Women's College Basketball

UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers will miss the entire 2022-23 season after tearing the ACL in her left knee during a pickup basketball game on Monday, the team announced.

Bueckers will undergo surgery on Friday at UConn Health and an update on her recovery timetable will be announced after the procedure.

Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said in a statement:

"We're all devastated for Paige. She's worked really hard to get stronger and healthier this offseason, and this is an unfortunate setback. Paige is obviously an amazing basketball player but she's a better person and teammate and it's really unfortunate that this has happened to her. We'll miss her presence on the court, but she'll do everything she can to still lead and help her teammates this season. Our program will support Paige through her healing process to help her come back better and stronger."

It's a tough blow for Bueckers, who recently told Bleacher Report in an interview that she was gunning for a national championship in 2022-23.

"National championship, that's it," Bueckers said when asked what would make a successful 2022-23 season. "I don't think you're going to get a different answer out of me. Getting to the Final Four my freshman year and the national championship last year, the only thing left to do is win it. So that's the goal."

Bueckers burst onto the college basketball scene during the 2020-21 season as a freshman out of Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She averaged 20.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.3 steals in 29 games while shooting 52.4 percent from the floor and 46.4 percent from deep.

She helped lead UConn to a berth in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, but the Huskies fell just short of reaching the championship game with a loss to Arizona.

Bueckers went on to earn a number of honors following her freshman season, including the 2021 Wooden Award, 2021 Naismith Trophy and 2021 AP Player of the Year.

The 20-year-old also had a solid sophomore season in 2021-22, though she was limited to just 17 games due to a knee injury suffered in a December game against Notre Dame before undergoing surgery.

Bueckers returned for the final two games of the regular season before playing all of the Big East tournament and NCAA tournament. She helped lead the Huskies to the championship game, where they were defeated by South Carolina.

Bueckers averaged 14.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc as a sophomore.

The Minnesota native was expected to have an even more impressive 2022-23 campaign, but now her junior season will be put on hold.

The Huskies will have to turn to veterans Aaliyah Edwards, Azzi Fudd, Nika Muhl and Caroline Ducharme this coming season, and now more pressure will be put on incoming freshmen Ayanna Patterson and Isuneh Brady, the No. 4 and No. 5 prospects in ESPN's 2022 class.

South Carolina women's basketball star Aliyah Boston addressed ESPN's decision not to invite her to the 2022 ESPY Awards on Wednesday night.

"While it hurt finding out that they wouldn't be televising the category despite it being televised last year, and had no intentions for me to attend... it hurt more to see ESPN change course and invite me only after social media caught wind of it," she said in a statement. "Respectfully, I declined."

Boston added the slight represented "another moment when the disrespect and erasure of Black women is brushed off as a 'mistake' or an 'oversight.'"

Fans began asking questions when Boston, a nominee for the Best College Athlete in women's sports, wasn't listed among the attendees for the ESPYs. Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley joined the chorus of voices pressing ESPN for answers:

ESPN provided a statement to the State's Michael Sauls addressing the situation:

We have the utmost respect for Aliyah Boston, Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Due to both COVID restrictions and a new venue with much less seating capacity than previous shows, The 2022 ESPYs prioritized athlete invitations to focus on specific awards that will be handed out during the broadcast.”

That still left many wondering why ESPN would select a venue and setup that wouldn't accommodate the attendance of every nominee.

The network's handling of the ESPYs came under scrutiny as part of a wider systemic issue concerning how ESPN and the sports media writ large cover women's sports.

ESPN.com's Katie Barnes profiled Connecticut Sun star Jonquel Jones and laid out how Jones and other Black WNBA players are often underrepresented relative to their white peers.

Risa Isard, a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, examined how WNBA players were mentioned in stories across multiple outlets in 2020 and found "Black players with more masculine gender expressions received the least amount of coverage."

Without knowing the context, it might not seem like a big deal that UConn star Paige Bueckers was on hand for the 2021 ESPYs and gave a heartfelt speech after winning Best College Athlete, whereas Oklahoma softball star Jocelyn Alo had her 2022 win announced in advance.

But representation matters, and the 2022 ESPY Awards were another reminder of that.

Iowa women's basketball commit Ava Jones and her parents were injured when they were hit by a car while walking in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday evening, according to Billy Kobin, Brooks Holton and Billy Watson of the Louisville Courier Journal.

The Louisville Metro Police said Jones, her parents Amy and Trey Jones and a child were hit by an impaired driver whose vehicle left the road in downtown Louisville and all were hospitalized.

Ava Jones was described to be in "serious but stable condition," while her parents, Amy and Trey Jones, were in critical condition Wednesday morning. A spokesperson said the child with them was treated for "minor injuries."

The driver, Michael Hurley, was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree assault along with driving under the influence.

Ava Jones stars for Nickerson High School and AAU team Wheat State Elite, both in Kansas. The 6'2" wing is rated a 4-star recruit and the No. 83 overall player in the 2023 class, according to ESPNW.

After initially committing to Arizona State, Jones reopened the recruiting process and announced her commitment to Iowa on Sunday.

"They've got a winning culture, they've got a big fan base, they've got Iowa City," Jones said of Iowa to Jeff Linder of The Gazette. "They've got everything."

The family was in Louisville for the Run 4 Roses Classic, an AAU girls basketball tournament.

The University of Notre Dame is making its fight song more inclusive ahead of the 2022 football season.

Notre Dame president John Jenkins announced Thursday night that the "Notre Dame Victory March" will include a reference to "daughters" in addition to "sons."

The song previously only made mention of "sons" in the line "While her loyal sons are marching/Onward to victory." Now the line reads, "While her loyal sons and daughters/March on to victory."

The change was made in conjunction with Notre Dame celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX and the 50th anniversary of admitting female undergraduate students into the university.

The "Notre Dame Victory March" was created in 1909, and the band first began playing it during sporting events in 1919.

It has become one of the most iconic fight songs in the history of college sports thanks largely to the success of Notre Dame's athletic programs, especially in football.

The Fighting Irish have won 11 national championships in football, with the most recent coming in 1988. They have also won double-digit games in each of the past five seasons, making them a perennial contender.

Notre Dame also has two national championships in men's basketball, but the most recent major title for the school came from the women's side.

The women's basketball team won the 2018 national title, posting a 35-3 record.

That was the second national championship won by Notre Dame's women's basketball team, and the women's soccer team has three national titles to its credit in 1995, 2004 and 2010.

The South Carolina Gamecocks extended their dominance of the 2021-22 women's basketball season with two double-digit victories to open the 2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament.

Dawn Staley's squad only has two defeats all season. One of those losses came in overtime, and the other was a two-point defeat in the SEC tournament final.

South Carolina started the NCAA tournament with a difficult draw, but it got a bit easier when Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes were knocked out by the Creighton Bluejays in the second round. The No. 1 overall seed still has to take the North Carolina Tar Heels and its Elite Eight foe seriously, but the path to the Final Four in Minneapolis is much easier than it was a week ago.

The toughest of the four regions resumes play in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Saturday. The NC State Wolfpack, Connecticut Huskies, Indiana Hoosiers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish could all win that region. UConn has the advantage of playing in its home state, but it has a tough draw against third-seeded Indiana.

Top Storylines

South Carolina Trying to Continue Dominance

South Carolina earned 24 of its 31 victories by double figures.

The only time the Gamecocks were seriously threatened over the past six weeks was by the Kentucky Wildcats on two occasions.

Kentucky beat South Carolina in the SEC tournament final and played the Gamecocks within nine points February 10. South Carolina handled the rest of its competition, and that leaves few flaws for opponents to pick apart.

Staley's team produced 79 points in a first-round win over the Howard Bison and then won a defensive struggle against the Miami Hurricanes in which it scored 49 points.

South Carolina is comfortable winning in different fashions, and that should help it deal with North Carolina and the Iowa State-Creighton winner.

North Carolina went 2-5 against Top 25 opposition in ACC play. However, one of those victories was against the Louisville Cardinals, who earned one of the four No. 1 seeds. The Tar Heels' overall numbers against ranked foes are not great, but they should come into Greensboro, North Carolina, with confidence after earning back-to-back double-digit wins.

The Tar Heels may be the tougher of the two foes South Carolina faces because of their recent form and the potential 50-50 split in crowd given the game is being played in Greensboro.

A potential Elite Eight showdown with Iowa State presents a challenge in defending Ashley Joens, who averages 20.6 points per game.

Iowa State could match South Carolina's guard play, but it may not be able to deal with South Carolina's height. The Gamecocks have five forwards who stand 6'2" or taller, which presents a distinct rebounding advantage in favor of the No. 1 seed.

Which Team Emerges from Tough Bridgeport Region? 

NC State did not get a favorable draw from the selection committee.

The top-seeded Wolfpack sit on the top half of a bracket that holds UConn, who will have the home-court edge in Bridgeport.

UConn needs all the crowd help it can get to gain an extra edge in a pair of tough matchups.

The Huskies have a tough Sweet 16 clash against the Indiana Hoosiers, who have five players who average more than 10 points per game. The Grace Berger-led offense can push UConn—and even NC State—to its limits. The Hoosiers could advance to the Final Four if they play two perfect games.

NC State's spot in the Elite Eight is far from guaranteed since it is set to play a Notre Dame squad it fell to during the regular season.

Like Indiana, Notre Dame has five players who average more than 10 points per game. The Irish will be tough to contain, even though NC State has experience playing against them.

A case could be made any one of the four squads to emerge from Bridgeport with a Final Four berth. The quality of the four programs should make it the most competitive regional.

Bracket Picks

Greensboro Region

No. 1 South Carolina def. No. 5 North Carolina

No. 3 Iowa State def. No. 10 Creighton

No. 1 South Carolina def. No. 3 Iowa State

Wichita Region

No. 1 Louisville def. No. 4 Tennessee

No. 3 Michigan def. No. 10 South Dakota

No. 1 Louisville def. No. 3 Michigan

Spokane Region

No. 1 Stanford def. No. 4 Maryland

No. 2 Texas def. No. 6 Ohio State

No. 1 Stanford def. No. 2 Texas

Bridgeport Region

No. 1 NC State def. No. 5 Notre Dame

No. 3 Indiana def. No. 2 UConn

No. 3 Indiana def. No. 1 NC State

Three double-digit seeds will play for a spot in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women's basketball tournament on Monday.

The Villanova Wildcats, Belmont Bruins and Princeton Tigers will attempt to join the South Dakota Coyotes and Creighton Bluejays as double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16.

Creighton and South Dakota booked their tickets to the second weekend with upsets over No. 2 seeds on Sunday. 

Belmont and Villanova may be the most difficult double-digit seeds for favorites to play against Monday because of how tough both squads were in the regular season,

Belmont played a loaded nonconference schedule to prepare itself for the Big Dance, while Villanova has one of the top scorers in the country and is one of the few teams to knock off the Connecticut Huskies this season. 

Monday Schedule and Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

No. 9 Kansas State vs. No. 1 NC State (-15.5) (Over/Under: 129.5) (4 p.m. ET, ESPN) 

No. 11 Villanova vs. No. 3 Michigan (-12.5) (O/U: 124.5) (6 p.m. ET, ESPNU) 

No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (-2.5) (O/U: 158.5) (6 p.m. ET, ESPN2)

No. 12 Belmont vs. No. 4 Tennessee (-9.5) (O/U: 125.5) (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) 

No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 3 LSU (-3.5) (O/U: 141.5) (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2) 

No. 11 Princeton vs. No. 3 Indiana (-6.5) (O/U: 122.5) (8 p.m. ET, ESPNU) 

No. 7 UCF vs. No. 2 UConn (-15.5) (O/U: 109.5) (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) 

No. 5 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Arizona (-1.5) (O/U: 127.5) (10 p.m. ET, ESPN2) 

Predictions

No. 12 Belmont (+9.5) vs. No. 4 Tennessee

Belmont made sure it was prepared for the NCAA tournament by playing a loaded nonconference schedule. 

The Bruins played three SEC foes, two ACC opponents and the UCF Knights, who advanced to the round of 32. 

All of those contests helped Belmont play up to its competition and knock off the Oregon Ducks in double overtime on Friday. 

Belmont faces a tougher challenge on Monday in the form of the Tennessee Volunteers, who will be playing on their home floor. 

Tennessee's first-round win was a welcome sight after the Vols struggled for consistency down the stretch. The Vols went 4-6 after February 1.

The No. 4 seed could be viewed as a host susceptible to an upset because of that form and Belmont's battle-tested roster. 

Belmont has three scorers who average over 11 points per game, so its top-end players can match what Tennessee can do. 

The Bruins' main key to an upset could once again be three-point defense. They held Oregon to 19 percent from beyond the arc on Friday. 

The fatigue from the double-overtime win may be concerning, but the Bruins have been competitive with every power-conference team they faced, and that confidence should help them remain within single digits in Knoxville. 

No. 11 Villanova (+12.5) vs. No. 3 Michigan 

Any team that holds a road win over UConn has to be considered dangerous in March. 

Villanova was one of five teams to knock off the women's basketball powerhouse. The other four squads earned single-digit seeds in the NCAA tournament. 

The Wildcats have two losses since January 16, one of which was to UConn in the Big East tournament final. 

The Big East tournament runner-up has to be considered dangerous because of its winning run and the play of Maddy Siegrist. 

Siegrist averages 25.8 points per game and has over 20 points in nine of her last 10 games. She produced 25 points in the first-round win over the BYU Cougars. 

The Michigan Wolverines should be wary of the threat Siegrist poses, but it will be hard to contain one of the top scorers in the country. 

Like Tennessee, Michigan experienced a handful of losses at the back end of conference play. The Wolverines dropped four of their final six games before the NCAA tournament. 

The Wolverines could face a tough time containing Siegrist, and that may allow Villanova to hang around for the entire game.

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The 2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament will have the largest field in the event's history. This year, the bracket will feature 68 teams, so it will be just like the men's event in that four teams will be competing in the First Four before the first round gets underway.

We won't have to wait much longer to find out which women's teams will be heading to March Madness, either. The selection show for this year's tournament is set to take place Sunday night. The First Four games will then take place Wednesday and Thursday, while the first round will begin Friday.

Before the field is announced, six conference tournament championship games are set to take place. And all of these games could affect the projected bracket.

Here's everything you need to know heading into the selection show for the 2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament.

Selection Show Information

Date: Sunday, March 13

Start Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN app

Current Bracket Picture

There appear to be three teams that have No. 1 seeds secured for this year's tournament: NC State, South Carolina and Stanford. It's unlikely that anything that happens Sunday will bump down any of these schools to a No. 2 seed.

South Carolina has the fewest losses of those three teams, having only been defeated twice this season. However, one of those defeats came in the championship game of the SEC tournament, as the Gamecocks took a 64-62 loss to Kentucky. Still, South Carolina should be a No. 1 seed.

NC State and Stanford have also been dominant, and each captured a conference tournament title. The Wolfpack are 29-3 after winning the ACC tourney, while the Cardinal are 28-3 after winning the Pac-12 tourney.

As for the fourth team to receive a No. 1 seed, that could still change Sunday. ESPN's Charlie Creme has Baylor as a No. 1 seed, but the Bears still have to take on Texas in the Big 12 tournament championship game. The Longhorns are a No. 2 seed in Creme's projections.

It's no surprise that Baylor has made it this far in the Big 12 tourney. The Bears may have lost five games during the regular season, but they have won 12 in a row, including victories over Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in Kansas City. That winning streak began with back-to-back victories over Texas.

The Longhorns may have lost those two contests again Baylor, but they haven't tasted defeat since. Texas is on a 10-game winning streak after beating Kansas State and Iowa State earlier in the Big 12 tournament.

Only one of these Big 12 rivals can come away with the conference tourney title, though. And the stakes are even higher because of the impact it could have on the battle for a No. 1 seed. Regardless of what happens, both teams will be heading to the NCAA tournament.

Some teams have less certain futures and are waiting to see what the selection committee decides. Creme has Florida State, Villanova, Missouri State and Dayton as the last four teams in, while Northwestern, Boston College, DePaul and UCLA are the first four out.

None of those eight teams are in action Sunday, so there's nothing more they can do to try to improve their resumes before the decisions are made.

South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston and Iowa guard Caitlin Clark headlined the 10 semifinalists announced Wednesday for the 2022 Naismith Trophy Women's Player of the Year in college basketball.

Here's a look at the full group as selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club:

Aliyah Boston, F, South Carolina

Cameron Brink, F, Stanford

Caitlin Clark, G, Iowa

Elissa Cunane, C, NC State

Naz Hillmon, F, Michigan

Rhyne Howard, G, Kentucky

Ashley Joens, G, Iowa State

Haley Jones, G, Stanford

Elizabeth Kitley, C, Virginia Tech

NaLyssa Smith, F, Baylor

Boston was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, one of college basketball's top individual honors, last season. UConn's Paige Bueckers took home the award.

The junior post player has taken her game to another level during the 2021-22 campaign. She's averaged 16.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.9 assists and 1.3 across 31 appearances for the Gamecocks, who own a 29-2 record.

She's also heading toward the NCAA tournament on quite a streak, tallying 24 consecutive double-doubles dating back to a Nov. 29 over North Carolina A&T.

Boston was already selected as the women's college basketball player of the year by The Athletic.

Clark figures to serve as her biggest competition for the Naismith.

The Iowa sophomore leads the country in scoring at 27.4 points per game. She's also averaging 8.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists, racking up five triple-doubles in 30 appearances.

"Sometimes I'm playing too fast in a way," Clark told Adam Zagoria of the New York Times in February. "I think I can almost see the game a step ahead, and that's kind of what sets me apart and really helps me get to my spots on the floor and know what I need to do."

While Boston and Clark are leading the pack, there's still time for the other semifinalists to make a move in the Player of the Year race.

The four finalists will be announced March 25 and the winner will be revealed April 2.

QUEENS — Paige Bueckers sat away from her team watching as the UConn Huskies began warming up before their conference matchup against St. John's. With a red Gatorade by her side, she sat and watched. 

Behind her emerged a young girl in a UConn navy blue Bueckers jersey with a Sharpie in her hand. She didn't even have to ask. Bueckers turned and signed the back of the girl's shirt, and the young fan smized over her black mask. 

After UConn walked off the floor with a 75-57 win, Azzi Fudd's dad shouted from the stands to Fudd, Bueckers and Christyn Williams, who had just been in COVID-19 protocols.

"Good job, tres amigos." The tres amigos, who also happened to be three players who could not play that afternoon. There hasn't been a time this season where every player was available. Since the beginning of the season, junior Aubrey Griffin, who has since had back surgery, has been out of commission.

In total, 10 UConn players have dealt with some circumstance that has forced them to watch their teammates play. Inconsistency and adversity had become the name of the game for UConn women's basketball, one of the most successful college programs of all time. 

UConn enters the Big East tournament sporting a 22-5 record, which includes its first loss to an unranked team since 2012 and its first conference defeat since 2013. The Huskies' five regular-season losses are the most since 2005.

With 10 different starting lineups throughout the regular season, sophomore point guard Nika Muhl summarized what the constant disruptions felt like. Her description wasn't subtle. 

"This is a very weird place we are at right now, like people out, like everything going on," she told reporters on Jan. 21. "We're going through hell, literally."

Her proclamation was quite bold for a program whose current roster includes the reigning Naismith Player of the Year (Bueckers) and five others who came into college as top-five high school recruits (Fudd, Caroline Ducharme, Evina Westbrook, Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.)

But it paints a picture of what she and her teammates were feeling from the beginning of December through the end of February. The week following Dec. 5 was one that she and her teammates would never forget. 

An emotionally draining week

When Bueckers went down with 38 seconds remaining in a 19-point rout of the Fighting Irish, the week that followed was emotionally, physically and mentally draining. There was a weight of uncertainty that followed the Huskies throughout their games at Georgia Tech four days later, and then in Newark against UCLA for the Never Forget Tribute Classic. 

The team was on edge and unsure of what was next—not only for Bueckers but also the rest of the roster. In that week, the team learned it only had six rotation players available. Fudd was continuing to recover from a nagging foot injury and Muhl had a foot issue of her own. As for Bueckers, was she getting surgery, was she not? 

"It was a lot on our team," associate head coach Chris Dailey told B/R about that week. "It was a lot on them as people and them as players." 

When the Huskies lost on the road at Georgia Tech in the first game since Bueckers went down, there was much more at stake. The Yellow Jackets broke UConn's 240-game win streak against unranked opponents. Georgia Tech didn't stay unranked for long, as it jumped to No. 18 in the AP Top 25 following its upset victory. That defeat did damage, as Dailey noticed how massively it impacted the players.

"It was more draining than I've ever seen from a team losing a game," Dailey said. "It wasn't just that, it was more. And it was a lot."

The target on UConn's back that's usually embraced by its players became overwhelming. The outside chatter from media members and fans was unified in its concern for the program. The Huskies were vulnerable, and there was no doubt about it.

At first, this felt reminiscent of the injury that took out Shea Ralph in her freshman year at UConn in 1997. She tore her ACL in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Head coach Geno Auriemma admitted that he, his staff and the team didn't handle losing Ralph well. Dailey believed that the team had reacted to that injury in ways that exasperated the situation. As a result, UConn lost in the Elite Eight after playing like the best team in the country throughout the 1997 season. Both Dailey and Auriemma knew this season couldn't be a repeat of 1997. 

But as time went on, this situation in 2022 felt different. UConn had to get itself back to playing at a high level, something that wasn't always the case during the beginning of the season, even with Bueckers, Fudd and others healthy. 

Acceptance of the process

Senior Nelson-Ododa admitted that this team's problems were apparent from early in the season.

Back on Dec. 5, UConn suffered its first loss of the season to South Carolina in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship. Before all of the injuries and COVID issues, UConn's depth rivaled the No. 1 Gamecocks on paper. But a disastrous fourth quarter dashed the Huskies' hopes for an early marquee win. They scored merely three points in the final frame in a game they’d lose 73-57. The Gamecocks exposed the Huskies' lack of focus, inconsistent effort and maturity. 

Nelson-Ododa chalked up the awkward half-court offensive sets and reliance on Bueckers to a lack of communication and a hesitancy to speak up. 

While there were some returnees from the 2020-2021 season, there were also a lot of new faces, like Fudd, Caroline Ducharme and graduate transfer Dorka Juhasz. It took time to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Huskies' new personnel, something they were forced to do without Bueckers bailing them out in high-pressure situations. 

Who was going to step up? 

After UConn's discombobulated start against UCLA, senior Evina Westbrook put matters into her own hands. As the only player available who was comfortable handling the ball, she began tinkering with UConn's offense. She lunged aggressively through the lane and ran a pick-and-roll action with Nelson-Ododa that UCLA had trouble reading. 

"It looked like we were kind of figuring things out in real time on the floor," Nelson-Ododa told B/R. "And that's exactly how it felt. It was like, 'OK, so this works. This doesn't work. We can put somebody here. We can't put somebody here, you know. They'd be better off over here or elsewhere.'"

In that same game, the Huskies saw the emergence of 6'5" forward Juhasz, who finished with a 16-16 double-double. Up to that point, she had been struggling to affect the game during her rotations. She came to Storrs with a quiet confidence, having come off three seasons at Ohio State where she was selected to the All-Big Ten first team twice. But as Nelson-Ododa said, Auriemma, Juhasz and Co. had to figure out where the Hungarian native was most comfortable playing, something that was accomplished through better communication.  

While some were learning, others were trying to do too much. In the three games following the Notre Dame contest, Senior Christyn Williams shot 32.5 percent from the field (14-of-43). Shots weren't falling and her frustration was visible during games. What was the key to getting her through a shooting slump?

According to Dailey, it was about reminding her to play her own game and not do anything she wasn't capable of accomplishing. While Williams has battled shooting inconsistencies over the years, what's undeniable is her athleticism and motor. She's built to be a slasher that's a nightmare going downhill. The shot-making would come along with the effort applied to other facets of her game, such as finishing layups, kick-outs during double teams, finding open shooters, rebounding and getting into passing lanes. 

"We're not asking them to be anything but who they are," Dailey said. 

But what if the group didn't really know who it was yet? The Huskies' identity was in flux, and that was something they had to accept. They had to accept that conference games wouldn't necessarily be a blowout. What was certain about its identity was it would contain grit and effort. Winning didn't come without outworking opponents. 

"We are confident, but we have to work like underdogs," Juhasz said. "We have to work really hard on the boards, we have to get steals and stops and you know it just shows when we're playing good everybody's contributing in something. It doesn't necessarily have to be points, rebounds, assists. So I think our best game so far has been when we were very balanced on offense … and outrebounding our opponent."

Bueckers was also on a journey of acceptance. When B/R asked former UConn legend Breanna Stewart about how she'd approach Bueckers' situation, it was all about looking at the bigger picture and developing a mental muscle to help her get through this: patience. 

"You can't rush anything and if you do, you're at risk of messing something else up," Stewart said. "But she's learning about patience right now."

In addition to being patient with herself, Bueckers could still contribute to the team differently. Though she would prefer being on the court, she was still sitting on the bench and she was still listening during timeouts. 

That sitting transformed into dancing and celebrating, and that listening transformed into speaking and demanding accountability. According to Westbrook, Bueckers developed a sense of duality during her time off the court. She always was the teammate that would lift others, but she was hesitant to provide any constructive feedback. But after sitting out for months, Bueckers has found a different kind of voice that her team needs her to have. 

"[It's] like, 'Hey, it's gonna be OK' when the time is right," Westbrook told B/R about how Bueckers communicates. "But also like, 'Nah, this isn't OK. This is the same thing coach is talking about and he's right, we have to fix it.'"

But sometimes Bueckers' developing voice wasn't enough, especially during their losses to Oregon and Villanova. More players were out because of time spent in COVID protocols or injuries. Williams was a late scratch once the team found out she tested positive, and Ducharme and Nelson-Ododa were unavailable with respective head and groin injuries. 

After the Oregon game, in particular, Muhl and Juhasz took the result to heart, and both returned to play against Seton Hall and St. John's newly invigorated. Against Seton Hall, Muhl shot 50 percent from the field for 11 points and added seven rebounds. Juhasz was one board shy of a double-double, recording 16 points and nine boards against St. John's.

Dailey noted that the mental game off the court is just as, if not more challenging than what's thought about during in-game situations. 

"It can be overwhelming," she said. "If you are only focusing on March, that's overwhelming, because it's then you missed the process until you get to March. But if you are only worrying about the game you just had, then how are you moving forward. So there's a lot to the process and just try to take it literally practice by practice, game by game."

Adversity off the court

While Westbrook showed flashes of being a two-way combo wing with a sizable WNBA draft stock initially after Bueckers went down, the senior suddenly began playing with more apprehension and less confidence. She was still adjusting to her new role as the Huskies' sixth player, but something else was up. 

In mid-to-late January, her former coach died. She had known this person since she was four years old and didn't know how to deal with their death. She tried to push it down and be there for her team, but she realized that she needed to let them be there for her. They would give her unprompted hugs and show her love without saying it. They would say, "We know you don't want to talk about it, but we're here for you even if you want to."

What allowed Westbrook to compartmentalize and reset? It was during a discussion with her position coach, Morgan Valley. Valley understood that Westbrook was grieving while trying to fulfill her responsibilities on the team, and she reminded her how she began the season. "You were playing like you had something to prove," Valley told her. 

Since that discussion, Westbrook goes into every game with that initiative in mind.

Opportunities led directly to player development

A silver lining to a season with players coming in and out of the lineup was UConn's ability to give its younger players opportunities to prove themselves. That was the case for Ducharme, who stepped in when the Huskies needed a scoring guard with Bueckers and Fudd unavailable. 

Like Juhasz, Ducharme has a quiet confidence, if not even quieter. She doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve when she makes a mistake. If she misses a shot, she just keeps shooting, a mentality that gave her enough confidence to take and make the winning shot in a thriller against conference rivals DePaul on Jan. 26.

Muhl proved herself this season to Dailey. On both sides of the floor, Muhl is constantly setting the tone emotionally. When it comes to expressiveness, she's the absolute inverse of Ducharme. 

Dailey explained that Muhl's tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve and her stubbornness can be a double-edged sword. During Muhl's freshman year, Dailey struggled to reach her. She simply didn't listen. But this season that changed. 

On Jan. 9 against Creighton, Muhl's first game back from her foot injury, she was adapting to the flow of the game after being out for a few weeks. When she was subbed in, the first thing she did was commit a personal foul, which wasn't a shock. Dailey expressed that Muhl is currently learning the balance that comes with being aggressive defensively while also not committing "dumb fouls."

In the fourth quarter, Muhl stomped over to the sideline after getting her fourth personal foul, visibly frustrated. As Muhl approached the bench, Dailey grabbed her, turned with her back facing Muhl and put her arms straight up. Dailey then backed down Muhl, trying to simulate to her player how she should guard a post up. Since then, Dailey has noticed significant improvement and believes that Muhl has been the heart and soul of UConn following her return from injury. 

"I don't think that anyone brings the same level of passion that she does every day, day in, day out and every minute she's on the court," Dailey said.

Nelson-Ododa agreed with that assessment, adding that Muhl's the unofficial leader on the team who, thanks to her youth, can relate to both the older and younger players. She's the team's bridge. 

Muhl's recent honor, winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year, is just a mere symbol of what she's done this season and why her year-to-year exponential growth has been invaluable to UConn. Other conference honors included the following: Nelson-Ododa and Williams on the All-Big East first team, Ducharme on the All-Big East second team and Ducharme and Azzi Fudd on the Big East All-Freshman team. 

Auriemma did not get a conference coach of the year honor. This is the fourth time in the past 14 years where this has happened. If anything, this is the season he deserved it the most. 

After the victory at St. John's on Jan. 23, Auriemma spoke to reporters about how he shared a famous Winston Churchill quote with the team: "If you are going through hell, keep going." He asked his players who Churchill was and one anonymous player raised her hand and said he was a former president of the United States. 

Jokes and laughter aside, it was a moment that made players feel seen and heard. Once Nelson-Ododa finished laughing while recalling the moment, she noted that it represented what this program is about. Auriemma gave his players an option: You keep going or you quit. 

It was a moment that bonded the group and proved Auriemma can still relate to his players and get the best out of them, regardless of the generational gap. 

What awaits in the postseason

There is hope—because of the adversity and constant change—that the 2021-2022 UConn Huskies can withstand any storm. And now with Bueckers back in the fold, can this team overcome the lack of toughness it showed earlier this season against South Carolina? Can UConn move past how it played in its loss to Arizona in last year's Final Four?

While there's valid excitement surrounding the Huskies and their fans, uncertainty remains. How quickly can Bueckers adjust to the more balanced team that UConn has become? No one can predict what may come next from a team defined by constant changes. 

"Who knows where it's going to lead?" Dailey said. "All I know is that every day as coaches and as players we're going to work really hard at giving it our best shot. And getting us to the point where we're playing at a high level and everyone is being their best self. And that will make us our best team."