All Things Paige Bueckers Recruitment Thread - Videos, Analysis, Tid-Bits, Articles

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It seems like her knees might not be able to hold up.
 


rowdaboat said:
Draft eligible along with Boston and Brink and Van Lith (Azzi and Clark not for another year) but she'd miss most of 2023 WNBA season and would be taking a pay cut to be drafted so I'd imagine she returns
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I wonder. I'm not a fan of hers but even I'd say she has proven everything she needs to prove to pro scouts/teams. Will she risk injuring herself again before turning pro?
 

thatjanelpick said:
I wonder. I'm not a fan of hers but even I'd say she has proven everything she needs to prove to pro scouts/teams. Will she risk injuring herself again before turning pro?
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Pro in WNBA is realistically a downgrade vs NCAA. Better visibility and viewership in NCAA and would make more off her gatorade NIL deal than her WNBA contract and signing bonus
 

rowdaboat said:
Pro in WNBA is realistically a downgrade vs NCAA. Better visibility and viewership in NCAA and would make more off her gatorade NIL deal than her WNBA contract and signing bonus
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Interesting, wondered if this might be true. Have you crunched some of the comparable numbers?
 



Ragnor said:
Interesting, wondered if this might be true. Have you crunched some of the comparable numbers?
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WNBA has been quite pathetic this season how few nationally televised games are, they play 11am weekday games and stream on Facebook for a handful. Two below for the finals


According to ESPN, the 2021 WNBA Finals were the most-viewed since 2017, with an average of 548,000 viewers across ESPN networks and ABC. The ratings also represent a 63 percent increase from those in 2020.

The 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four is the most-watched Final Four weekend since 2012, averaging 3.46 million viewers. The audience for the trio of games throughout the weekend was up 20 percent from 2021
 


Sorry to hear about the injury news. Paige Bueckers is an amazing play maker.

As a freshman sensation, Paige Bueckers:

-Scored 581 points.
-Scored at least 17 points in 23 games (out of 29).
-Made 64 3-pointers (192 points) with a .464 3-point shooting percentage.
-168 assists, a school record for rookies.

Fans love that kind of production. It's like football where fans follow the football and love playmakers. With Bueckers, she's making plays driving to the basket, throwing lots of 3's, assisting, and leading. Fans love that.
  • 2021 Wooden Award winner
  • 2021 Naismith Trophy winner
  • 2021 AP Player of the Year
  • 2021 USBWA Player and Freshman of the Year
  • 2021 WBCA, AP and USBWA First Team All-American
  • 2021 WBCA Freshman of the Year
  • 2021 Final Four All-Tournament Team
  • 2021 NCAA Tournament River Walk Region Most Outstanding Player
  • 2021 BIG EAST Player and Freshman of the Year
  • 2021 BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player
  • 2021 All-BIG EAST First Team
  • 2021 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team
  • 2021 espnW Player and Freshman of the Year

This Gophers team could soon have that playmaking star power fans love.

 



Youthful Paige Bueckers hours ago streaming from, I assume, her room in Minnesota -- mentions her mom a couple times. Has the vibe of a girl's sleep over. Oh, says that's her sister with her.

It had 3k views within 24 hours when it was streamed.

 
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"great" advice by Geno to have her work her self to death and get hurt. She is not a person that goes to the gym, clear as day she overdid her workload. If you are not used to lifting heavy stuff, eventually you are going to tear something. Bet she wishes she went to Minnesota now, won't be shocked if she never is the same again.
 

hugo613 said:
"great" advice by Geno to have her work her self to death and get hurt. She is not a person that goes to the gym, clear as day she overdid her workload. If you are not used to lifting heavy stuff, eventually you are going to tear something. Bet she wishes she went to Minnesota now, won't be shocked if she never is the same again.
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Uconn played for the National Championship last year, Minnesota lost to Drake by 14, and Drake finished 6th in the Missouri Valley Conference last year. I'm sure she wishes she went to Minnesota. and the year before Drake beat Minnesota by 33 at home. Get well Paige.
 

Also, injuries like this can happen anytime. It doesn’t matter if she had a light or heavy workload. Female athletes are more prone to ACL injuries.
 



MOGopher said:
Uconn played for the National Championship last year, Minnesota lost to Drake by 14, and Drake finished 6th in the Missouri Valley Conference last year. I'm sure she wishes she went to Minnesota. and the year before Drake beat Minnesota by 33 at home. Get well Paige.
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was that the same Uconn without Paige that lost at home to Villanova? that lost by 20 at Oregon? that lost at Georgia Tech by 10? Mmm it's almost like Uconn needs her to win? Crazy!
 

hugo613 said:
was that the same Uconn without Paige that lost at home to Villanova? that lost by 20 at Oregon? that lost at Georgia Tech by 10? Mmm it's almost like Uconn needs her to win? Crazy!
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no answer, what I thought
 


She's got a chance now to go pro and end up on Lynx if Boston is still considered lock for 1 pick
 



If they have paige and azzi healthy for all of next season will easily go undefeated
 

Bueckers and a million other All-American teammates will play the Gophers next November for her UConn-lets-its-stars-play-at-home-once game.
m.startribune.com

The latest from the StarTribune

Follow the StarTribune for the news, photos and videos from the Twin Cities and beyond.
m.startribune.com m.startribune.com
 

thatjanelpick said:
Bueckers and a million other All-American teammates will play the Gophers next November for her UConn-lets-its-stars-play-at-home-once game.
m.startribune.com

The latest from the StarTribune

Follow the StarTribune for the news, photos and videos from the Twin Cities and beyond.
m.startribune.com m.startribune.com
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Wish they were playing St. Thomas instead. I’m not about the Bueckers showcase that this will become. We need kids to see a successful Minnesota program to want to be a part of it. I guess Minnesota will just have to win.
 

thatjanelpick said:
Bueckers and a million other All-American teammates will play the Gophers next November for her UConn-lets-its-stars-play-at-home-once game.
m.startribune.com

The latest from the StarTribune

Follow the StarTribune for the news, photos and videos from the Twin Cities and beyond.
m.startribune.com m.startribune.com
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Can't read it please give me a synopsis in your own words otherwise I can't understand or comment.
 

Ragnor said:
Can't read it please give me a synopsis in your own words otherwise I can't understand or comment.
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See this link below.

Also, some Star Tribune articles appear in Yahoo News. Looking there for articles can uncover it as an open article.

www.ctinsider.com

UConn schedules Paige Bueckers homecoming game in Minnesota

UConn women's basketball will travel to Minnesota in November 2023 to honor Paige Bueckers in a homecoming game.
www.ctinsider.com www.ctinsider.com
 

Ragnor said:
Can't read it please give me a synopsis in your own words otherwise I can't understand or comment.
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Ok, I see from the U website: https://gophersports.com/news/2022/...rs-to-host-uconn-in-2023-24-at-williams-arena

Just a normal game between Minnesota and U-Conn, sounded like something different to me.

I am generally not supportive of this. Don't see the point, why reward someone who chose to play somewhere else with the opportunity to play at home. You are giving them the opportunity to "have their cake and eat it too." Too me it makes it more likely for future stars to make the decision easier to go elsewhere, by having hope or belief they will still be able to play at home once or twice. I would be fine with this if we were on the road like in the Bahamas.

In contrast I am all for scheduling teams like Lehigh with Minnesotan's that want to play at home and they didn't have the same opportunity to play at home on scholarship.

Am I missing something? Is there some good reason for doing this that overcomes the disadvantages I pointed out? The only obvious other reason to me is that it may draw a bigger crowd, so there will likely be more revenue for that game. I don't think that offsets the potential harm in how it might affect the decisions of future star recruits.
 
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Bueckers vs Braun - Part 3. Big headline game. Could be game of the year.

Veteran UConn stars versus up-and-coming Gophers stars.

Video: #PaigeBueckers scored 27 points. #MaraBraun scored 29:

 

Auriemma always likes to schedule games in the home states of his recruits. And there are indeed plenty of advantages for the Gophers: good crowds, the big RPI boost they get from playing UConn, Whalen's friendship with Auriemma, letting Gopher players and recruits know they'll get to play against the best, chance for a big win with no downside to losing, sharpening the skills of the Gophers...
 

thatjanelpick said:
Auriemma always likes to schedule games in the home states of his recruits.
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Yes, but he wants to do this as part of his recruiting ploy. He recruits kids and tells them he will schedule games in their home state/school. This makes going to UConn more attractive and makes it easier to play away from home. I think this kinds of plays into my point.
thatjanelpick said:
And there are indeed plenty of advantages for the Gophers: good crowds,
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Yep, good crowds more money and better environment if the game is close but if the game is not close it is a worse environment. The Lehigh game environment was electric that last 5 minutes. The way that game ended will make people in Williams Arena more likely to be back again even though the game was frustrating up until that point. I don't expect that to be the case against UConn next year but a better chance 2024-2025 the following year with continuing to bring on more skilled and team orientated players.

thatjanelpick said:
the big RPI boost they get from playing UConn,
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Yes, but there are plenty of highly ranked schools to schedule without picking schools that are highly ranked with kids that decided to leave home.
thatjanelpick said:
Whalen's friendship with Auriemma,
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This is a personal reason, I don't se it as helping build the gophers team unless Auriemma directs his rejects the gophers way. I have not seen/hear evidence of this.
thatjanelpick said:
letting Gopher players and recruits know they'll get to play against the best,
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Yes, but there are plenty of highly ranked schools to schedule without picking schools that are highly ranked, with kids that decided to leave home. I do agree this is an excellent reason to play highly ranked schools.
thatjanelpick said:
chance for a big win with no downside to losing, sharpening the skills of the Gophers...
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Not much of a chance for a big win but maybe I am wrong next year. I expect we will be better next year without losing our best players to transfer but probably not much of a matchup for UConn due to youth (2024-2025) seems more realistic unless we cleanup on the transfer portal and new and existing players shine and improve very fast.

I think there is a big downside in losing if you lose big. If your team loses big fans are less likely to want to come to future games and the impression of recruits is you aren't competitive.

In the end whatever makes your program more attractive to the players you want is what I want but I still think the drawbacks of this game are greater.
 

Ask the Gopher players if they want to play this game? If you are a competitor why wouldn’t you want to play this game? Whalen is a competitor. Let’s avoid UCONn and Bueckers… come on it’s comical. Embrace the opportunity…
 

Roland Brooks said:
Ask the Gopher players if they want to play this game? If you are a competitor why wouldn’t you want to play this game? Whalen is a competitor. Let’s avoid UCONn and Bueckers… come on it’s comical. Embrace the opportunity…
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Yes, of course they do but that is a different question than whether it is good in the long run for the program. This is definitely part of the puzzle but how all of the pieces fit together is the ultimate answer. To be sure, I don't claim to know the answer. I have my opinion but I acknowledge I very well maybe wrong. I enjoy seeing the different perspectives.
 

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