Our Clients:

Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Jun 20, 2023 9:53 pm

Geno Auriemma: Paige Bueckers (ACL) to be ready by season opener

After missing the entire 2022-23 season with a torn ACL in her left knee, Paige Bueckers has made enough progress in her recovery that UConn coach Geno Auriemma expects her to be ready for the start of the new season.

Bueckers tore the ACL during offseason workouts after the 2021-22 season. The last time she took the floor for a competitive game was the 2022 national title game, a loss to South Carolina.

Speaking at his annual charity golf tournament in Connecticut, Auriemma told reporters Bueckers is 90 percent recovered by now and cleared for everything except playing five-on-five.

“If we were in the Final Four this coming week, you think she’d play? Hell yeah, but this isn’t April,” Auriemma said.

Though the schedule has not yet been released, the college basketball season begins during the first week or two of November.

“If she’s not ready to go (by then), then I’m not ready to go,” Auriemma said. “Let’s put it that way.”

Auriemma’s comments come one week after Bueckers told reporters on campus in Storrs, Conn., that she felt “really good” but still had “a long way to go.”

Bueckers was named National Player of the Year as a freshman in 2020-21, when she averaged 20.0 points, 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game while leading the Huskies to the Final Four. She was limited to 17 games (13 starts) the following year due to a left knee injury — a tibial plateau fracture that occurred before the ACL tear in the same knee in August 2022.

In 46 career games (42 starts), she has career averages of 18.0 points, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per contest.

Bueckers is set to rejoin a team that also features star players Azzi Fudd and Aaliyah Edwards, key returners Nika Muhl and Caroline Ducharme and redshirt freshman Ice Brady, a highly touted recruit who missed her freshman season with a knee injury.

–Field Level Media

You may also like

Rockies, Phillies
Apr 2, 2025 9:41 pm

Zack Wheeler (10 Ks) in control as Phillies drop Rockies

Zack Wheeler struck out 10 over seven strong innings as the Philadelphia Phillies topped the visiting Colorado Rockies 5-1 on Wednesday night. Edmundo Sosa (two RBIs) and Trea Turner each…

Andrei Kuzmenko
Apr 2, 2025 9:35 pm

Andrei Kuzmenko, Kings out to extend hot stretch vs. Utah

The Los Angeles Kings weren’t too busy at the trade deadline last month, but one of the few moves they made is turning into a winner. Andrei Kuzmenko is beginning…

tyson degenhart
Apr 2, 2025 9:31 pm

Javan Buchanan helps Boise State beat Butler in Crown

Javan Buchanan scored 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting, Tyson Degenhart reached the 2,000-point mark for his career and Boise State advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown with…

More News News

Rockies, Phillies
Apr 2, 2025 9:41 pm

Zack Wheeler (10 Ks) in control as Phillies drop Rockies

Zack Wheeler struck out 10 over seven strong innings as the Philadelphia Phillies topped the visiting Colorado Rockies 5-1 on Wednesday night. Edmundo Sosa (two RBIs) and Trea Turner each…

Andrei Kuzmenko
Apr 2, 2025 9:35 pm

Andrei Kuzmenko, Kings out to extend hot stretch vs. Utah

tyson degenhart
Apr 2, 2025 9:31 pm

Javan Buchanan helps Boise State beat Butler in Crown

villanova dixon
Apr 2, 2025 9:24 pm

Opportunity knocks in Crown for Villanova, USC

garrett crochet
Apr 2, 2025 9:14 pm

Garrett Crochet, Red Sox shutout Orioles in road win

Read all
fb-post
advertisment
title-icon

Upcoming events

See all odds