Paige Bueckers had stated that she did not want to be seen as the ‘next Caitlin Clark’ with all the media attention being on her, with the 2024/25 college basketball season granting her wish
Paige Bueckers is almost certain to be the first overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft and continues to draw comparisons to Caitlin Clark, but she looks to have got her wish after asking not to be a similar situation as her.
Throughout 2022 through 2024, Clark had dominated college basketball on the floor – and much of the narrative away from it – being seen as far-and-away the best talent in the league who everyone had wanted to see.
And while Bueckers has put in an amazing season with UConn and is regularly compared to her, the point guard is certainly not being treated the same as her – due to the sheer amount of emerging talent around her in college basketball. Bueckers looks set to be the first overall pick in the upcoming draft, but not many will argue that she has been the best player this season.
In fact, Bueckers has the fourth-best odds to win the John R Wooden award this year, given to the best player in collegiate basketball, an award she had won back in 2021.
Bueckers’ play has not taken a step back, arguably having her best year with UConn this season while hoping to bring them a National Championship in her final year. But rather, many others have made huge strides, with USC’s JuJu Watkins now seen as the favorite to win the award and arguably being the best talent at this level.
While the UConn point guard will be disappointed to miss out on the award should the oddsmakers be correct, she’s happy to see where the sport is currently at and it’s growth over the last few years… and she doesn’t want to steal the spotlight from many others who are deserving.
In 2024, she told reporters: “I think media coverage is important for the game. I think it grows the game. I think, I know freshman year I was like the media darling.
Everybody was focused on me and what I did at UConn my freshman year. But I think it’s more important for the game to share the spotlight to grow the game and show all the stars of college basketball and not just focus on one particular player, whether it be me, Caitlin, JuJu, Angel. There’s so many names in college basketball now that are huge, that are stars that deserve credit.
“And I think it’s not my job, but the media can do a better job of just making sure everybody gets love, everybody gets not equal amount of attention but try to spread it out more. So I honestly hope next year I’m not the focal point and the only person that gets attention. And I hope, as media, as players we can spread the love a little bit more.”
Bueckers is the only active women’s college basketball players who’ve won National Player of the Year honor, with Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo seen as the two most likely to win the award this year. Both women will return to college basketball in the 2025/26 campaign.
