Paige Bueckers skipped the 2024 WNBA draft to have a final go at the Championship title. However, leading up to the 2024-25 season, there are murmurs that Bueckers wouldn’t be able to handle the leadership role, and her head coach Geno Auriemma looks to have taken a point or two from the analysts. As the Huskies prep for their upcoming game, Auriemma dropped a major bomb that could not only shake up Bueckers but might also be big news in the NCAA circuit.

On Saturday’s chat session, Auriemma humorously dwelled on the possibility of excluding Bueckers from the starting 5, something that caught the attention of her fans.

“I mean sometimes I just like to go with the people that have been here already, and whether that turns out to be the starting lineup or not. This is one of those years… well the last two or three years, we had no choice, right? The starting lineup was easy. It was made out for me. This year you know… it’s going to be nice. We have some choices and it may depend on who we’re playing or what the situation is… So I wouldn’t read too much into any of that tomorrow unless I bench Paige. Then you’ll have a story,” Auriemma expounded.

From the 2022-23 NCAA season onwards, Bueckers & Co. have faced a lot of injuries. While Bueckers had a torn ACL, Ice Brady had a dislocated patella in her right knee. Then last season, six Husky stars suffered grievous injuries. The long list included names such as Jana El Alfy, Caroline Ducharme, Ayanna Patterson, Azzi Fudd, Amari DeBerry, and Aubrey Griffin.

This season, however, none of the stars are injured. Therefore, when Auriemma takes his team to the floor on Sunday’s season opener against Fort Hays State, the 11x NCAA winning coach will be faced with the difficulty of having too many options. There are already 6 chief players including Bueckers, Fudd, El-Alfy, Kaitlyn Chen, Sarah Strong, and Caroline Ducharme. And in such moments of crisis, Auriemma joked that he would be not including Bueckers in the starting five.

On another note, the Huskies star is already under the scanner for quite some time.

Emily Adams wants Paige Bueckers to be rotated well

Bueckers is one of the few leaders in the Huskies roster. Previously, Nika Muhl took the leadership role but with her drafting in the Seattle Storm, there is still a hole left in UConn. Therefore, Bueckers is faced with challenges this season since she isn’t known to be very vocal. Therefore, many analysts have predicted that she will find it tough to play this role. Furthermore, another thing that might stop Auriemma from letting Bueckers play a long time is a jam-packed December schedule.

So on Thursday’s episode of Locked On UConn, journalist Emily Adams did not mince words in recommending that in Bueckers’ absence “depth and chemistry and other players” should step up. Furthermore, she also suggested the Huskies find a leader in Kaitlyn Chen, who has played three seasons with the Princeton Tigers, but will be playing her first with the Huskies this year. Adding to that, she pointed out the hectic schedule for the Storrs-based team.

“You need them to be able to run the floor for a quarter in a Big East game when they’re trying to rest Paige, before they go to South Carolina. You know I think it’s so important with how hard their non-conference slate is because I mean that stretch in December they play three or four ranked teams in like two or three weeks so it’s I mean she’s gonna be playing 35 minutes a game,” Adams concluded.

The Auriemma-led team will be playing 7 games in December starting with the matchup against Holy Cross and ending with the Providence just before the New Year. Therefore, Adams has given multiple reasons to Auriemma to bench Bueckers. And more of it will be clear when the Huskies play the exhibition game. Till then, all we can hope is for the guard to start and give a tough time to the opponents.