Uconn Huskies Women’s Basketball Star Paige Bueckers has appeared at a high level during the NCAA tournament and most recently scored 40 points in a Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma.
Anyone who had followed Bueckers since the beginning of his college career knows that games like the one they were soon for the course. She also fell 34 points against South Dakota State in the second round.
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Uconn protects Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers on the bench against Arkansa’s State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Saturday 22 March 2025, in Storrs, Connecticut (AP Photo/Jessica Hil;)
But her popularity has not yet skyrocketed like Caitlin Clarks when Sharpshooter won games at Iowa and put NCAA Records in the scoring. The former NBA Center Etan Thomas suggested in a column for The Guardian last week that there were a few reasons for it.
Thomas wrote that Bueckers’ associations with black people and the lack of a so-called “black villain” to fight in the NCAA tournament affected how white people saw the Huskies guard. He pointed to Bueckers’ decision to shout black women during her Espys speech in 2021 as the start of it.
“In the meantime, there has been no black villain for BUECKERS to compete against,” Thomas wrote, referring to Clark’s rivalry on the field with LSU Standout Angel Reese. “The fact that it has meant that she has received less attention and worship from Central America, says a lot about the state of the country.”
Uconn -vagt Paige Bueckers runs through the Student Section of the Gamly Pavilion after a game against South Dakota State in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Monday, March 24, 2025, in Storrs. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
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Thomas claimed that people who were not interested in women’s basketball suddenly became fans for all the “worst reasons”, adding that “they were there to cheer Clark’s whiteness and attack Reese’s blackness, not their talent.”
He then wrote that Bueckers’ decision to cook for his Muslim teammates under Ramadan, sing gospel songs and have a black stepmother and stepsiblings allegedly “simply does not sit well with ‘the certain demographic’ who embraced Clark and advanced her for” wrong reasons. “
BUecker’s average 19.8 points, 4.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds per Match. She is part of a Sorority of Legendary Huskies players who have come in front of her, though she lacks the one thing that big alumni like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart have – a national title.
Uconn -vagt Paige Bueckers passes the ball under the sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament against Oklahoma, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Spokane, Washington. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Bueckers are likely to be No. 1 selection of the WNBA draft, and it will be fun to see her go up against Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink, Arike Ogunbowale, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and others as she takes the right in the profs.
