Paige Bueckers didn’t need a title to be a UConn legend. She deserved one, though

TAMPA, Fla. — With 1:32 left in the fourth quarter, while huddled with her teammates during a stoppage in play, Paige Bueckers heard her name called. It was UConn freshman Allie Ziebell, and she handed her superstar teammate a towel.

This was no towel of surrender. But one of accomplishment. A towel of rest, representing the peace resulting from a job well done. Bueckers grabbed it and walked toward the Huskies bench. Her countenance softened, her disposition relaxed. She saw the hug of completion awaiting.

“So many emotions,” Bueckers said. “Gratitude was the main one — of the journey, of the ups and downs, everything that it took to get to that point.”

Geno Auriemma, her coach, her sensei, her advocate, often the thorn in her side, now and forever the bark in her conscience, became the warmth at the end of an epic journey. His arms wrapping around her in a triumphant embrace gave Bueckers permission to stop and feel the reward of her labor.

For this moment, if only for this moment, she could put down the plow. Her Huskies were but moments from a confetti shower following Sunday’s 82-59 trouncing of South Carolina. She could turn off the fire that’s been burning. She could dismount the guard her stature and fame requires erecting. She could relinquish whatever doubt and worry nestled in the crevices of her psyche.

Because she has done it. In her final game with UConn — in the presence of Huskies icons such as Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart in the stands — Bueckers became a national champion.

And in front of a sold-out crowd at Amalie Arena, before a million more viewing elsewhere, she let it all go. She squeezed Auriemma tight, releasing all the energy a superstar must carry, as her tears fell on the shoulder of her coach.

While she sobbed, Auriemma told his point guard he loved her.

“There are times when she and I are very, very serious together,” he explained. “And a lot of serious conversations have been had over the last five years between the two of us. Some conversations are light and fun and don’t mean anything. But today was the first one, I think, in five years that all the emotions that have been building inside of me came out. And they came out in here because in five years that she’s been at Connecticut, I’ve never seen her cry.”

And in this touching display, as the basketball world melted from their shared affection, one of the greatest Auriemma ever coached responded.

“And I told him,” Bueckers said, “I hated him.”

Bueckers deserved this moment. She earned this moment. But the truth is, she didn’t need this moment.

In another universe where the Gamecocks played the game of their lives and upset UConn, the reality of her supremacy remains unchanged. A title will no doubt add to her legend. But Bueckers was already legendary.

Because, truly, winners aren’t defined by wins, but by the willingness to produce them. And the character winning inevitably reveals.

Bueckers’ greatest victory, the one most meaningful to her undeniable legacy, is how she handles the weight of her crown. What she emanates from the pedestal on which she’s perched. Her greatness is gracious. She knows how to shine while deflecting it, and how to meld character and competitiveness.

It can’t be forgotten the era she’s in. She carried the burden of the UConn standard when its dominion had never been more under attack. She’s led the Huskies to four Final Fours, sandwiched around an ACL injury that cost her a season, in an era proliferated with stars and formidable programs.

Yet, the same reason Bueckers didn’t need a national championship is exactly why she now has one. Because the package of her game is elite. She is a versatile playmaker who impacts the defensive end. She competes with a ferocity contradicting her pleasantness. She can dominate a game with her skill or control it with her intangibles.

“Phenomenal player. Definitely,” said Bree Hall, South Carolina’s premier defender who has matched up with the best in the game over her four seasons.

“Hats off to her. She’s a great, great player. She gets to her shots. She knows how to get open. … She definitely did the thing today. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to compete against her in the W(NBA) — or maybe be on the same team.”

The original idea behind the word legend was a reference to things to be read. In the 14th century, with literacy the skill of a chosen few, something had to be worthy to be written, and was written to be read. When something happened, when something was important, it was recorded in some way so as to be passed on. So others could read and know.

The journey of Bueckers is written. The high school phenom from St. Louis Park, Minn., who announced her arrival in the first March Madness post-pandemic with stellar play in empty gyms. Who came back from a knee injury to lead UConn to the title game as a sophomore — only to miss the next season with an ACL tear. Who returned with a vengeance, averaging a career-best 21.9 points in her junior season, which ended in a classic duel against Caitlin Clark. Who led a young team without an elite player as a co-star on a title run that in hindsight was surprisingly dominant.

After losing at Tennessee on Feb. 6, UConn ran off 16 straight wins with a 32.1-point average margin of victory. The closest any team came was USC’s 14-point loss to the Huskies in the Elite Eight.

“It’s been a story of resilience, of gratitude, of adversity, of overcoming adversity,” Bueckers said. “Just responding to life’s challenges and trying to fuel them to make me a better person, a better player and continue to grow in my leadership abilities and being a great teammate and just staying who I am. … I wouldn’t trade it for the world. To be shaped, to be the person that I am today and the team we are today. And obviously, you feel like on the other side of a really hard time is a really big blessing. And we stuck to it and kept the faith.”

The story of UConn, the narrative of women’s basketball emergence, cannot be told without Bueckers. And it was unequivocally worthy of telling. She’s an all-time great from one of history’s great sports programs. She is a pillar in the revolution of women’s basketball. She is a baller’s baller.

None of this can even be questioned now because Bueckers beholds the ultimate prize. But this was confirmation and not validation. Her UConn run culminating in a championship is the bottle sparklers in the celebration of her career.

Paige Bueckers and coach Geno Auriemma shared a tearful embrace on the sideline after the senior checked out of the game. (Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

With that said, she clearly wanted this. Judging by how she played, she wanted it badly.

Bueckers spearheaded a possessed Huskies squad. UConn suffocated a Gamecocks offense limited in options and carved up the defending champion’s aggressive defense. When the Huskies saw South Carolina leaking confidence and exhausted of answers, they shifted gears and left Dawn Staley’s women in a cloud of navy blue haze.

This wasn’t one of the explosive performances for which Bueckers has become known. But she left more fingerprints in the snatching of this ring than a lazy burglar. She was the symphony conductor, as Auriemma described her at her best. Sunday, she set a particular tone.

In the final seconds of the first quarter, Gamecocks freshman forward Joyce Edwards had a wide-open look off a drive-and-dish from Te-Hina Paopao, but Bueckers blocked it from behind. It was the kind of extra-effort play UConn would make all night to leave South Carolina feeling like it was playing five-on-eight. On the ensuing Huskies possession, Bueckers drove and banked a runner off the glass.

UConn went into the second quarter up five. The Huskies were unscathed through the jitters and what proved to be South Carolina’s best shot.

Late in the third quarter, her will to win showed up again. With 1:45 left, and South Carolina on the ropes, Bueckers went in among the trees and grabbed an offensive rebound. She drew a foul on the putback. What the Gamecocks, reeling offensively, thought would be a defensive stop turned into two Huskies free throws. Bueckers clapped violently to punctuate the hustle play.

On the ensuing defensive possession, Bueckers outhustled South Carolina again. She tracked Raven Johnson’s missed jumper, beating Sania Feagin to the ball. At this point, the Gamecocks were down 18, and their best offense was an offensive rebound. So Bueckers wouldn’t let them have it.

Early in the fourth quarter, the desperate Gamecocks ramping up the pressure, Bueckers came curling off a dribble handoff from Sarah Strong. Azzi Fudd tried to do the same seconds before but was bumped off by the aggression. But Bueckers’ savvy showed up as she made sure Hall got caught up on the screen. Then Bueckers stuck the jumper over the outstretched hand of Chloe Kitts.

Two possessions later, after a stop, she pushed the ball in transition. She had a path to the basket, but she had a different goal in mind. Fudd was the hot one Sunday. She finished with 24 points, winning Most Outstanding Player. Bueckers veered toward Fudd on the right wing. The dribble handoff got Fudd an open look. She missed the 3, but it was a sign of Bueckers going for the jugular.

She found it. Connecticut got the offensive rebound, and Bueckers got open on a backdoor cut. Strong hit her in stride. MiLaysia Fulwiley, South Carolina’s athletic guard, soared from the weakside for the block. But she whacked Bueckers’ arm in the process. The whistle blew, the layup dropped, the crowd erupted, and Bueckers laid flat on her back, yelling and flexing. Her free throw put UConn up by 29 with 7:45 remaining.

Auriemma said Bueckers can be mesmerizing and infuriating. When she’s dominating, when she has all the elements of a team, of the scheme, of a game on a string, it’s poetry for a coach. When she ventures away from the plan, a liberty afforded by her talent and work ethic, she can drive a coach crazy.

“It happened a couple times today. And it just is really infuriating,” he said. “She is going to want to dictate, and my relationship with her has been, I know what she’s going to do and it’s not always what I want her to do. But I know in the end, she’s always doing what she thinks she needs to do for us to win.”

That’s why she’s a legend. Because she has the audacity to take on the challenge, take on every foe, any obstacle, the pressure of UConn, even her iconic coach. She’s produced in ways only legendary figures can. She put up numbers. She choreographed wins. She orchestrated moments. She delivered chills.

And when it was all over, having dedicated all she had for five years to her beloved UConn, Bueckers walked off the court with an ultimate final memory conducted. She’d given her blood. She’d given her sweat.

Sunday, finally, she gave her tears.

(Top photo: C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)