Paige Bueckers is preparing for a big moment as she leads UConn into Friday’s Final Four game against UCLA. It’s her fourth trip to this stage, a remarkable feat that underscores her impact – whenever she’s been healthy, the Huskies have at least made it this far. Now she’s chasing her second national championship appearance and a shot at her first title, which would also be UConn’s first since 2016. Winning it all would be the ultimate send-off to a career that began with a bang, when she was named the Naismith College Player of the Year as a freshman.
A Look Back: Clark on the Bench, Bueckers Up Front
An old video floating around the internet takes us back to her high school days with Team USA, and it’s wild to see how the tables have turned. Caitlin Clark, now a global hoops sensation, came off the bench while Paige Bueckers held down a starting spot. Who would have thought that the reserve would explode into the star she is today?
At just 23 years old, with only one WNBA season under her belt, Clark is already a top-10 player in the pros. Her college days at Iowa were nothing short of historic: she’s the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer, led the nation in points and assists three times in four years, and then stormed the WNBA with Rookie of the Year honors, setting records with 337 assists in a season and 19 in a single game, and scoring 769 points, the most ever by a rookie. That high school clip feels like a lifetime ago.
I get it-folks may be tired of hearing Caitlin Clark’s name in the same breath, but after Clark’s unreal NCAA run and her splash as the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year, comparing her to a talent like Bueckers feels inevitable. They’re on a collision course to meet again soon, this time as pros, with Bueckers projected as the Dallas Wings’ No. 1 pick in 2025 and Clark already lighting up the league. Mark your calendars for Friday, June 27 – this matchup will be a must-see.
What would be amazing is to see them playing together as starters at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. That’s years away, but the U.S. women’s team has won eight consecutive gold medals since 1996. Both could put women’s basketball on a higher pedestal, thanks to their popularity, charisma and excting type of play. I envision something like the men’s 1992 Dream Team, but on the women’s side, with Clark, Bueckers, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu and even Juju Watkins.
Clark’s Benchmark: A Tough Act to Follow
As we still in the NCAA Tournament I know it’s exhausting to hold every college standout to Caitlin Clark’s standard, but her time at Iowa set the bar sky-high. She averaged 28.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game, piling up 3,951 career points to claim the NCAA scoring crown. She led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national title games, falling to LSU in 2023 and South Carolina in 2024. Bueckers, who has her sights set on the Final Four game, has faced Clark twice in the NCAA Tournament: a lopsided 92-72 win for UConn in the 2021 Sweet 16 (Bueckers had 18 points, Clark had 21) and a heartbreaking 71-69 lost to Iowa in the 2024 Final Four (Bueckers had 17, Clark again had 21). Their next meeting will light up the WNBA, and you can bet it’ll be standing room only – fingers crossed they both stay in one piece for it.
The UConn What-If: A Partnership That Wasn’t Meant to Be
Believe it or not, the two almost joined forces at UConn. Clark had her sights set on playing for the Huskies, but coach Geno Auriemma had already handed the reins to Bueckers. “I gave Paige my word early on,”Auriemma told reporters last year. Bringing in Clark would have been an overreach, and frankly, it might have diminished one of their lusters-maybe they’d have stepped on each other’s toes. Instead, fate parted them: Bueckers built her legacy at UConn, Clark carved hers at Iowa, and women’s hoops got two incredible stories out of it.
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