Carl Adamec: After tough finish, Bueckers gives UConn women hope

Mar. 27—SEATTLE — It was Selection Sunday and Azzi Fudd was told that junior guard Paige Bueckers had been a member of the UConn women's basketball team for 100 games.

And had played in only 46 of them, including 15 in two seasons alongside Fudd.

"It's very frustrating," Fudd said. "She's one of the reasons I came. She had a very big role in convincing me and recruiting me. Not many people get to play with their best friend at the next level.

"So we talk about next year sometimes and how she is so excited that we'll finally get to play together. It keeps us hungry for us to both get healthy and stay healthy so we can finally win a national championship with us both on the floor together."

Wait till next year time has arrived for the Huskies with their 73-61 loss to Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament Seattle 3 Regional semifinals Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena. With Bueckers and freshman Ice Brady sidelined for the year with knee injuries, and injuries and illness costing other key players to miss a total of 54 games, UConn won 31 times along with the Big East regular season and tournament titles while advancing to its record 29th consecutive NCAA Sweet 16.

Its record 16 straight Elite Eight and 14 consecutive Final Four runs ended, and it will be the third-seeded Buckeyes facing No. 1 Virginia Tech tonight for the right to advance to Dallas and a matchup with LSU Friday night. But, as coach Geno Auriemma noted, there's no reason to apologize. The Huskies just did not have enough as hard as they fought and as hard as they tried.

But the positive to take is that, barring anything unforeseen, Bueckers (and Brady) will be in uniform the next time that UConn plays.

"She and Ice have had a number of things to motivate them through the season," Fudd said in the locker room Saturday. "Having to sit on the side ... I mean, I had a taste of that. But to have to do it all season, they have had this burning desire to do everything that they can to get back on the floor. Even here they've been working so they'll be ready to go for next season as soon as possible.

"Watching is one of the worst things and I know they feel bad. They couldn't contribute to the game. That will add to their fire."

Forward Aaliyah Edwards gave UConn an All-American caliber season. Point guard Nika Mühl's season handling many of Bueckers' responsibilities was remarkable and record-breaking. Graduate transfers Dorka Juhász and Lou Lopez Sénéchal contributed maturity and leadership along with solid play with Sénéchal, in her only season in Storrs, perhaps UConn's MVP. Forward Aubrey Griffin had an inspiring comeback from back surgery. When healthy, which they often weren't, Fudd and guard Caroline Ducharme were key pieces.

The Huskies had to postpone a game because they didn't have enough healthy players. Only once in the regular season —against Texas on Nov. 14 — did they have the 10 players they started the regular season with available.

They were good with four Top 10 wins, including against Final Four-bound Iowa, and seven against ranked opponents. But the what-if was always how good would they have been at full strength.

"The message is we definitely need them," Mühl said. "I don't think they need to be told that. They sat the whole year on the bench watching. Being able to see what we had to go through and not being able to help, they had it the worst.

"Anytime I felt sorry for myself or for my team for what we were going through on the court, I thought about that we had two people on the sideline that weren't going to get into a game all year. That's the worst. We at least had the opportunity to play. So I think they have all the motivation in the world to come back and come back strong. I'm not worried about them. They'll bring their A game to help us get back to where we want to be."

Fudd missed 22 games with a pair of freak right knee injuries, the first coming after she had gotten off to one of the best starts of any UConn player. At Notre Dame on Dec. 4, Edwards fell into Fudd's knee after being fouled by the Irish's KK Bransford. She returned five weeks later and in her second game on Jan. 15 bumped knees with a Georgetown defender and was out for the regular season. Juhász broke her left thumb against Texas and missed eight games. Ducharme was out for six weeks after her second stay in concussion protocol in two seasons at UConn.

The Huskies were good. It would have been better to be lucky. If no one opts to leave or if no one is added from the transfer portal, they'll have a 14-player roster in 2023-24.

And if Bueckers can return to her 2021 national Player of the Year form ...

"She is a very good self-motivator type of person," Fudd said. "She watches a lot of basketball. When we go home she'll have the NBA on TV. She'll watch film of her old games (and say), 'I just have to remember how I play. I can't forget who I am.' She's also very into faith so she prays a lot, and when things are hard or she has a bad day she finds God. She does a great job of keeping herself distracted but also motivated and hungry."

Bueckers and Brady should be ready to play when the Huskies tour Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy this summer and the head start could set a tone for the season.

Saturday's loss doesn't mean the Huskies' days among the elite are over, they're just going to start over.

"UConn is going to continue to be UConn," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said Sunday at her press conference prior to the Gamecocks' Greenville 1 Regional final with Maryland. "They're going to reload. They'll start a new streak.

"It's not over. It's a scary thing because you think because they lost a lot more games than they normally lose. But they were hampered by injuries and once they get healthy, once they get Paige back, once this year's recruiting class is able to play and who they'll bring in, it's back to the drawing board."

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Carl Adamec is a Journal Inquirer staff writer.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.