Throughout this 12 months’s March Insanity event, she appears injury-free and centered on the good things. “I’m simply attempting to have enjoyable,” Bueckers informed the Large East Convention. “Final 12 months I missed this chance, and I actually wish to embrace it and keep in mind why I’m taking part in and the enjoyment that I play with. I all the time play higher once I’m completely satisfied.”
3. She was as soon as teammates with Caitlin Clark.
Whereas the Closing 4 goes to be a showdown between the 2 powerhouses, they weren’t all the time rivals: Bueckers and Clark had been truly teammates for a short time a couple of years in the past. They each performed for Group USA within the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup—and received gold. Actually, Bueckers was even named MVP of the event, partly because of her position serving to her staff win within the extra time closing.
“Since I’ve identified her, since she was in center college, she’s all the time labored that very same means, she’s all the time had that fireplace, she’s all the time been an important chief, and I actually truthfully couldn’t be happier for her and the 12 months she’s had,” Clark informed SNY going into the Closing 4.
4. Bueckers makes use of her platform for advocacy.
After successful the ESPY for Finest Girls’s Faculty Athlete in 2021, Bueckers used her acceptance speech as a possibility to advocate for Black athletes. “As a white lady who leads a Black-led sport,” she stated on stage, “I wish to shed a light-weight on Black ladies. They don’t get the media protection they deserve. They’ve given a lot to this sport, the group, and society as a complete, and their worth is plain.”
Bueckers additionally makes use of her social media platforms to attract consideration to racism, police brutality, and social injustice. It’s private for Bueckers, whose youthful brother Drew is Black. She captioned a carousel of images of Drew promising, “I’m going to work for change, little brother. I would like you to develop up in a world that accepts you for who you might be.”
5. She utilized to trademark the nickname “Paige Buckets.”
Bueckers should have seen a possibility when the NCAA started permitting student-athletes to generate profits from their identify, picture, and likeness (NIL) in 2021. Based on Sports activities Illustrated, she utilized to trademark the time period “Paige Buckets” to promote merch tagged along with her apt nickname (particularly “shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms,” based on the trademark software). It seems to be just like the trademark has since been deserted, however now that UConn is again within the Closing 4 for a report twenty third time, it might be time to revive the plan so Bueckers’s followers can get some severe swag.
6. And she or he already has some fairly candy sponsors and partnerships.
Bueckers has greater than 2.2 million followers throughout Instagram and TikTok mixed, and he or she could also be among the many highest-paid faculty athletes. In 2022, Sports activities Illustrated estimated that she made $824,000 within the first 18 months after the NIL guidelines went into impact. She’s partnered with a number of noteworthy manufacturers, together with CVS, Dunkin’, and even the US Military. She’s additionally sponsored by Gatorade and Nike.
7. She’s tremendous shut along with her teammates.
Bueckers is all about her teammates, on and off the courtroom. In a post-game press convention with media on March 11, when requested about teammate Nika Muhl’s hope to interrupt the college help report (which she’s since carried out), Bueckers stated she was “mad” about lacking a possibility to assist Muhl attain her five hundredth in a current sport. Bueckers then grew to become emotional occupied with ending their time taking part in collectively: “That is my sister. My twin,” she stated.
