Notebook: Bueckers undecided on future; UConn's latest injury updates

On Wednesday, UConn women’s basketball’s players (sans Ayanna Patterson, who had an appointment) met with the media for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign ended in March.

Injury updates

Paige Bueckers

Bueckers is back on the court after missing the 2022-23 season with a torn ACL. She’s made significant progress — she can participate in nearly all individual and team workouts, she’s cleared for contact and she’s been playing 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 — but is still waiting to be cleared for 5-on-5 play. Still, the arrow is pointed upwards.

“I'm feeling really good. I'm just past the 10-month mark. So I'm definitely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the finishing marks. But there's a long way to go. I mean, ACL recoveries take a long time,” Bueckers said. “In terms of like playing and getting cleared, I'm very close… That's the last little benchmark: To be fully cleared. But I'm in no rush. Our whole team and staff is in no rush. We have a lot of time.”

Ice Brady

Brady missed her entire freshman campaign after dislocating her patella in October. By the end of the season, she was a partial participant in practice and even joined the team in warmups during the NCAA Tournament. Like Bueckers, Brady is cleared for everything but 5-on-5.

“It feels good. It feels really good,” she said. “It's almost been about eight months or so since my last practice before I got hurt. So yeah, it was nice being back on the court with my team.”

Caroline Ducharme

As much as injuries have hammered UConn over the last two seasons, nobody has been as unlucky as Ducharme. As a freshman, a series of blows to the head caused an injury that kept her out four games and derailed the end of her campaign.

This past year, she suffered a concussion during practice in January which sidelined her for 13 games. During the Big East Tournament, Ducharme collided with Aaliyah Edwards and went down grabbing her head. She went into the locker room and did not return to the game, but came back one day later.

Even after returning from the concussion in January, Ducharme dealt with lingering symptoms through the remainder of the season. But now that she’s had the time to step away for a bit, the rising junior says she’s on the upswing.

“I'm feeling good. I've definitely made a lot of progress. I'm doing a lot of rehab and different treatments in the offseason back home (and) here,” Ducharme said. “I'm definitely in a better place than I was when the season ended and just making progress. Every day is a little bit better.”

Azzi Fudd

Last season, Fudd suffered two left knee injuries that kept her out for 22 of the Huskies’ 37 contests. She returned for the postseason but now that there are no more games to play in, she’s had time to fully heal.

“I am healthy. It's just like the last little bit of, like, feeling 100 percent comfortable. I would say like I'm like 95 percent back,” Fudd said. “It's just that last little bit which is hard to do without playing — which we're doing a lot of. But I do feel really good and it feels great.”

Aubrey Griffin

During the postseason, Griffin dealt with back spasms that limited her to 12 minutes in the Big East Tournament final against Villanova and then just seven in a blowout win over Vermont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. She doesn’t seem to have any long-term concerns about the flare-up, though.

"I'm not wearing the back brace but I'm still doing rehab and treatment for it. I've been going in the right direction with my back. I haven't had any issues — not yet. But everything's been pretty good with that.”

Amari DeBerry

According to Heart CT’s Carl Adamec, Amari DeBerry underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in her lower back on May 5.

Bueckers undecided on future

When Bueckers spoke to the media after tearing her ACL last summer, she made it clear that she’d be back for the 2023-24 season despite being eligible to enter the 2023 WNBA Draft.

“I’m not leaving. That is not in the question,” she said at the time. “People asked me, ‘What are you thinking about your fifth year, COVID year, redshirting this year?’ I’m not thinking too far ahead about that at all but I will be playing college basketball again.”

However, Bueckers was non-committal on Wednesday when asked about her future at UConn beyond this season.

“I've really learned in all that I've been through not to speak about the future because you never know what's going to happen,” she said. “So I'm just trying to stay present stay in the moment. But you never know. I have no idea. So we'll see.”

Bueckers has three seasons of eligibility remaining: Her true senior year, a bonus COVID year and a redshirt year. If she chooses to use all of them, she could play at UConn through the 2025-26 season.

Edwards, El Alfy heading out on international duty

Aaliyah Edwards will have an abbreviated summer in Storrs. She didn’t arrive for summer workouts until this past Sunday due to national team obligations and will depart at the end of this week to prepare for the AmeriCup with Team Canada.

Edwards doesn’t expect the limited time on campus to disrupt her development this offseason, though.

“I'm implementing the same things I would do here just with my national team,” she explained. “Obviously it's a different coach, a different style of basketball, but I'm staying true to who I am as a player and true to what I want to do to improve.”

Edwards isn’t the only one with a busy summer. Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy will represent Egypt in both the U19 World Cup and the FIBA Afrobasket with the senior national team.

The AmeriCup will be held from July 1-9 in Leon, Mexico, the U19 World Cup is set for July 15-23 in Madrid, Spain while Afrobasket will take place from July 28-Aug. 6 in Kigali, Rwanda.