The UConn Huskies Men's College Basketball team has had a wildly disappointing year, but Paige Bueckers has led the Women's team to great success in the 2024-25 campaign.
The Huskies went 31-3 overall and 18-0 in Big East Conference play this season. Perhaps more impressively, the Huskies steamrolled their way to a Big East Tournament win by being victorious in all three of their games by at least 20 points. It's one thing to dominate the regular season like the Huskies did, but it's another to do so in the playoffs when pressure is raised, especially for a team with title aspirations.
The Huskies were led all season by Bueckers, who put together a spectacular all-around season. The 23-year-old averaged 19 points per game on outstanding 53.6/40.6/89.9 splits to go along with 4.5 rebounds and a conference-leading 4.9 assists per contest. In addition to her elite offensive skillset, Bueckers averaged 2.0 steals per game, proving to be a pest on the defensive end as well.
Bueckers only raised her level of play in the Big East Tournament, averaging 22.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game in UConn's three victories.
Now, with the Big East Tournament in the rear-view mirror, Bueckers and Co. have to turn their focus to the NCAA Tournament with a National Championship at stake. It'll be interesting to see how this dominant Big East Tournament performance will affect where they're seeded.
Dominant conference play likely won't be enough for UConn to earn a No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament
This feels insane to say. The Huskies are led by the winningest head coach in NCAA Women's College Basketball history, Geno Auriemma. They have a loaded roster with Bueckers, Sarah Strong, and Azzi Fudd. They went 31-3 in the regular season, 18-0 against the teams in their conference, and steamrolled their way through the conference tournament in a manner no other team matched.
The reason no other team could match what UConn did in their conference tournament is why it's tough to envision the Huskies ending up as a No. 1 seed. The Huskies played in a very easy conference with no team other than Creighton being close to good enough to be ranked at any point this season. In fact, Creighton is the only other school that ESPN's Charlie Creme had from the Big East in the NCAA Tournament in his latest Bracketology update. Creme notably had UConn as a No. 2 seed in his update.
UConn did face a tough non-conference schedule and even pulled out wins against ranked schools like UNC and Ole Miss. They also annihilated South Carolina in their lone meeting, and the Gamecocks are likely to be a No. 1 seed. Still, the lack of volume against quality competition makes it tough to judge just how good UConn is. That fact can, and probably will hurt them when the final bracket is revealed. It's possible that USC's recent loss can bump UConn up to a No. 1 seed, but in all probability, the Huskies will play with a chip on their shoulder as a No. 2 seed, which honestly might not be the worst thing in the world.