As fame grows, Bueckers’ parents along for the ride

Amy Fuller hardly ever checks Facebook anymore. It’s not that she’s bored with social media, she’d just like a little privacy.

“I get messages from all over the world. They’re from like Africa, Australia, Europe,” she said last week. “I don’t know why. It can get random — complete strangers.”

Well, the thing is, she does know why. She knows exactly why. It’s not hard to figure out.

You might’ve heard of her daughter: Paige Bueckers.

“You can’t deny that she’s really fun to watch, and she’s got an infectious personality,” said Fuller, joking that she’s now known solely as “Paige’s mom.”

Bueckers isn’t just fun to watch — the UConn freshman is arguably the most entertaining act in women’s basketball. She’s a surefire national player of the year candidate on the No. 1 team in the country, a 5-foot-11 point guard with all the tools.

Her numbers tell a wholesome story. She leads the Huskies in scoring (19.8), assists (6.2), steals (2.3) and minutes per game (36.1), and is fifth in the country in 3-point percentage (47.6). And she’s broken records, too.

The Minnesota product has long been viewed as a special talent. She was practically a celebrity before she even stepped foot in Storrs. SLAM Magazine once called her the “most electrifying high school player in the world.”

Still, not even Bueckers’ mother predicted this.

“You never expect your kid

not to be great,” Fuller said. “You always want the best and expect the best and hope for the best, but I don’t think anyone could’ve foreseen this. I sure didn’t.”

Put it this way: Bueckers starting from day one was a surprise in itself to Amy.

“That doesn’t happen at UConn,” she said. “That doesn’t happen.

“So she starts, and then she’s playing a lot of minutes, and then she’s scoring a lot of points and she’s doing well, she’s efficient. I was blown away. We had no expectations. When you sign on with a program like UConn and you’re a freshman, you get what you get, you take whatever you can, but you know your role, you stay in your lane, it is what it is. We were prepared for that. Whether she got five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever, but not this was expected at all.”

Bueckers is a unique talent in a unique position. No UConn freshman — not Maya Moore, not Diana Taurasi, not Breanna Stewart — has had to carry her team like this. Bueckers had 11 20-point games and, last month, became the first Husky to score 30 points or more three straight times. She also broke the program’s singlegame assists record with 14 against Butler on Saturday.

In perhaps her most defining moment of the regular season, Bueckers dropped 31 points, including UConn’s final 13 in the fourth quarter and overtime, in a win over No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 8. Both parents were fortunate enough to have been at Gampel Pavilion to see it.

“You can see that there’s something special about her,” her father, Bob, said. “To see her do it in the biggest moments isn’t surprising. She’s just so blessed. She’s been blessed with basketball and got to meet so many amazing people, and God has blessed her. … That’s what she does.”

Bueckers, 19, is comfortable being in the spotlight. It’s been that way for a while now.

Fuller says the first time she saw Bueckers nervous on the basketball court was at the Team USA U15 trials in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“We’re living in this little sheltered bubble out in Minnesota,” Fuller said, “and then you get to Colorado Springs and you’re like, ‘There’s Azzi Fudd, there’s Celeste Taylor, there’s Aliyah Boston, there’s Jordan Horston, there’s Zia Cooke.’

“It’s kind of like you’re a rock star in high school academically, like ‘Oh, I’ll just study the night before and ace the test.’ And then you go to college and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of smart kids out there.’ And then you go to maybe even grad school and you’re like, ‘Dang, I might not be as cool as I think I am.’ ”

Spoiler alert: Bueckers ended up making the cut.

What may be most satisfying to Bueckers’ parents is that, despite all the accolades, magazine covers and ESPN shoots, Bueckers has remained grounded. They’re always stressing the importance of body language.

“The camera is on you constantly,” Fuller reminds her.

No detail goes unnoticed when you’re Paige Bueckers.