The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn recruit Paige Bueckers lands on SLAM Magazine cover
No. 1 prospect in country is first women’s high school player to make front page
STORRS — The UConn women’s basketball program has been a magnet for the most celebrated high school players in the country, including recent No. 1 prospects Katie Lou Samuelson, Megan Walker, and Christyn Williams.
None, though, have received the attention and hype that Paige Bueckers is drawing this year.
The 2020 No. 1 overall recruit, who has signed with UConn, is featured on the latest cover of SLAM Magazine. The headline calls Bueckers “The Most Electrifying HS Player in the World.”
Only a select few high schoolers have graced the cover of the popular basketball magazine before, including LeBron James and Zion Williamson. But Bueckers is the first women’s high school player to land on the cover.
“I was in SLAM, but I wasn’t on the cover,” said Walker, now a junior at UConn.
The 5-foot-11 Minnesota point guard, who’s known for her terrific quickness and creative ball-handling skills, is the fourth No. 1 prospect in six years to sign with UConn, joining Samuelson (2015), Walker (2017) and Williams (2018).
The expectations surrounding her are so massive that coach Geno Auriemma expects her to con
tribute greatly to a national title run as a freshman.
“By herself she can’t win anything,” Auriemma said earlier this season. “But with the people I think we are going to surround her with, I think we can do great things.”
In the SLAM cover story written by Ryne Nelson, Bueckers said of Auriemma’s expectations, “Coach told me pressure is when someone’s asking you to do something that you can’t do.”
In a video accompanying the story, Bueckers said she is looking forward to bonding with her teammates at UConn and that “four national championships would be really nice.”
“It’s no pressure when I get there,” she said in the video. “Kind of the expectation to be great and whatever happens, happens.”
In December, Bueckers, 18, became one of the youngest recipients of the USA Basketball Female of the Year award, joining UConn greats Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Tina Charles. That same year, Bueckers took home MVP for the gold medal-winning FIBA U19 World Cup team.
“She is a basketball player. Born to be a basketball player,” Auriemma said. “Everything she does, she’s a natural.”
Bueckers expressed her excitement and gratitude over her latest honor, writing on Twitter: “First a huge thank you to God, without him there is no way I would be on this cover. He has brought me to achieve things I couldn’t even dream of. My teammates, coaches, trainers, friends and family have contributed to help me be the best me on and off the court and I could never thank you guys enough. A HUGE thank you to SLAM for letting me be on the cover of this highly coveted magazine. I’ve been reading and flipping through the magazine as a kid and to be on the cover is just …
WOW.”
She then went on to say that Kobe Bryant “would have loved to see this.” The NBA legend and his daughter, Gianna, 13, were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday in Los Angeles. Bueckers honored the victims by writing their names on her custom-made UConn sneakers during a game this week.
“Laced em up for something bigger tonight! May those 9 angels rest in Heav- en,” she wrote on Twitter, retweeting a picture of her sneakers.