The debate on who’s the biggest collegiate star between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark has gone to a different level following a bold take from sports journalist Bomani Jones, and it might’ve stirred the rivalry even more.
Speaking on the latest episode of “The Right Time with Bomani Jones,” he pointed out that Bueckers’ injuries helped out on the hype she’s got toward the end of her collegiate career.
“The Caitlin Clark emergence happened in part because of the Paige Bueckers injuries,” he assertively said on the show. “UConn in the era with Bueckers, …there was the ACL tear, and there was the ankle injury that happened before that.”
Jones felt that the UConn’s star’s career had more of a traditional feel than Caitlin’s.
“For Bueckers, it was a grind to make that happen. It was a story… I thought it was great for the women’s game to have that reemergence of your traditional power, and the fact that they had to fight, and they had to claw in order to get that.”
Due to an injury-laden sophomore season where she suffered a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear, she’d have to endure an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which made her miss out on the 2022-23 season.
After recovering from her ACL tear, Bueckers’ first full season since freshman year ended with a journey to the final four. Through this performance, she was projected to be a top-three pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, but she decided to stay for one more year, which paid off as she delivered a national title to the UConn Huskies.
For Jones, Bueckers would’ve experienced more hype and possibly taken the spotlight away from Clark had it not been for the injuries she had to deal with in her career.
Paige Bueckers Gives Thanks To Her Teammates
Capping off her collegiate career with a national title in her cabinet, Paige Bueckers spoke to ESPN while tearing up and showed gratitude to her teammates and the entire program of the UConn Huskies.
“Unreal,” she said. “Just so much gratitude for everything this program has meant to me, for how much my teammates mean to me, and this is from the top to the bottom.”
After leading her team to the NCAA Championship, Bueckers now moves on to the big leagues as she’s projected to be the top pick in this year’s WNBA draft.
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Yelle is a broadcast communications graduate from the University of Perpetual Help-Dalta and has pursued a career in television and news writing in Net 25 and Radyo Agila. Some of her works can also be seen through her previous publication in Fastbreak.com.ph.
