It’s time for UConn’s women’s basketball team to claim their 12th title after a troublesome few years. Paige Bueckers is healthier than ever, Azzi Fudd is slowly but surely getting there, and there’s also sophomore KK Arnold. All previous championships have come under Geno Auriemma, who will be coaching Bueckers in her last college season. But despite playing together for 4 years, the 23-year-old has one complaint.

At the Big East Media Day yesterday, a reporter asked Bueckers if Auriemma had changed over the years and how he coached them. The UConn star joked at first, “He’s super nice to the freshmen, which I’ve talked to him about, like ‘you were not nice to our freshman class.’ He was like, ‘Well you and Nika were like, whatever you wanna call it.'”

But then she got serious, “No but I think, he’s the same, he’s very motivated this season ’cause we came up short so many times that he wants it for us as bad as we want it ourselves. So he’s very tedious about things, very hard on the details and making sure that we’re not allowing these bad habits to carry on but stopping them right away when they happen. But you can tell as much as I have a sense of urgency, he has one too. He wants it super bad for me, he wants it super bad for the team. “

After tasting defeat at the hands of Caitlin Clark’s Iowa last year in the Final Four, it’s a fresh chance for the Huskies. But especially for Bueckers, who played just 17 games in 2022, and then an ACL tear took her out of last season entirely. Like every good coach, Auriemma wants this win for his players as much as they do. Bueckers concludes her statement with a smile, “But I mean he’s the same coach, probably a little nicer. Maybe it’s the freshman class, he likes this class more than he did ours.”

With Sarah Strong and KK Arnold in the form of new blood mixing with older veterans, UConn finally has a chance to make it big this year. If critics were to be believed, Paige Bueckers didn’t work hard enough this offseason. But the people who know her, know how much she has given to the sport, and that includes her head coach.

“She’ll never cheat the game”: Geno Auriemma lauds Paige Bueckers

Now that the NCAA is playing in the post-Caitlin Clark era, Paige Bueckers is touted to be the next most popular name in the crowd, even if JuJu Watkins is giving her some serious competition. Now, missing almost two seasons of play when you’re in the making for a pro athlete will be hard on anyone. So when Bueckers decided to share how she was spending the summer traveling, critics were right there on her doorstep.

But as she pointed out, seeing her for a few hours a day doesn’t mean they know Bueckers’ 24-hour schedule. “Everybody saw the world tour, they didn’t see the work tour,” Bueckers said at the beginning of October.

Auriemma agreed, “There’s one thing she’ll never do: She’ll never cheat the game or the preparation that goes into allowing her to play at the highest level. And she’ll be very offended if you suggest that all she did this offseason was [travel].”

Paige Bueckers is touted as a talent for a reason and she has more or less shown the same these last few years. Now that the injury bug has finally been beaten, fans might just get ready to expect a big season from UConn!