STORRS, Conn. — Paige Bueckers went up for a layup and came down hard, awkwardly. And she knew, as an athlete almost always knows when it is bad. She went to the training room and remembers her frustration poured out.
“I felt the pop, I don’t know if I heard it but I felt it,” Bueckers said. “I didn’t know how serious it was, but I knew it was serious.”
Over the coming days Bueckers moved from frustration to denial to acceptance of her torn left ACL and what will need to be done to get back on the court a year from now.
“The first couple of weeks were tough, just trying to process it,” Bueckers said Thursday as she talked with state media one month to the day of the event that reverberated across Connecticut and the women’s basketball world. “It didn’t feel like real life. There was some anxiety, some stress. But when I had surgery that was the bettering point for me, knowing that everything here on out was getting closer to playing basketball. It’s been a process, but I feel I’ve handled it pretty well.”
That Bueckers, who has been the face of the UConn program, maybe UConn athletics, and is certainly one of the faces of her sport, will not be on the court for a year still does not seem like real life. But it is. Slowly the news came out that day, Bueckers texting teammates. Nika Muhl and Dorka Juhasz were on the other side of the world, home in Europe, when they got the news via text. Muhl woke up and started crying. Azzi Fudd, who recovered from a torn ACL while in high school, was home in D.C. when she got the news and felt “sick to her stomach,” knowing as she did what was ahead for Bueckers.
Freshman Ice Brady was on the court when it happened. “It wasn’t anything like crazy,” Brady said. “She was just going up for a layup, driving, and her knee just buckled the wrong way. We weren’t really sure, but she kind of knew.”
When Bueckers saw the news released, saw the posts on social media about herself, she began to accept real life’s latest intrusion. She had the surgery Aug. 9 and is now walking without crutches, as Fudd, who knows, often barking for her to stand up straight, not to rush.
The rest of the Huskies, and of course it’s a talented group, bolstered by newcomers, young and experienced, and players coming back from their own injuries, must move on for the season. But they won’t be moving on alone.
“I’m head coach,” Bueckers said. “Coach [Geno Auriemma] let me take his spot. No, I’m just kidding. But I’m the players’ coach, I’m going to be the one they can talk to, the one that’s going to push them, also the one they can rely on when they need support. I’m definitely taking that job as a coach but I’m not sure which job I’m taking.”
And how does Geno feel about that? “He likes it,” Bueckers said. “But I’m not sure he’s going to like it when it starts happening.”
One month to the day of her injury, Bueckers could smile, crack a mischievous joke here and there. Off the court, at least, she is back to doing Paige Bueckers Things.
“It’s different hearing things from a coach and hearing things from one of us.” Fudd said. “She’ll be a big help with that. Even now, she’s still super involved.”
This will be the way Bueckers prepares for the 2023-24 season and, she made clear, there will be another season for her at UConn. She will not go pro without suiting up for the Huskies, though she could technically be eligible for the 2023 WNBA draft.
“I’m not leaving, that is not any question,” Bueckers said. “I’m not thinking too far ahead, but I will be playing college basketball again.”
See? There is some hopeful news out there. Bueckers, the national player of the year as a freshman, missed most of last season with an unrelated knee injury. UConn struggled, but held things together admirably without her and, bolstered by her return, made it to the national championship game. Coach Bueckers thinks they can do it all again, maybe go one step further.
“Last year we were the underdogs and we made it to the national championship game,” Bueckers said. “I think we play better, we do better with a chip on our shoulder. I know a lot of people are already counting us out, but I’m excited. This team knows its potential, I know our potential. I’m excited for them to show the world what we can do.”
It will be a year for Bueckers, too, to show what she can do, what she is made of, to come back from another knee surgery and return as good as she ever was. That’s her vow. There are examples like Fudd and Juhasz around her to show it can be done.
“It’s really my faith, at times like these,” Bueckers said, “challenging, mentally, it sort of makes you mature in a way you didn’t think you had to be. I’m a believer in God’s plan, everything happens for a reason and I’m just trying to find the positives through all that.
“This just really makes me not want to not take things for granted again. Live in the moment, don’t think too far into the future because you never know what can happen. Just living every day to the best of my ability and being thankful to God that I wake up every morning. I mean, there are so many things in my life I am thankful for. I didn’t have to pay for my surgery, I am at my dream school with my family. To sulk and be sad about this, there’s a lot more that can be wrong in life.”
