"God knew to make me a woman”: When Paige Bueckers jokingly described the kind of football player she would be
UConn Huskies star guard Paige Bueckers once said that had she not been born as a girl, she would be a great football player. In a clip from the "Paige and Azzi Show" in 2023, Azzi Fudd asked Bueckers what sport would she play in case she was not introduced to basketball.
Bueckers replied with football, citing that God knew to make her a woman as her strength and speed on the gridiron would be a problem for the opposition.
"Football," Bueckers said. "Bro, I'm telling you, I think God knew to make me a woman because if I was playing football, like a boy, I'll be nasty."
"It doesn't matter (Bueckers being skinny), there are football players like DeVonta Smith, he's got skinny build. I'm skinny, you're not gonna catch me. But I would be stronger, but I am very strong now, I would be a dog."
“The Paige and Azzi Show” is a set of brief moments between Bueckers and Azzi Fudd from 2023. The show was put together by Overtime in the 2022-23 season to promote Buick’s See Her Greatness campaign.
Currently, a full episode of the show is yet to be released and fans can only engage with it through Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and TikTok.
Paige Bueckers has seemingly tweaked her game for her last college season
UConn Huskies eye nothing short of a title this season as it is Paige Bueckers’ last season with the program. Behind the same, Geno Auriemma has constantly directed Bueckers to be more aggressive with that ball.
This summer, Bueckers has seemingly worked on altering her approach in games, focusing more on pressuring the basket and constantly looking for opportunities to score.
"A huge thing this summer was a complete shift in mindset," Bueckers said after Huskies' first practice in October. "Obviously, having the game I did in the Final Four wasn't what I wanted to have, and I think it really set in and it really stung me in a different type of way where I had a reality check."
The change is visible in her game. Paige Bueckers showed up early in UConn’s 86-49 win against the South Florida Bulls on Monday. She finished the match with a game-high 22 points on 9 of 10 shooting, dropping 19 of those in the first half.