MINNETONKA, Minn. _ The Hopkins High team meeting room was quickly emptying at the conclusion of the day's basketball business, but a few people lingered as Paige Bueckers _ the hot shot UConn recruit without a filter or a care in the world _ started telling a story.
It was about Geno Auriemma.
Then she shook her head and deadpanned, "He's got to pick up the phone when I call him."
This had been an issue days earlier. And, for much of the week, it was a topic of amusement revisited by both involved parties, one in suburban Minneapolis, the other in Storrs.
On Feb. 17, Auriemma was spotted courtside at a high school basketball game in Olney, Maryland, quite obviously in attendance to scout Class of 2021 standout Azzi Fudd, who happens to be one of Bueckers' best friends.
"So she tried to call me while I was at the game," Auriemma said. "She's trying to call me, ask me how the game is going. So I texted her. She said, 'Well, I called you.' I said, 'Why would I answer? I'm at the game.' She said, 'What about the other night when I called you?' "
Auriemma was smiling, had that "You believe this kid?" look in his eye.
"I said, 'I don't keep my ringer on,' " Auriemma continued. "And she said, 'Well, you need to put me in your favorites,' or some (bologna) and I said, 'I don't even know what that is.' She goes, 'I'll have to show you,' and I said, 'I'm not really interested in that.' "
Bueckers did receive a call back from Auriemma later that night, right around the time she was ready to shift the direction of the conversation.
"She goes, 'I have a very high basketball IQ,' " Auriemma said. "I go, 'You do, huh?' "
Bueckers' response: "Yeah. As a matter of fact, I think my basketball IQ is higher than yours."
"But just making that statement," Auriemma responded, "shows what a dumbass you are."
Auriemma laughed and laughed at UConn's Werth Center.
Bueckers laughed and laughed in that little meeting room at Hopkins.
Their versions aligned perfectly, like their visions for the future of UConn basketball, which boils down to this: more titles and banners, nothing really changing other than the elimination of the talk about any slippage at Gampel Pavilion. Auriemma even said recently that somewhere down the line he'll be saying about Bueckers, "We wouldn't have won the national championship without her."
Hopkins coach Brian Cosgriff looked up, eyebrows raised as Bueckers continued on about her chat with Auriemma.
"You actually told him you have a higher basketball IQ than he does?" Cosgriff said.
"I'm hard-headed," Bueckers said.
That self-assessment wasn't out of her mouth for more than half-a-second when Cosgriff said, "You are."
"You can't get the last word in with Paige," Cosgriff said.
Cosgriff's brother Barry, a Hopkins staff member, joined the discussion: "Paige does not lose an argument."
"She does," Cosgriff said. "But she won't stop. She'll just keep going."
