oldude
bamboo lover
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No single player wins a basketball championship all by themselves. But this past season, Geno complemented POY Maddy Siegrist by stating, “Anytime you have the best player on the court, you have a chance to win. Believe me I know.” As the HC of UConn WBB, Geno has won 1,180 games, 54 regular & postseason conference championships, 22 NCAA Regional Championships and 11 National Championships. For a significant majority of those games, Geno had the best player on the court.
This coming season, with all due respect to Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark or any other WBB player, when Paige Bueckers is healthy, she is the BEST PLAYER ON THE COURT!!! While Paige possesses considerable athleticism and basketball skill, she is not the biggest player, and certainly not the strongest. Paige is not even the best shooter on her own team. What makes Paige the best player on the court is what’s between her ears.
When she arrived in Storrs out of HS, Paige already possessed a PHD in basketball. Paige knows when to pass and when to shoot, when to slow it down and when to push tempo. Paige has incredible court vision, she’s aware of what everyone on the court is doing and she sees, or perhaps envisions, what’s going to happen next. The great majority of the time Paige makes the right decision, executes flawlessly and has that unique ability to make everyone on her team better!
If that was the sum of Paige’s talent, she would be a great player, but she also possesses that extremely rare, next level talent to play her best during the biggest games under the greatest pressure. Whether hitting “the bounce” to seal the win over #1 SC, dropping a huge 3 to secure the win at TN or making one clutch play after another in the heart stopping, double-OT victory over NC State in the Elite 8, Paige is able to sharpen her focus, slow the game down and make plays while other mere mortals get tight, miss shots, turn the ball over and breakdown defensively.
UConn WBB has had more than their share of #1 recruits. IMO, no other player’s college decision had quite the impact of Paige. When Paige announced that she was coming to UConn she was already a rock star in MN, routinely playing before packed HS gyms full of fellow students, basketball fans, a parade of college coaches and an occasional MN Timberwolf. By the time she arrived at UConn as a freshman, Paige had already won 4 world & international championships as the pg and leader on the court for USA Basketball. Before she played her first game as a Husky, Geno made the remarkable comment that, “She’s even better than I thought!’
With all the hype surrounding her arrival at UConn, surely Paige would never be able to live up to the extraordinary expectations placed on her young shoulders…….. Not only did Paige live up to those expectations, but she far exceeded them, earning every POY in sight as a freshman, while also leading UConn to the FF. The national semifinal loss to AZ was certainly a disappointment. But it only served to heighten expectations for Paige’s sophomore season at UConn.
Paige’s sophomore year was a roller coaster. Six games into the season, Paige suffered a tibial plateau fracture to her left knee. Somehow, against all odds, she made it back to lead the Huskies during the Big Dance to an improbable matchup in the National Championship game against an outstanding SC team. On that day UConn played with injuries or illness to 4 key players: Dorka, Liv, Evina & Azzi. While SC was certainly the best team all season long, we can only wonder if a healthy UConn team would have been able to pull off the upset.
Last season, without Paige in the lineup, along with numerous injuries to key players, UConn fought hard all season long, winning the BE regular and conference tournament championships once again. But in uncharacteristic fashion, the Huskies fell short, losing in the Sweet 16 for the first time in 17 years.
For UConn WBB fans, it can be easy to feel cheated. Yes, injuries are part of the game. But in 3 seasons, Paige has played in only 46 of 103 UConn games. On paper, UConn is one of the strongest teams in the country this coming season. Of course, there are several great teams in WBB and no guarantees. But it is well past time for UConn’s run of injuries to turn around. America loves a comeback story. If Paige comes back to lead the Huskies to Championship #12, it will be a wonderful story that will captivate American sports and live forever in the hearts and minds of UConn WBB fans.
This coming season, with all due respect to Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark or any other WBB player, when Paige Bueckers is healthy, she is the BEST PLAYER ON THE COURT!!! While Paige possesses considerable athleticism and basketball skill, she is not the biggest player, and certainly not the strongest. Paige is not even the best shooter on her own team. What makes Paige the best player on the court is what’s between her ears.
When she arrived in Storrs out of HS, Paige already possessed a PHD in basketball. Paige knows when to pass and when to shoot, when to slow it down and when to push tempo. Paige has incredible court vision, she’s aware of what everyone on the court is doing and she sees, or perhaps envisions, what’s going to happen next. The great majority of the time Paige makes the right decision, executes flawlessly and has that unique ability to make everyone on her team better!
If that was the sum of Paige’s talent, she would be a great player, but she also possesses that extremely rare, next level talent to play her best during the biggest games under the greatest pressure. Whether hitting “the bounce” to seal the win over #1 SC, dropping a huge 3 to secure the win at TN or making one clutch play after another in the heart stopping, double-OT victory over NC State in the Elite 8, Paige is able to sharpen her focus, slow the game down and make plays while other mere mortals get tight, miss shots, turn the ball over and breakdown defensively.
UConn WBB has had more than their share of #1 recruits. IMO, no other player’s college decision had quite the impact of Paige. When Paige announced that she was coming to UConn she was already a rock star in MN, routinely playing before packed HS gyms full of fellow students, basketball fans, a parade of college coaches and an occasional MN Timberwolf. By the time she arrived at UConn as a freshman, Paige had already won 4 world & international championships as the pg and leader on the court for USA Basketball. Before she played her first game as a Husky, Geno made the remarkable comment that, “She’s even better than I thought!’
With all the hype surrounding her arrival at UConn, surely Paige would never be able to live up to the extraordinary expectations placed on her young shoulders…….. Not only did Paige live up to those expectations, but she far exceeded them, earning every POY in sight as a freshman, while also leading UConn to the FF. The national semifinal loss to AZ was certainly a disappointment. But it only served to heighten expectations for Paige’s sophomore season at UConn.
Paige’s sophomore year was a roller coaster. Six games into the season, Paige suffered a tibial plateau fracture to her left knee. Somehow, against all odds, she made it back to lead the Huskies during the Big Dance to an improbable matchup in the National Championship game against an outstanding SC team. On that day UConn played with injuries or illness to 4 key players: Dorka, Liv, Evina & Azzi. While SC was certainly the best team all season long, we can only wonder if a healthy UConn team would have been able to pull off the upset.
Last season, without Paige in the lineup, along with numerous injuries to key players, UConn fought hard all season long, winning the BE regular and conference tournament championships once again. But in uncharacteristic fashion, the Huskies fell short, losing in the Sweet 16 for the first time in 17 years.
For UConn WBB fans, it can be easy to feel cheated. Yes, injuries are part of the game. But in 3 seasons, Paige has played in only 46 of 103 UConn games. On paper, UConn is one of the strongest teams in the country this coming season. Of course, there are several great teams in WBB and no guarantees. But it is well past time for UConn’s run of injuries to turn around. America loves a comeback story. If Paige comes back to lead the Huskies to Championship #12, it will be a wonderful story that will captivate American sports and live forever in the hearts and minds of UConn WBB fans.
