UConn women's notes: Auriemma doesn't think claiming Bueckers as 'best player' is that far off
Mar. 30—PORTLAND, Ore. — UConn coach Geno Auriemma was alerted Friday afternoon that he caused a "stir" earlier in the week.
Not that it's a foreign concept for Auriemma to cause a stir, well, mainly in his younger days, but he wasn't aware that claiming Huskies star Paige Bueckers as the "best player in America," as he referred to her, was anything crazy.
"I didn't realize I was causing a stir," Auriemma said prior to third-seeded UConn's Sweet 16 matchup Saturday against No. 7 Duke at the Moda Center.
The questioner referred to Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the nation's leading scorer and the favorite as national player of the year, as the generally undisputed best player in America.
"I bet you if you asked USC, they wouldn't tell you Caitlin Clark is the best player. I bet if you asked LSU, they wouldn't tell you. I bet you if you asked Texas, they wouldn't tell you," Auriemma said. "I think every coach thinks the player that's on their team that's helping them the most is the best player.
"Listen, I've coached the best player in the country a lot more than anybody else coaching in this tournament. It's OK for somebody else to say their player is."
Bueckers, who was the national player of the year as a freshman in 2021, missed the bulk of the last two seasons with injuries, last season entirely.
This year she leads a UConn team that was 31-5 entering Saturday's game despite missing six players to injuries. Bueckers was averaging 21.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocked shots.
Against Syracuse in the second round of the tournament, after which Auriemma made his comments, Bueckers had 32 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Auriemma gave Bueckers the mantle during his opening statement. She was on the podium with him at the time.
"I was sitting right next to him so that was even more surprising," Bueckers said with a laugh. "I definitely didn't think he would say that that I could hear it.
"It's very humbling. You sort of wouldn't expect him to say it because of what happens in practice and what happens in the game, how much he yells at you during that. But just very humbling, very grateful. Obviously he's a great basketball mind, has a lot of love for the game, so you respect everything he says."
Auriemma, who has coached the Associated Press National Player of the Year 12 times since 1995 (Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore twice, Tina Charles, Breanna Stewart three times and Bueckers) cited not only Bueckers' stats but her efficiency.
She shoots 54% from the floor, 41.8% from 3-point range. In five postseason games, she's averaging 28.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and shooting 53.9%.
Said Auriemma: "I wouldn't trade her for anybody else."
So long, Pac-12
With the Pac-12 Conference dissolving after this season, five teams from the league remained in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA tournament: Stanford, USC, UCLA, Oregon State and Colorado.
USC, the top seed in Portland Regional 3, and Oregon State, the third-seeded team in Albany Regional 1, remain in the Elite Eight.
USC won the final Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas, March 7-10, with graduate senior McKenzie Forbes (from Folsom, California) named Most Outstanding Player.
"The Pac-12, I think, growing up, all of us on the West Coast, means a lot to us," Forbes said. "That was the channel I was always watching in high school, hoping to be at that level. Just to be a part of it in this last year, all of us to be doing so well and to take the tournament championship for the last one, I think means a lot."
Quotable
UConn's Bueckers was asked if she had one pick nationwide to join the Huskies or to play a pickup game with, who would it be? She stuck close to home, picking her six injured teammates.
"I mean, I have a lot of choices, great choices," Bueckers said. "I think I would pick Azzi Fudd, Caroline Ducharme, Ayanna Patterson, Jana El Alfy, Aubrey Griffin, Amari DeBerry to rejoin our team."
