With less than 90 seconds to play in the second round of the women's NCAA tournament, the University of Connecticut held a five point lead over the University of Central Florida. The reigning national player of the year received a screen from teammate Dorka Juh and drove left, but a UCF defender blocked her path. Bueckers picked up her dribble, faked a pass to shake the defender and launched a 3-pointer.
There is an air ball.
The ball found its way to Bueckers again on the next possession, this time on the left wing. She hoisted another trey because the zone allowed her a decent look.
It rimmed out.
Christyn Williams and Azzi Fudd went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 19 seconds to preserve the win for the 2 seed. The finish reflected the balanced nature of the team this year, as opposed to last season, when Bueckers' heroics were needed to bail them out. That was the fatal flaw of the team that lost to Arizona in the Final Four semifinals.
The women's NCAA tournament games are underway. Play a tournament.
Paige is an example that you are only as good as your teammates, according to Geno Auriemma. You have to have players who rise above it. Arizona proved that.
After Bueckers went down with a knee injury, the Huskies became more multidimensional. Seven of their nine rotation players scored in at least one game this season. The motto "everybody eats" was adopted by the team after Bueckers returned, and they will need to live by it moving forward. The program is on the cable network, ESPN.
After his team allowed a 12-point lead with five minutes remaining to dwindle to three in the game against UCF, Auriemma said he didn't expect Paige to play great.
The version of Bueckers in this year's NCAA tournament isn't the same player who led the University of Connecticut to a 13th consecutive Final Four last season. Even if she isn't great, the Huskies can still make their way to Minneapolis in pursuit of a national championship. This group of players might end up going further than they have before if everybody eats and some players step up.
When the NCAA tournament began, Auriemma admitted that he wasn't sure what Bueckers role would be. After winning the Big East tournament, the University of Connecticut had a 12-day break, but Bueckers only played five games since returning from injury.
We have a pretty good situation going right now, so how much do we want to change that, and what is best for our team and what is not?
After mostly coming off the bench and playing limited minutes since her return, Bueckers was back in the starting lineup for the first-round game. She played a total of 32 minutes against UCF and 24 against Mercer, the most she has played since she was injured.
The preparation has helped Bueckers be better on the court, he said after the victory.
One of the biggest differences is that she is not taking over games like she did before the injury. Through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, she has averaged roughly half the shot attempts she took. She has not taken more than nine in a game since her return, and she put up at least 13 attempts in all five of the games she played a year ago.
That is not surprising, given that the team has more depth and scoring balance. Fudd, Bueckers backcourt mate, attempted the most shots of any Husky against the Knights, though nothing came easily. Even if she is not a higher volume shooter, Bueckers can still be effective. The sophomore finished with 12 points on seven shots to go along with five assists, four rebound and two steals. Bueckers court vision and ability to facilitate the offense still separate her from most others on the floor.
There is still a lot going on out on the court that you can see that it is not the same player that we saw last year. The fact that I had her on the floor for 32 minutes against UCF says something.
The trio of Azzi Fudd, Christyn Williams and Paige Bueckers combined for 37 points as the University of Connecticut defeated the University of Central Florida to advance to the Sweet 16.
The 12th NCAA title will be won by the University of Connecticut if it can win four more games. It doesn't seem like the idea of Bueckers putting up 22 shots, like she did in the NCAA tournament, doesn't seem right. After being out for three months, maybe it is not unreasonable to expect her to do the same things she did before the injury.
As long as others step up, that might be okay for the Huskies.
Fudd and Williams combined for over half of the scoring against UCF. Williams was 3-for-9 from the field, Fudd was 4-for-10 from 3, but 0-for-3 inside the arc, and they made big plays at the end of the game.
Williams had three 20-point games in the Sweet 16 last year. As a senior, she will be looked upon more than Fudd to get the offense going. Fudd is the No. 1 overall recruit from 2021. After returning from a foot injury, the guard showed that she can rise to the occasion, helping the Huskies surpass both DePaul and Marquette in tight games, propelling them to a beatdown of Tennessee and spurring a comeback attempt in their loss. Fudd can play beyond her years if she keeps hitting 3s, that will take the pressure off Bueckers.
If any help is provided by either Evina orCaroline, it would be beneficial. A big guard who can get to the rim with relative ease and knock down shots from deep, Ducharme led the team in scoring six times when Bueckers was out. With Ducharme only seeing the floor for four minutes against UCF, it is not clear how Auriemma views her going forward.
The offense of the University of Connecticut needs to remain balanced, not just in scoring distribution, but in where and how it is scoring. The three-big rotation of senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa, sophomore Aaliyah Edwards and graduate transfer Juhsz was mostly missing in action against UCF. They will need to offer more productivity inside to take the pressure off the guards.
NC State or Notre Dame will challenge the Huskies if they advance. The defense of the University of Connecticut allows 53.4 points per game. The Knights were held to 18 points in 25 minutes from the second quarter through the middle of the fourth by the Huskies.
With and without Bueckers on the floor this season, the offense has not been as effective. The margin of error gets slimmer if Bueckers is unable to single-handedly take over games. Their 2-for-12 effort on layups against UCF hurt, in addition to hitting just 6-of-20 uncontested shots. It was similar to how Connecticut went just 7-for-22 on layups against Arizona in the Final Four. While the win over UCF was a result of the numbers, the Huskies might not be so lucky against the likes of Indiana, which is not as physical as the Knights.
We need to do better at finishing easy buckets. Williams said after the UCF win that they have to keep their lead and not allow the team to come back. Most of it is finishing easy baskets.
She faced lofty expectations that she could be the silver bullet propelling the team to national championship glory again. She and her team were not ready last season. Things went awry this season with injuries, illness and inconsistency.
There is no silver bullet to winning a championship. They had to learn how to win despite losing Bueckers and seven others to injury or illness this season. They have a chance to make that statement on the biggest stages if everyone eats.
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