Geno Auriemma has added yet another big number to an already gaudy résumé with Paige Bueckers the sixth of his UConn Huskies to be selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft.
Watching Bueckers join Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart is all the more special to Auriemma knowing everything his feisty guard battled through during her career at UConn.
Advertisement
Auriemma said usually careers go smoothly uninterrupted. Bueckers became the first player to earn AP Player of the Year honors in her first year. Then injuries hampered her next two years before she finally was healthy again. Auriemma said there may have been times when Bueckers questioned if that was how her career would be remembered: The games she didn’t play or win, the Final Fours or national championships she didn’t win.
“That’s a lot, you know, when somebody’s anointed you as the next great player at UConn,” Auriemma said. “So for it to end the way it ended, it’s almost prophetic.”
The 23-year-old guard has faced that glare of the spotlight since her high school days in Minnesota.
Now the 5-foot-11 guard heads to the WNBA on the run of success expected since her arrival in Storrs, Connecticut, in 2021 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. She was one of the most efficient players in college basketball, playing 38 games this season and leading the Huskies to Auriemma’s 12th national championship and UConn’s first since 2016.
Advertisement
It’s been a whirlwind for Bueckers since that career-capping title April 6 with a championship parade, talk show appearances and WNBA rookie orientation.
The Dallas Wings made Bueckers the first overall pick in the WNBA’s 29th draft just as everyone expected of the guard for years.
Auriemma had some advice for Bueckers’ new coach, Chris Koclanes in Dallas.
“Pretend that everything’s OK,” Auriemma said. “Be ready for her to challenge you, and you should challenge her. She’s going to be a risk taker, and you’re going to have to live with some of the risks because most times they actually pay off. And that at the end of the day, and just keep in mind, she wants to win as much as you do, and she’ll spend more time to the gym than you do. So it’s a home run for both of them.”
Advertisement
Auriemma and his Huskies were on hand at The Shed in New York City to watch Bueckers take her next career step.
The UConn coach just turned 71 in late March. He also has 1,250 career victories — giving him a big lead over Tara VanDerveer who retired with 1,157 after the 2023-24 season. He doesn’t sound ready to join VanDerveer in retirement anytime soon. Auriemma noted someone might say he should have the good sense to “call it a day.”
Yet UConn keeps drawing top talent to a place Auriemma called special to so many.
“I think I need them more than they need me,” Auriemma said
