How Paige Bueckers, UConn women's basketball star, stacks up against the Huskies' all-time best freshman seasons

[RoadWarrior]

ESPN's Michelle Voepel asks: "What's it like to be the next big thing on the UConn women's basketball team? Freshman guard Paige Bueckers is about to find out.

Ranking UConn's 10 best all-time freshman seasons

Paige Bueckers, who is set to make her NCAA debut Saturday, is following in the footsteps of UConn legends Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi.

www.espn.com

Maya Moore is the measuring stick followed by Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi...

 

[CocoHusky]

Predicting that Paige will surpass all 10 named UCONN freshman in APG. Also predicting her other stats will very closely mirror and be slightly better than those Crystal established last year ~ 15PPG, 4.1RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.3 SPG. Ultimately Paige's freshman numbers will not matter as much as her impact. I think Paige is seeking to join this exclusive list: Stewie, Sales, Strother-who were all impact players on championship teams as freshman.

 

[CL82]

Geesh stop already.

"We are so doomed."​

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Simply put, Voepel is the best writer covering women's basketball, and I'm not even sure I need the qualifier "women's."

 

[eebmg]

Great quotes from Diana

"It's not an easy road she picked," said the Phoenix Mercury's Diana Taurasi, who won three consecutive NCAA titles at UConn. "I don't think she expects it to be easy. If I know anything about Coach, it's that he's going to see greatness in her, and he's going to want it every single day."


"There are going to be days when it's going to be tough. It's going to be unfair. It's going to be hard," Taurasi said. "And you're going to want to say that 'I should have just stayed home' and been in the place where you're comfortable. Those are going to be the days that are going to make her really, really good."

 

[chj001]

Predicting that Paige will surpass all 10 named UCONN freshman in APG. Also predicting her other stats will very closely mirror and be slightly better than those Crystal established last year ~ 15PPG, 4.1RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.3 SPG. Ultimately Paige's freshman numbers will not matter as much as her impact. I think Paige is seeking to join this exclusive list: Stewie, Sales, Strother-who were all impact players on championship teams as freshman.

Why is Kia Nurse not in this conversation. As a freshman, she was inserted into the starting lineup for good after a loss to Stanford in the second game of the 2014-2015 season, whereupon UCONN went on to a record 111 game winning streak. Even though she wasn't the top player on the team, I'd say she was indeed an impact player as a freshman.

 

[CocoHusky]

Why is Kia Nurse not in this conversation. As a freshman, she was inserted into the starting lineup for good after a loss to Stanford in the second game of the 2014-2015 season, whereupon UCONN went on to a record 111 game winning streak. Even though she wasn't the top player on the team, I'd say she was indeed an impact player as a freshman.

She probably should be but who would you take off the list if you were to insert Kia.?

 

[Steelerone]

I'm not sure how anyone could possibly take anything away from this game. Let's be honest - we could play five walk-on's and it might not even be close at that point. I would prefer to evaluate the talent of any player in a more realistic situation, like a conference game or against a top ten or even twenty team.

 

[chj001]

She probably should be but who would you take off the list if you were to insert Kia.?

I was really referring to your exclusive list of 3, the "S" girls, Stewie, Sales and Strother, but why can't the OP list of 10 be 11?

 

[cohenzone]

So far she’s been a complete bust. Nothing but zeroes. Geez, let her just play and whatever will be will be. Can you imagine starting a job and all you can do is fail?

 

[bballnut90]

Seems like top freshmen almost always fall into the window of averaging 10-15ppg in limited minutes for UCONN. Christyn Williams also falls into this category despite playing big minutes. I'm guessing Paige will fall into that category too.

The only outlier is Maya Moore who was one of the best players in the country from day 1, and Geno still tried reducing minutes/bringing her off the bench.

 

[CocoHusky]

I was really referring to your exclusive list of 3, the "S" girls, Stewie, Sales and Strother, but why can't the OP list of 10 be 11?

Right so my list of 3 was a subset of the original 10 from the original article which did not include Kia.
I didn't write the OP.

 

[Kaizen]

I am sure Paige will win 3 NCs during her 4 college years. Will she tie Stewie for 4 NCs?

 

[chj001]

Right so my list of 3 was a subset of the original 10 from the original article which did not include Kia.
I didn't write the OP.

Okay. Since we're only talking freshman year, Nurse should replace Taurasi on the original list. Their stats are nearly identical across the board except for starts (N 36 out of 39; T 14 out of 33) and Nat'l Championships (N 1; T 0). Nurse earned her way into the starting lineup, Taurasi got there thru injuries of Shea and Svetlana.

 

[Steve UConn72]

I am sure Paige will win 3 NCs during her 4 college years. Will she tie Stewie for 4 NCs?

For the sake of argument, with the extra year added to eligibility due to Covid, is it possible that one of the Tier 2 players could win five championships, assuming the Tier 1's would opt out for the pros?

 

[MooreMayaNY]

Hands down Maya remains to be the best freshman I have EVER seen play college basketball. I’ve watched some of the highlights from her freshman year and I still don’t recall a player coming into college as good as she was. Still think that 07-08’ team is one of Geno’s most talented ever prior to the injuries of Kalana Greene & Mel Thomas and the oft-injured Brittany Hunter. Ran out of gas in that Final Four

— Paige has to be as good as advertised we’ve seen too many clips of her in action thanks to YouTube/Social media.I don’t foresee anyone accomplishing what Maya did year 1 we’re just too deep and she was on another level, Paige can get us over the hump though we haven’t had her level of elite talent straight out of hs since Stewie

 

[CocoHusky]

Okay. Since we're only talking freshman year, Nurse should replace Taurasi on the original list. Their stats are nearly identical across the board except for starts (N 36 out of 39; T 14 out of 33) and Nat'l Championships (N 1; T 0). Nurse earned her way into the starting lineup, Taurasi got there thru injuries of Shea and Svetlana.

I'd disagree and flip your last two sentences. Kia only had to beat out Sophomore Saniya Chong to earn a starting spot. DT would have had to battle Seniors AAs Shea, Svetlana and Junior AA Sue Bird to get playing time. DT freshman year much more impressive and impactful.

 

[CocoHusky]

Hands down Maya remains to be the best freshman I have EVER seen play college basketball. I’ve watched some of the highlights from her freshman year and I still don’t recall a player coming into college as good as she was. Still think that 07-08’ team is one of Geno’s most talented ever prior to the injuries of Kalana Greene & Mel Thomas and the oft-injured Brittany Hunter. Ran out of gas in that Final Four

Stewie's start and end of her freshman season was as impressive as Maya's. It was what happened in between that would make me tend to agree with you and give the nod to Maya.

 

[MooreMayaNY]

Stewie's start and end of her freshman season was as impressive as Maya's. It was what happened in between that would make me tend to agree with you and give the nod to Maya.

I think back to Maya’s performance on the road @ LSU — she completely dominated a team full of seniors and we only won by less than 10 points. Van Chancellor called her the best player in the country after that game. Whereas Stewie didn’t have great games against the elite teams until her FF appearance. Of course it’s championship or bust in the BY but Maya’s level of play throughout the entire year makes me say she’s arguably the best frosh in WCBB history

 

[Dokey]

She hasn’t played a game. She could be terrible. She could be great. At the end of the season you can make comparisons. Until then this is nonsense.

 

[DefenseBB]

Simply put, Voepel is the best ONLY writer covering women's basketball, and I'm not even sure I need the qualifier "women's."

There, given all the cuts ESPN has made and that I can't think of any other outlet covering the sport with writers, I fixed it for you. That said, just because you are the tallest midget in the circus, does not make you tall. Voepel certainly has had her "doh" moments...

 

[MilfordHusky]

Just a few thoughts ...

Maya's consistent freshman season is why I have her on the top of my list as a great collegiate player. She finished 2nd in the AP POY voting behind Candace Parker. No one else has done that. (As a junior, she finished 2nd behind Tina Charles. She finished 1st the other years.) Maya's career record was 150-4, and I believe she scored in double figures about 150 times. She missed ZERO games due to injury, despite being mugged against Rutgers. Her freshman team lost twice. Against Rutgers, we trailed by 9 with a few minutes left. Maya hit a three to cut the lead to 6. She hit another one to cut the lead to 3. I have no doubt she would have nailed the next one, but we turned the ball over before we could get it to her. When Maya was good, she was the best ever; when she was bad, she was still really, really, really good.

Kaleena's overall career is diminished because of her lack of success in the pro ranks, but her college career was one of the best ever. She is one of the top NCAA tournament career scorers in history--every game in double figures--and was one box-out on a defensive rebound away from being the first player to win 4 consecutive championships.

We'll never know what Sue's freshman season would have been because of her injury, but I suspect it would have been monumental.

 

[bballnut90]

Just a few thoughts ...

Maya's consistent freshman season is why I have her on the top of my list as a great collegiate player. She finished 2nd in the AP POY voting behind Candace Parker. No one else has done that. (As a junior, she finished 2nd behind Tina Charles. She finished 1st the other years.) Maya's career record was 150-4, and I believe she scored in double figures about 150 times. She missed ZERO games due to injury, despite being mugged against Rutgers. Her freshman team lost twice. Against Rutgers, we trailed by 9 with a few minutes left. Maya hit a three to cut the lead to 6. She hit another one to cut the lead to 3. I have no doubt she would have nailed the next one, but we turned the ball over before we could get it to her. When Maya was good, she was the best ever; when she was bad, she was still really, really, really good.

Kaleena's overall career is diminished because of her lack of success in the pro ranks, but her college career was one of the best ever. She is one of the top NCAA tournament career scorers in history--every game in double figures--and was one box-out on a defensive rebound away from being the first player to win 4 consecutive championships.

We'll never know what Sue's freshman season would have been because of her injury, but I suspect it would have been monumental.

Moore is cut and dry the best frosh in UCONN history IMO. She joined a team that has a LOT of talent, including the previous year's NFOY, and she was the clear standout from day 1 and one of the top 2-3 players in the country. The only other players I've seen who give Moore a run for her money in terms of skill level as freshmen are Candace Parker and Chamique Holdsclaw, and Moore's resume is more impressive in terms of individual awards and honors (although Holdsclaw won a title as a frosh where Moore lost in the Final Four despite playing well).

KML is also very underrated by a lot of fans due to her lack of success in the pros. She was rock solid her first 2 years and her senior season when she was fully healthy. 3 titles in 4 years and was a major contributor on all 4 of those teams.

In regards to Bird, I think she would've made a solid difference from a team success standpoint and maybe the team doesn't lose to Iowa State, but I doubt she would be on the list for best freshman season due to sheer stats and her role on the team. For example, her sophomore season was very solid as she led the team to a title and was a great floor general, but if you made a list of best UCONN sophomore seasons, I doubt anyone would put Sue in the top 10 and she was healthy and played much better all year than she did as a freshman.

 

[Skeets]

I'd disagree and flip your last two sentences. Kia only had to beat out Sophomore Saniya Chong to earn a starting spot. DT would have had to battle Seniors AAs Shea, Svetlana and Junior AA Sue Bird to get playing time. DT freshman year much more impressive and impactful.

Plus DT was Geno's "secret" weapon coming off the bench. With the exception of the 1 for 15 game, UCONN lost nothing when DT became a starter. DT kind of proves that you just can't look at stats. You have to consider a lot of other moving parts.

 

[Skeets]

So far she’s been a complete bust. Nothing but zeroes. Geez, let her just play and whatever will be will be. Can you imagine starting a job and all you can do is fail?

Could not have said it better myself.