Paige Bueckers, one of college basketball’s most widely recognized players, is unable to be physically on the court this season while rehabbing an ACL tear she sustained in August. But the 2021 Naismith Player of the Year will remain on the bench serving as “Coach P” for a Connecticut Huskies team working to keep injuries from ending its historic stretch of 14 consecutive Final Fours.
“I’m head coach. Coach [Geno Auriemma] let me take his spot,” Bueckers told local reporters in September, a month after the injury. “No, I’m just kidding. But I’m the players’ coach, I’m going to be the one they can talk to, the one that’s going to push them, also the one they can rely on when they need support.