UConn's Paige Bueckers 'very close' in recovery from ACL tear - ESPN

STORRS, Conn. — UConn star Paige Bueckers, the 2020-21 national player of the year, is «very close» to being fully cleared as she makes her way back from an August 2022 ACL tear that sidelined her for her entire junior season.

«I'm feeling really good,» Bueckers told reporters at UConn on Wednesday. «I'm just past the 10-month mark [following the injury and surgery]. So I'm definitely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the finishing mark. But there's a long way to go. ACL recoveries take a long time.

Bueckers said she's playing 3-on-3, 2-on-2 and 1-on-1 in individual and team workouts but hasn't been cleared for 5-on-5 work, which she called „the last little benchmark to be fully cleared.“

»But I'm in no rush," Bueckers said. «Our whole team and staff is in no rush. We have a lot of time.»

Entering her senior season, Bueckers is making her way back from her second significant knee injury in two years. After winning a slew of individual national accolades as a freshman in her only fully healthy collegiate season, she appeared in just 17 games as sophomore after suffering a lateral meniscus tear and tibial plateau fracture, also in her left knee, mid-season.

Bueckers has guided the Huskies to two Final Fours, including the 2022 national title game, where they fell to South Carolina. This past season with Bueckers on the sideline, UConn was stunned by Ohio State in the Sweet 16, snapping the program's unparalleled 14-season streak of consecutive Final Four appearances.

Bueckers wasn't sure exactly what the plan would be for UConn's upcoming European tour in Croatia, Slovenia and Italy in August, adding she «probably could» play in exhibition games there, but she and the team will make a decision after