Paige Bueckers leaves UConn with "Gratitude" ahead of optimistic WNBA career 

The general consensus in sports is that a player must win a championship to be an all-time great. Well, Paige Buecker’s legacy was officially cemented Sunday afternoon after the UConn guard led the Huskies to a National Championship victory over South Carolina in her final collegiate game.

Bueckers' UConn career has been nothing short of special. She is the fastest UConn player to reach 2,000 points, a three-time Big East Player of the Year, Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and All-Big East.

She has earned the Wooden, Naismith, and AP Player of the Year awards, is a three-time All-American, the only player in the NCAA, NBA, and WNBA history to shoot 90 percent from the free-throw line, 50 percent from the field, and 40 percent from the perimeter while leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Bueckers is also third all-time in UConn women's basketball scoring history behind Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart.

The Minnesota native said following the cutting of the net ceremony Sunday, when she looks back over the last five years in Storrs, Connecticut, the first feeling she feels after bringing UConn a title is gratitude.

"So many emotions. Gratitude was the main one -- of the journey, of the ups and downs, everything that it took to get to that point," Bueckers told journalists including Sportskeeda. "And just overwhelming joy and just so happy for every single person who was a part of this journey. Just to be able to sum it up in a few words, joy and gratitude would be the forefront."

Bueckers walked into UConn as the No. 1 overall player in the historic 2020 recruiting class, which also featured Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Caitlin Clark, and Kamilla Cardoso. Four of whom left college with a national championship.

Caitlin Clark is the only one not to win a title despite playing in two championship games in 2023 and 2024.

That freshman class started their college careers in a bubble, with cutout cardboard fans, but Bueckers excelled, earning her player of the year awards as just a freshman.

However, through the bubble, the pandemic, and a torn ACL injury she suffered heading into her junior season, the wait for a national championship was a long five years for Bueckers, which featured several close finishes in the Final Four and a title appearance in 2022.

The end to her college story is one that she spoke into existence back at Hopkins High School when she said then that she could see herself ending her college career in five years with a national championship en route to being the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft.

Bueckers is projected as the top draft pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft next week on April 14.

She said her story is a story of resilience and faith.

"It's been a story of resilience, of gratitude, of adversity, of overcoming adversity, just responding to life's challenges and trying to fuel them to make me a better person, a better player, and continue to grow in my leadership abilities and being a great teammate. " Bueckers said to journalists including Sportskeeda. "Standing firm in who I am and believing in what we do here as individuals, what we do here as a team. And just an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everything that's happened through the ups and downs, I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Bueckers added that her experiences have shaped her, and by sticking through her faith, she and the Huskies were rewarded. She said it's hard to put it into words, but there is a big sense of validation after winning the title.

"It's destiny and obviously I have a great faith, so I believe God planned it perfectly in the way that it went out," she said. "And it's a great last showing of the great team basketball that we've been playing all season."

As Bueckers ends her college career and heads off to the WNBA, she took a moment to speak about the growth of the game and how it has changed significantly since her arrival as a freshman.

She said the visibility and access in women's sports and women's basketball has been a great journey to be a part of, but recognizes that it has been built off the backs of all of the former great players, many of whom have entered through the doors of UConn.

UConn has sent 47 players to the WNBA, more than any other school since the inception of the league in 1997.

A lot of that is due to the coaching and leadership of UConn's Geno Auriemma, who shared a moment with Bueckers as she checked out of the title game for the last time in a UConn uniform. The two, both very emotional, hugged and embraced their five-year journey together.

"Just gratitude for all that Coach has meant to me and how much he's shaped me to the human I am, to the basketball player I am throughout this entire five years," Bueckers said to journalists including Sportskeeda's Serenity Bishop. "Putting it all together in one hug what our journey has been together. He told me he loved me. And I told him I hated him."

Bueckers' title run is one of the most emotional Final Fours for Auriemma

The last time UConn won a national championship was when the Huskies won four in a row with New York Liberty champion Breanna Stewart from 2013-2016. Since then, it's been a bumpy road for UConn as the nine long years since a title was met with injuries, the pandemic, and whispers that perhaps UConn basketball was no longer the basketball capital of the world.

Auriemma said that after the last title, there were many people in his camp who believed he should have walked away on top, but he was adamant about bringing home another title.

The journey coincided with Bueckers' career, and when the two were unable to win it all in 2022, it became a crusade for Auriemma, Bueckers and the rest of the program.

"Who knew it would turn out like this? But I started to trust in them. And when I tell you it's really out of your hands, it really is true," Auriemma said in a press confernce including Sportskeeda. "All of this is in the hands of the players who are playing. And they made it all worthwhile today. It's probably the most emotional one."

Auriemma added that the most emotional national championships for him were the first one in 1995, in front of his hometown in Philadelphia in 2000, 2002 with Sue Bird, the last of the Diana Taurasi triple in 2004, and Breanna Stewart's senior season in 2016.

"Those were probably the most, because of what was involved," Auriemma said. "And this one had as much if not more involved. I was pretty emotional when the game ended."

The Bueckers-Auriemma relationship is certainly high on the coaches' list of favorite players. He said Sunday was the first time since Bueckers arrived in Storrs that all of the emotions between the two came out.

He said as she now moves on to the WNBA, she'll miss him going forward. It's also a relationship and tandem that the UConn fandom will miss next season despite the return of Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong.