season and was back in full form.

In this season Bueckers earned many of the same awards that she did her freshman season, including Big East Player of the Year, Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player, NCAA All-Tournament team and First-Team All-American honors.

Even though she’d only played two full seasons between 2020 and 2024, Bueckers proved that she was WNBA caliber and would be a top-five pick in the 2024 draft.

However, through all these honors and accolades, there was still something missing – a national championship.

It’s rare that a generational UConn Husky would leave Storrs without bringing home a trophy. There was a thought that this could’ve been the case for Bueckers, but she had other plans.

In 2025 Bueckers completed her legacy as not only one of the greatest UConn Huskies of all-time, but one of the greatest women’s basketball players of all-time.

This season Bueckers earned Big East Player of the Year honors for the third time in her career. Bueckers was also a unanimous First-Team All-American, marking the third time she’d achieved this honor.

For the second time in her career Bueckers received the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year awarded.

The list of awards that Bueckers achieved multiple times goes on, but it’s her place in the UConn record books that completes her legacy.

Bueckers reached 1,000 points in her 55th career game, which ties with Maya Moore as the fastest Husky to do so. Bueckers stands alone as the fastest player to reach 2,000 points, doing so in 102 games.

Bueckers owns the program record for most points in the NCAA Tournament with 477. She also broke the UConn record for most points in an NCAA Tournament game after scoring 40 against Oklahoma in this year's Sweet 16.

Finally, Bueckers finished with the program's top scoring average at 19.8 points and third all-time in career points with 2,439.

Winning a national championship became the cherry on top of a legendary career and Bueckers’ decision to remain in college became a life-changing one. Her mark is one that’s going to be left on college basketball forever.

Gianna Dowling is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email gmd5738@psu.edu.