"My claim to fame": Former UConn star Stefanie Dolson drops hilarious response to Paige Bueckers' compliments

Paige Bueckers' profile as a basketball player has been increasing rapidly. This is bound to make people inquisitive about the players that inspired Bueckers in her childhood.

In a clip shared on X by 'UConn on SNY,' when asked who her favorite player was as a kid, Paige Bueckers pointed to another UConn star.

"I just remember Stefanie Dolson was on the team and they had just won the natty. Stefanie Dolson was my favorite player," Bueckers told UConn on SNY. "Just her energy, her charisma, her passion was something that I really admired."

Dolson played center at UConn from 2010 to 2014 and won championship titles with the team in 2013 and 2014. At the time of the 2014 Huskies championship, Bueckers was in the sixth grade.

Bueckers' favorite childhood player is a WNBA veteran with a professional career dating back to 2014. In the 2024 regular season, Dolson averaged 9.5 points per game, her highest scoring average since 2018. The Washington Mystics center responded to Bueckers on X Thursday.

"My claim to fame will always be this now🤣🤣🤣 and I'll take it!🤣🤣"

Stefanie Dolson's career at UConn

It makes sense that Dolson was Bueckers' favorite player as a child. She was a star for UConn in an immensely successful stint for the Huskies. The 6-foot-5 center spent the entirety of her college career at UConn.

In that time, Dolson's UConn squad won three conference tournament titles, made the Final Four all four years and won back-to-back national championships in 2013 and 2014.

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Dolson was a two-time All-American and was the 2013-14 WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year. That season, she started in every UConn game and averaged a team-best 9.3 rebounds per game. Dolson's college career was worthy of her being Bueckers' favorite player during childhood.

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Paige Bueckers' senior season at UConn

Over a decade after Dolson left UConn, Bueckers is a Huskies star herself. In what is expected to be her final college season, the guard is averaging 18.7 points per game. Bueckers has put up 23 points each in both of UConn's two most recent games.

Bueckers has been seeing increases in her scoring as of late. In her past five games, she has contributed 20-plus points three times. She's recorded 20-plus points five times in the last 10 games.

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The senior center has also two double-doubles in the past five Huskies games and has shot above her 53.3% average from the field three times during that span.

Bueckers is thriving as the end of her college career draws near. Before she says goodbye to UConn, she will aim to win a national title for the Huskies, just as her childhood icon did.