The final step in Paige Bueckers' development? Being more selfish

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The final step in Paige Bueckers' development? Being more selfish

From an overall standout, Paige Bueckers’ first season back from a torn ACL was a complete success. She played in every game for the first time in her career, showed off an improved skillset, and brought home plenty of hardware: Consensus first-team All-American, Big East Player of the Year, Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player and Portland 3 Regional Most Outstanding Player.

Bueckers’ season ended on a sour note, though. In the Final Four vs. Iowa, she scored just 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting while committing four turnovers and failing to record a single block or steal. She took just three shots in the fourth quarter.

For Bueckers’ entire career, Geno Auriemma has pushed her to be more aggressive and selfish with the ball. She started to do that in the NCAA Tournament, only for her to revert back to her previous self in the final game.

Auriemma hopes that’s the last time he sees that version of Bueckers.

“It's a great learning experience for Paige. Paige is a patient person who waits and I think she has begun to learn that there's no waiting at this time of the year. It's ‘You make it happen yourself.’ You have to be more selfish,” he said afterward. “I know she wants to be the greatest teammate of all time but I think those days are over. She just needs to assert herself more.”

On the other team, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading scorer in college basketball because she had no problem calling her own number when necessary. That’s not always the model for Bueckers, though.

Despite Auriemma’s pleas for Bueckers to take more shots, he doesn’t want her to just become a copy of Clark. Bueckers has to figure out what works best for her.

“Each player follows their own path,” Auriemma said.

It’ll also help to have a full complement of players around Bueckers instead of the barebones, injury-ravaged squad that the Huskies had this past season. That’ll help take some of the defensive pressure off her and make it easier for her to get shots up.

“I do think the more scorers that we put around Paige, then obviously there's going to be more opportunities for her to do more things,” Auriemma said.

UConn should be able to provide that next season, barring another run of injuries. KK Arnold, Ashlynn Shade, and Qadence Samuels will all be a year older, while Azzi Fudd is expected back from a torn ACL. The Huskies will also add two highly-touted backcourt prospects in Morgan Cheli and Allie Ziebell.

That group, plus a healthier frontcourt and any potential transfer portal additions, should be a strong surrounding cast for Bueckers. Yet, for UConn to reach its potential next season, the superstar needs to learn how to be the alpha.

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