Paige Bueckers not bothered with 'what-ifs' as she locks in for her last Final Four of NCAA career

Paige Bueckers will get one final trip to the Final Four after leading the UConn Huskies past the USC Trojans, 78-64. She will look to use her previous experience next weekend in Tampa, where UConn will try to end an eight-year championship drought. She will also look to leave the doubts from her past three unsuccessful trips to the Final Four behind.

After helping the Huskies earn a spot in the national semifinal on Monday, Bueckers talked about the most important lessons she’s learned in her college career and her previous experiences at the Final Four.

“Just taking it one possession at a time. The possession you’re in is the most important possession of the season. Not getting too caught up in the "what ifs," just staying present, staying in the moment, and not worrying about the pressures or the stakes because everybody’s dealing with it,” Paige Bueckers said (4:38).

While Buckers and the Huskies have remained one of college basketball’s top teams in the last decade, they haven’t been able to get past that last hurdle. In 2021 they were upset by Arizona in the semis. A year later, it was South Carolina that knocked them out in the championship game.

After the Edina, Minnesota native missed the 2022-2023 season with a knee injury, she led the Huskies back to the Final Four last year, where they lost to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the semifinals.

Bueckers mentioned one difference between this outfit and the ones that made it to the Final Four in recent years.

“I would say this team is a little bit younger, just in terms of our most experienced players being sophomores at times. So, we’re pretty young in that way, but we’ve got a whole lot of heart and toughness,” Paige Bueckers said.

Paige Bueckers on a historic run as UConn makes Final Four

Paige Bueckers started off slow against USC on Monday, with only two points in the first quarter. But once she got in a rhythm, she was nearly unstoppable once again.

A couple of nights after scoring a career-high 40 points in the Sweet 16, the guard went off for 31 against the Trojans. That’s 105 points for her in the last three contests, establishing a school record for points in three consecutive games.

Up next is a Friday night date with the UCLA Bruins, led by Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez. Bueckers will look to stay hot against what will likely be their toughest matchup of the tournament to this point.

The Bruins got the No. 1 overall seed for the national tournament after finishing the season with a 28-2 record and are coming off a 72-65 victory over the LSU Tigers.