Women’s basketball analyst makes her feelings clear about Paige Bueckers possibly playing with Arike Ogunbowale

Paige Bueckers is one of the biggest names in women's college basketball, with experts projecting her as the No. 1 pick to join the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA draft. However, Bueckers was part of the UConn team that narrowly lost 72-70 to JuJu Watkins' USC on Saturday.

Women's basketball analyst Rachel Annamarie DeMita compared Bueckers and former Iowa star Caitlin Clark on her YouTube channel on Monday. She said that both players do not play the same style and Bueckers was better off playing alongside Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale in the WNBA.

"I almost think that Paige might be better coming off the ball," DeMita said (Timestamp: 4:19). "So, if she does get drafted by Dallas and she is playing aside Arike, it might actually be OK.

"It might be a good thing for her to play beside Arike because Arike is going to be the one who is ball-dominant, who's aggressive, who's going to be taking so many shots. And maybe Paige, like, finds a new style for her game."

DeMita also defended Bueckers, who recently came under criticism following her performance in the loss to the Trojans. She insisted that Bueckers was an incredible player and she sometimes felt frustrated for the UConn star because of her potential to take her game to a better level than she has been playing.

Basketball analyst compares Paige Bueckers with Sarah Strong in UConn's loss vs. USC

Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins were the highlights going into the much-anticipated UConn-USC game on Saturday. Bueckers led then-No. 4 UConn with 22 points, three rebounds and two assists in 32 minutes but the Huskies ultimately fell short to the then-No. 7 Trojans.

However, there was a new star for the UConn show: freshman Sarah Strong, who notched 22 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and four steals. In her YouTube video, analyst, Rachel Annamarie DeMita suggested that Bueckers deliberately took the backseat for Strong to shine.

"Another thing I wanted to point out with this UConn team is it almost feels as if sometimes she's taking a backseat for their freshman Sarah Strong," DeMita said (Timestamp: 5:00).

Sarah Strong was the No. 1 recruit of the 2024 class and has quickly established herself as a key member of Geno Auriemma's team. The Huskies forward is averaging 17.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game to help No. 7 UConn (10-2).

DeMita praised Strong for being aggressive and having confidence in herself to take over games. The analyst wished Bueckers had the same mentality because there wasn't anyone on the UConn team that was more skilled than the senior guard.