WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma said star guard Paige Bueckers is «90%» recovered from tearing her ACL last summer and he expects her to be fully ready by the start of the regular season. «If she's not ready to go [by then], then I'm not ready to go,» Auriemma said Tuesday. «Let's put it that way.» Speaking to reporters at his annual charity golf tournament at the Hartford Golf Club, Auriemma praised Bueckers for the work she has put in as she continues to recover from the injury that sidelined her for the entirety of the 2022-2023 season and said he has been impressed by what he's seen from her in recent months. «This is the best she's ever been, the strongest she's ever been, the fittest she's ever been,» Auriemma said. «This is the most time she has spent working on her body, her mind, [and] just taking care of herself… [The injury layoff] showed her, if you want a long career, this is how you're gonna have to go about it from here on in injuries, no injuries, it doesn't matter.
This is what you're gonna have to do. And she's embraced it. »I've never seen her better either at playing one-on-one, two-on-two or three-on-three, what she's doing in the weight room.
Just her whole walk, the way she walks around, the way everybody looks up to her and the way everybody hangs on every word she says, there's just a maturity about her." Bueckers earned national player of the year honors during her freshman season in 2020-2021, but hasn't been able to play a full season since due to injuries.
During her sophomore year, she tore her lateral meniscus and had a tibial plateau fracture, limiting her to just 17 games. She led the Huskies to the 2022 national championship game in her return,