The redshirt senior was an unanimous pick for the honor.
Ahead of her final collegiate season, Paige Bueckers was named an AP Preseason All-American on Tuesday. She was an unanimous pick among the 30-member panel of national media alongside USC’s JuJu Watkins. Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, Texas’ Maddie Booker and USC’s Kiki Iriafen were the other selections.
Bueckers is coming off her second AP First Team All-American campaign after averaging 21.9 points, collecting 86 steals and 53 blocks and shooting 53.0 percent from the floor (41.6 percent from three). She also guided an injury-ravaged UConn squad to the Final Four as a 3-seed. Bueckers previously earned All-American and national player of the year honors as a freshman in 2020-21.
The Huskies will face all but one player on the AP’s preseason squad this season. They’ll battle Notre Dame on Dec. 12 in South Bend then host USC on Dec. 21 in Hartford.
Although Bueckers has dominated at UConn when healthy over the last four years, she could be primed for her best season yet. After a devastating loss to Iowa in the Final Four, the superstar vowed to change.
“Having the game I did in the Final Four…I think it really set in and it really stung me in a different type of way where I had a reality check,” Bueckers explained. “I sat down with myself and wanted to get my goals out in front of me and make sure, ‘How can I attain those goals?’ I think I just have a completely different change of mindset with how I want to approach playing basketball and how I play on the court.”
So far, the early returns have been good.
“She is better, she is more aggressive, more assertive,” Geno Auriemma said. “She is looking to do way more, to be more involved. I think she knows that we don’t have Nika (Mühl) that provided a lot of that stuff, and she wants to fill that role as much as she can. So that’s been good to see.”
While Bueckers has one more year of eligibility left beyond this season, she said back in June that this will be her last at UConn before entering the WNBA Draft. The Huskies’ campaign kicks off on Nov. 7 against Boston University.