"IM IN TEARS DAWG"; "PLEASE DELETE NOW": Fans left heartbroken as UConn bids farewell to Paige Bueckers following WNBA draft

By Koby del Rosario

Modified Apr 17, 2025 10:30 GMT

NCAA Womens Basketball: Final Four National Championship - Source: Imagn — Paige Bueckers in the win over South Carolina. - Source: Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn

UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers continued to make history in her stellar basketball career thus far on Monday, April 14. The Hopkins, Minnesota native joined an elite list of names from her storied program to have been selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, as Bueckers was picked by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 edition.

With the confirmation of Bueckers' next stage in her career and her departure from UConn coming true, the team's Instagram account uploaded a heartfelt compilation video of Bueckers and the impact she has made on the whole school on Wednesday.

"Thank you, Paige," the video was captioned with a blue heart emoji.

College basketball fans were left heartbroken over the emotional video, sharing their thoughts and reactions in the comments section of the post:

"OH GOD I'M IN TEARS DAWG WHYYYY," one fan said.

"@ admin, PLEASE DELETE NOW," another fan wrote.

"Oh, this is the post that makes it feel very real," a fan commented.

"Feel like a part of us being ripped out to be honest," another fan said.

Other fans, especially the Huskies faithful, then joked around that Bueckers may be playing a sixth year with the team in the 2025-2026 season.

"Wait, what do you mean? Isn't she just a freshman," one fan added.

"Yay Paige's 6th year!! (They're dragging me away)," another fan commented.

"She's staying for her sixth year, what do you mean," one fan added.

Bueckers and the rest of the Geno Auriemma-coached squad realized their dream of winning the program's 12th national championship on April 6, when they defeated the reigning national champions, South Carolina Gamecocks, by 23 points, 82-59, in the NCAA national title of this year's March Madness.

Paige Bueckers reacts to UConn Huskies' farewell video

Among the slew of fans that flooded the comment section, Paige Bueckers then chimed in with her own comment towards the team's heartfelt tribute video.

"Well damn," Bueckers wrote.

Throughout her four-year playing career for the program, Bueckers was masterful on both ends of the floor, which merited her top pick selection in the WNBA draft. Overall, the spitfire scorer averaged stellar numbers of 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.1 steals per contest throughout her collegiate hoops tenure.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

Know More

Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, or Kim Mulkey - who is NCAAW's highest-paid coach? Find out here

Edited by Veer Badani