The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bueckers returns as Huskies start summer session
UConn women’s basketball star senior Paige Bueckers has appeared to have returned to basketball activities in recent weeks after sitting out all last season due to her ACL recovery.
On Thursday, UConn posted a video of Bueckers, Inês Bettencourt, KK Arnold and Qadence Samuels getting shots up in practice as the team began summer workouts this week. The video opens with a shot of Bueckers’ feet walking on the team’s practice court in Storrs.
Bueckers is seen in the video wearing a leg sleeve on her left leg, lightly running, catching and throwing passes, and practicing her jump shot.
Earlier this week, Bueckers posted a collage on Instagram of photos of her working out at Integrity Hoops based in Los Angeles. Bueckers, wearing a leg sleeve in the photos, captioned the post: “Tunnel vision on a mission.”
Bueckers has not played a full season of college basketball since her freshman year in 2020-21. The 2021 National Player of the Year missed 19 games as a sophomore after a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee in December 2021. In August 2022 — about six months after she returned to court following her initial knee injury — she tore her ACL in the same knee during a pickup game on campus.
Depending on the severity of the injury and the individual athlete, recovery for ACL tears often ranges between nine and 12 months. Bueckers spent her true junior season on the sideline during games and going through extensive rehab and recovery during practices.
Days were hard and progress came slowly, yet Bueckers says she remained motivated through it all.
“Well I’ve learned from last year it’s not going to be smooth sailing,” Bueckers said back in March to CTInsider’s Mike Anthony. “There are going to be bumps. There are going to be
highs and lows. … But I think once I get my feet under me and once I get back into the flow and get my confidence back and my movements in my knee, just in how I play and how I used to play, I think I’ll be better than I was before.”
In March, Bueckers was at least two months out from being cleared to return to fullcontact basketball activities.
We last saw Bueckers on the court during the end of the 2023-24 season. During open practices, she was seen still wearing street clothes, yet she’d spent time shooting from the free throw line with limited leg movement. Often during pregame warmups, Bueckers could be seen lightly shooting
on the other end of the court.
She spent the offseason continuing her rehab and making an appearance at Overtime’s WBB Takeover Event in early May in Atlanta. Bueckers led a team of top high school basketball girls against a team led by LSU star Flau’jae Johnson (Bueckers’ team won).
It’s unclear whether Bueckers will play in UConn’s scheduled exhibition games this upcoming August during its European trip. If she doesn’t play on the trip, her first official game back will likely be UConn’s exhibition game (while UConn hasn’t officially announced the details of its exhibition game, the Journal Inquirer reported the Huskies will face Southern Connecticut).
Bueckers has only played in 46 collegiate games out of
UConn’s total 103 games over the past three years due to injury. The last college game she played was the 2022 National
Championship game on April 3, 2022 against South Carolina, when she had 14 points, six rebounds and two assists in 39
minutes.
Heading into this season Bueckers has a huge decision to make in terms of her future in the sport: turn professional or continue the chase for a national championship with UConn.
Bueckers will officially be eligible to enter the WNBA Draft next spring if she chooses. However, she could also choose to remain in college since she is part of the last class of athletes who were awarded an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic and she has a redshirt year available following sitting out all last season.
“There’s always a chance,” she said in March. “I have three more years of eligibility. I’m not declining, not saying for sure I will or for sure I won’t. But there’s definitely an opportunity for me to return for a fifth year, even maybe a sixth year.”