University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers is “all cleared and ready for takeoff” per her Instagram, back into the fold, unrestricted at practice for the Huskies ahead of a promising 2023-24 season
Paige Bueckers is back!! 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/cBmCdQZ3ea
— highlightHER (@HighlightHER) August 9, 2023
Bueckers burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2020-21, winning AP Player of the Year, the Naismith Player of the Year, sweeping Big East honors as Freshman and Player of the Year, and being named a First Team All-American.
After two knee injuries that have sapped her of all but 17 games in the past two seasons, having Bueckers back and ready for action 369 days post-injury is a cause for celebration. The Huskies were riddled with injuries throughout the roster last season, playing with a short bench for much of the year. With Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, and Ice Brady all healthy before the year, UConn seems primed for a fantastic season.
What makes Bueckers such a special player, and in turn, such a fascinating prospect at the pro level? (She is eligible for the 2024 WNBA Draft)
Standing at 5’11, Bueckers has phenomenal size at the guard spot, capable of playing both the one and two with ease. She has a quick first step, a remarkably high and lightning quick release on her jumper, along with a tight a crafty handle. To put it simply, she is a matchup nightmare for most backcourt defenders.
Bueckers is masterful out of ball screens, largely due to her ability as a pull-up shooter inside and outside the arc. As touched on in looking back through the evolution of shooting and offense in the WNBA, accurate pull-up shooting on high volume is a rarity at the pro level currently. Over her 1.5 seasons in Storrs, Bueckers is shooting 40.6% on pull-up jumpers according to Instat scouting, taking over five per game.
You can’t go under her ball screens beyond the arc, or she’ll torch you with a pull-up J. You have to execute well going over, as she’s adept playing out of the two-man game, and is too lethal from the mid-range to give an open shot.
Bueckers is a high-level playmaker, particularly when she can play out of her own shooting gravity; when a defense commits because of the way she can space the floor, she is an expert at using their own defense against them.
She’s a legitimate three-level scorer, shooting 68% at the rim and 60.4% within the free throw line per InStat, excellent marks. She possesses uncanny touch, finishing through and around contact on a variety of runners, floaters, and odd angle layups when required.
The last time we saw Bueckers in 2022, she didn’t get into the paint or to the free throw line with the same regularity, understandable given she was still recovering from injury. However, that will be key to track from a pro standpoint and in general to assess her comfort level moving forward.
It’s easy to fall in love with her pick-and-roll play, especially when considering how the pro game continues to veer into more and more pick ball-screen offense. There are numerous players who can operate out of screens at a high level; what sets Bueckers apart is what she can do when she is deterred or defended well.
UConn’s offense is built and predicated on playing outside in, utilizing cutting, shooting, and ready heavy offense to invert the floor and drag paint protectors outside their comfort zone. If you don’t move without the ball at a high level, the offense is doomed from the start, as they’re not running plays so much as they’re attacking with actions. Think of it like a read option in football: If the defense does this, we will do that, because this is now open based on how they reacted.
By playing with pace, intention, and quickness, it’s incredibly difficult to stop an offense that is in essence, thinking through and processing the game in real time.
That is where Bueckers excels. The jumper and the craft is what makes her pop, but it’s her ability to read and react quicker than almost anyone on the court that makes her unique. If she’s presented with an adverse situation, she doesn’t hot potato the ball and bog down the offense, she finds another path.
Nothing opens up for the Huskies on the initial pistol exchange (sideline handoff between players in an empty corner), Bueckers scans and flows into the slot ball screen. Zia Cooke chases over top, Aliyah Boston shows, but positions well to not give up the roll or an immediate shot and Bueckers hits an escape dribble and moves the ball side to side.
That in turn sets up a post entry, a guard to guard screen for Bueckers, and a pull-up off the pitch and screen from Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
You don’t just get to guard Bueckers once in a possession, which is part of the sticking point; she never stops being a threat. Few players with Bueckers’ size have the shiftiness off the ball and through traffic along with the quickness to notice when she does or doesn’t have an advantage, and where she can probe next to find a better opportunity.
The lack of time it takes for Bueckers to move the ball and her body within almost the same motion is minute in measurement, but immeasurable in importance.
Shots that feel like they should be contested are often open with more space, because of her ability to feel out the floor, know where her screeners and outlets are at all times, and her feel of where the defense is and what their limits are.
Watch how Bueckers is attached to off screen, flares out to the corner like a wideout coming off a curl to open up space, and then swiftly flows into another direction to drag her defender through screens and open herself up for the shot simultaneously.
Bueckers, as well as Fudd and UConn’s multitude of shooters, are often face-guarded by opposing teams, denying hand-offs and many of the actions the Huskies like to run above the arc in an attempt to stifle their flow.
That’s where Bueckers’ shiftiness comes into play yet again. She’s an elite cutter, able to stop, start, stop, and start again before a defender is even able to calibrate.
She’s always a threat, always in motion, and a unique player at any level. That she’s healthy is the most important thing headed into the year, and it’ll be a joy just to see her on the hardwood again. Expectations are sky high for the Huskies in the coming year, and what Bueckers brings to the table is a significant reason as to why.
