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TAMPA, Florida — Whether she wins a national title or not, Paige Bueckers will sleep just fine.
There is a tendency to demand that transcendent players check all the boxes. They have to dominate. They have to break records. They have to win titles. They have to change the game. At last year’s Final Four, one of the storylines was whether Caitlin Clark needed a title to cement her GOAT status.
Caitlin Clark, who had just become the all-time leading scorer in all of major college basketball, forever changing the way society sees women’s sports and the athletes who play them in the process.
So it is with Bueckers, one of the purest all-around players the game has seen. As UConn meets South Carolina in the national championship Sunday, there are some who would argue there is still a ‘hole’ in Buecker’s considerable resume.
Bueckers, however, isn’t one of them.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” she said Saturday. “The thing I take great joy and great pride in is the relationships, the experiences, the journeys we’ve gone on throughout the team. Just the bonds I’ve been able to create with my teammates, the memories, the close-knit stuff that you can’t really experience without sports. How it’s brought us all together and how much we’ve grown as individuals, grown as a team. All the stuff we’ve been through and how much it’s made us stronger.
“Really, the journey is the reward for me. Talk of legacy and whatever, that’s not up to me. All I can worry about and control is who I am every single day and who we are as a team.”
That isn’t to say Bueckers doesn’t want to win. Of course she does. She didn’t come to UConn to star in a comedic duo with coach Geno Auriemma, entertaining as their back-and-forths are. She is well aware it’s been almost a decade since UConn won its last title, an unfathomable “drought” at the premier program in women’s basketball.
But there is a difference between want and need, something Bueckers’ star-crossed career has taught her all too well.
The Huskies reached the Final Four her freshman year, but they were too young to have a realistic shot at the title in a year turned upside down by the COVID pandemic. She missed most of her sophomore year with a knee injury but returned in time to lead UConn to the title game — in her hometown no less — only to have the Huskies derailed by injuries and illness.
She missed her entire junior year with a torn ACL. Last year, UConn was so riddled with injuries the Huskies were being held together with paper clips and bubble gum by the time they reached the Final Four.
When Bueckers says she is grateful just to get one more game in a UConn uniform, she is not spouting a cliché.
“I think everything in life has kind of taught me not to take things for granted,” she said. “Being in the national championship game, it’s extremely hard to get to and extremely rewarding to be a part of.”
For those of us on the outside, though, it’s hard not to want the fairytale ending, to see Bueckers leave the game with confetti in her hair and a trophy in her hand.
Bueckers hasn’t just inspired a generation of players with her slick passes and ability to flip a game on a dime. She has used her platform for good, shining her spotlight on the women of color who came before her and paved the way for her success. She has championed her teammates, with her words and with her game.
“Paige doesn’t need anything to change her life to make her life better. She’s got a life that most people would dream about,” Auriemma said. “But for someone who’s invested so much into the University of Connecticut, the community, the team, her teammates, and loves the game so much, she deserves to go out as a national champion.
“But so do a bunch of kids at South Carolina that have done the exact same thing,” he added. “That’s why whoever doesn’t get the opportunity to (win), it stings, it hurts. It’s going to take a long time to get over that. But at the same time, it’s not going to be your defining moment.”
Because a legacy is never just one item on a resume. It’s the sum total of a person’s career, not just what they’ve accomplished but how they’ve done it.
By that measure, Bueckers is leaving UConn a winner. Regardless of what happens Sunday.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
