Those involved in basketball know the importance of high school athletes, they function both as the breeding ground and petri dish of what the sport will look like in the future. This is because it is a well-known pre-selection for college basketball which could then eventually lead to a WNBA pick.
Because teenagers and young adults are still going through a changing phase in their late teens, their careers only become clear and certain once they make it to college basketball, but not for Paige Buecker. We knew that since her early days in high school.
Paige Buecker is a clear exception and a phenomenon, her name has popped up in several magazine headlines, “The most electrifying player”, “She is a first in the basketball world” , “ She might break all records before stardom” . Originally from Hopkins, Minnesota, at the high school level she used to play for Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota and later went on to play at the Connecticut Huskies of the Big East Conference as a 6 feet nineteen-year old point guard. She was a consensus five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2020 class.
She is normally at post-practice pizza-and-pasta party in the Hopkins (Minn.) High School cafeteria, and she says, even publicly, that she will beat her opponents well before the games, and she does so! She dreamed of being an FBI agent but nowadays, her wish is to make it to the WNBA, her family has a huge part in her sports career orientation.
We believe her mother is still an inspiration to her as she came from a family that revolved around sports. Paige is the daughter of Bob Bueckers and Amy Fuller, she has two brothers, Ryan and Drew, and one sister Lauren. Her mother Amy competed in cross country and track & field at the University of St. Thomas and she was responsible for organizing a series of youth basketball clinics called “Buckets With Bueckers” in Minnesota and Montana. Ever since Paige was a little girl, she closely followed her mother in the basketball environment. Amy recalls Paige asking to join the basketball team at the age of five!
In a recent ESPN Sunday special on her, quite a few coaches said nobody is sure of how big and important she will be for basketball as she has figures, stats and characteristics never seen before for a nineteen-year old. That kind of statement holds water when we take into account this week’s game against the Baylor in which she scored 28 points and sent the Uconn straight to the Final Four Tour, being the game’s best player. She seems to be in charge of the entire team every single game.
Her number of awards are nothing short of stellar.
CAREER HONORS
- 2021 AP First Team All-American
- 2021 BIG EAST Player of the Year;
- 2021 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year;
- 2021 BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player;
- 2021 All-BIG EAST First Team;
- 2021 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team;
- 2021 espnW Player of the Year;
- 2021 espnW Freshman of the Year.
IN THE UCONN RECORD BOOKS
- Set the UConn single-game assist record (14) at Butler (2/27/21);
- Freshman season record holder for assists (146).
BEFORE UCONN
- No. 1 ranked recruit in the 2019-20 season;
- Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year;
- 2020 McDonald’s, SLAM and Jordan Brand Classic All-American;
- 2020 Naismith Prep Player of the Year;
- 2020 Morgan Wootten Player of the Year;
- Three-time Gatorade Minnesota Player of the Year;
- 2019-20 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year;
- Played five seasons of varsity basketball at Hopkins in which she averaged 21.0 points, 9.2 assists, 5.2 steals and 5.1 rebounds per game as a senior;
- Led Hopkins to a 30-0 record and the Class AAAA state championship game, which was canceled due to coronavirus;
- She also played AAU for North Tartan.
We couldn’t be more excited for her to make it to the WNBA. We, from STREETOPIA, will be rooting for her all the way.