UConn Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers is one of the faces of women’s college basketball, so pressure is nothing new to her, but the recent injury to USC Trojans star Juju Watkins has added pressure to the former National Player of the Year.
With Watkins out of the remainder of the NCAA Tournament, will Bueckers step up and lead her team to their first national championship since 2016?
With JuJu Watkins Out, Will Paige Bueckers Rise to the Occasion?
The moment the entire 68-team bracket was announced on Selection Sunday, the world’s attention was drawn to Regional-4 in Spokane. USC was the number-one seed in that region, and UConn was the number-two seed.
This set up a potential championship-level match in the Elite Eight. The two best players in college basketball were set to duel once again to see which superstar would represent their part of the bracket in the Final Four.
However, the basketball world was robbed of that when Juju Watkins tore her ACL in the first quarter of USC’s Round of 32 game against Mississippi State.
This devastating news has put more pressure on Bueckers to reach the Final Four and capture her first National Championship while putting on a show.
The rise of women’s basketball has come because great players have been able to capture the world’s attention during the March Madness tournament.
Great players have always existed in women’s basketball, from the days of Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes, and many more. But today, the game has grown in popularity because of stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Juju Watkins, and Paige Bueckers.
With Clark and Reese in the WNBA and Watkins out for the tournament, Paige Bueckers is the biggest remaining name in women’s college basketball.
Though great players like Hannah Hildalgo, Madison Booker, and Lauren Betts still exist, the Big East Player of the Year now has the spotlight solely on her to deliver a championship to the Huskies and capture the attention of fans around the globe.
If Paige Bueckers does not win a National Championship this year, she will be the first UConn player to win a National Player of the Year award but not a championship.
Bueckers has shown that she can rise to the occasion throughout her career, whether it was coming back from a knee injury in her sophomore year and leading UConn to the championship game or as recently as the Round of 32.
Pressure comes with being a UConn great, and Paige has embraced that with outstanding professionalism and success, but the unfortunate injury to Juju Watkins has put more of a spotlight on the presumed number-one pick in this year’s WNBA draft.
Bueckers gets a chance to reach her fourth Elite Eight this Saturday as the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies face off against the No. 3 seed Oklahoma Sooners.
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