STORRS, Conn. — When it comes to individual awards, UConn women’s basketball star point guard Paige Bueckers has won most of them.
Following the 2019-2020 season, her senior year in high school, the Hopkins, Minn. native was named Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Player of the Year. She was also honored as MaxPreps’ overall Athlete of the Year that season.
As a freshman at UConn, she continued where she left off. In addition to being named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press, among other accolades, Bueckers was recognized as the AP National Player of the Year for the 2020-2021 season.
After two years of battling injuries, Bueckers regained her swagger last season and was once again named a First Team All-American by the AP.
Ask Bueckers, however, and she would likely say the most important accomplishment still eludes her. In her final season of eligibility, Bueckers surely has her sights set on her first national championship.
While defending champion South Carolina is favored to cut down the nets next April, UConn enters the season ranked No. 2, and many of the game’s pundits expect Bueckers to have another stellar season.
On Tuesday, the AP named Bueckers to their preseason All-America team.
If Bueckers can accomplish the feat, she’ll join the rare company of college basketball players in the men’s and women’s games who have earned First Team All-American honors three times.
For Bueckers, the formula is simple – keep building off the momentum she established last season, which was her first fully healthy one since her freshman year.
As a redshirt junior, Bueckers led the Huskies to the Final Four by averaging 21.9 points per game. She also registered 53 blocks and 86 steals.
In the most historic program in women’s college basketball, Bueckers managed to score 854 points last season, good enough for the second most points ever recorded by a Husky in a single season.
In addition to being an AP All-American in 2023-2024, Bueckers was also named a 2024 WBCA, USBWA and Wooden Award First Team All-American.
She was additionally chosen as the Big East Player of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player and NCAA Tournament Portland 3 Region Most Outstanding Player.
Once again though, individual awards are likely the last thing on Buecker’s mind entering her final season at UConn. It’s a national championship or nothing for UConn women's basketball in 2024-2025.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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