The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Bueckers looks to get bigger, stronger this summer
STORRS — Paige Bueckers was expected to have as big as a sophomore season as she did as a freshman with the UConn women’s basketball team.
As it turned out, Bueckers was sidelined 19 games with a knee injury in 202122.
Bueckers still led UConn in points per game (14.6) and was second in minutes (29.2) while playing in 17 of the team’s 36 total games, providing the Huskies with a spark en route to another Final Four appearance.
But the guard did battle through a physically demanding stretch when she returned from a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus. As UConn’s focal point, she drew lots of attention from opponents — often in the way of pushing and bumping.
With that in mind, coach Geno Auriemma wants Bueckers to focus on herself more than anything this summer. While other players will likely return home in July and August, he asked his star pupil to stay back and work on building her strength to withstand the physical challenges of a long season.
“Different players have different goals this summer and her goal is get a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger,” he said Thursday during the team’s first media availability since April. “Paige has got a busy summer coming up. Plus, all the other stuff, you know. I said, ‘Paige you do a lot for a lot of people. Think it’s time to start doing a lot of stuff for yourself.’ ”
Auriemma compared Bueckers to UConn greats Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart. Because of their dominance on the floor, they’re often the target of increased physicality from opponents. Moore and Stewart, two of the best players in the sport, learned to manage the physical toll of being the focus of the team — both at UConn and in the WNBA.
Bueckers is facing the same issue in college.
“If you watch us play, nobody gets fouled more than she (Bueckers) does,” he said. “Nobody gets bumped off her cuts, nobody gets hit more. And like every other good player that we’ve ever had, or probably exist, most of the officials go, ‘Well she can handle it.’
“So, they don’t want to call anything because they don’t want to go, ‘Oh that’s special. That’s preferential treatment for Paige.’
“No, it’s called protecting the guy with the ball and protecting your guy who’s trying to get open on the wing or whatever the case may be. So, she needs to be strong enough to withstand all that.”
The Hall of Fame coach wants Bueckers to spend the next few months of the offseason building muscle to be able to further withstand the heightened attention she’ll get not only from her future college opponents but also in her future WNBA career. Bueckers has a passion for working out and playing full-40minute games, so Auriemma needs her to be conditioned enough to once again handle demands of a full season.
“She’s one that’s a little bit different in the sense that she loves to work out,” Auriemma said. “She loves to play more than anything. In practice, she wants to be in practice for two hours. In the game, she wants to play 40 minutes. And when she plays, she’s not the kind that just runs back on defense and stands there. She’s involved. …. She’s active on the offensive end and the defensive end. But her body isn’t built to be like that.
“So, this whole offseason, I told her, I said, ‘Listen, Paige, I know normally you would go home but July, August, after you do your thing, you’re not going anywhere. You need to get your body ready to withstand the way you want to play.’”
Both Moore and Stewart grew into their strength over the course of their four years in Storrs. Both went on to have dominant professional careers because of their dedication to making their bodies best prepared for what they experience on the sport’s biggest stage.
“(Bueckers is) never gonna look like Maya Moore,” Auriemma said. “She’s probably gonna look more like Stewie the rest of her life. But Stewie got a lot stronger as time went on to be able to withstand what was coming because they treated her pretty much the same way.”