HARTFORD, Conn. — Another day, another set of preseason accolades for the UConn women’s basketball team.
Sophomore Paige Bueckers was announced Tuesday as a unanimous selection for the Associated Press preseason All-America team. Last season, she was the first freshman to win AP Player of the Year and joined Maya Moore and Courtney Paris as the only freshmen to be named AP First Team All-Americans.
South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston (26 of 29 votes), Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith (24), Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (21) and Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard (18) rounded out the list. Aside from Clark, who made the second team, that group all made the AP All-America first team in the spring.
Bueckers averaged 20 points, 5.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds last season on her way to guiding the Huskies to a 13th consecutive Final Four appearance. She took home every national award for which she was eligible, becoming the first freshman to win the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy. So far this preseason, she’s been named Big East preseason player of the year and earned a spot on the Nancy Lieberman Award watch list (she’s the reigning winner of both honors).
“Paige is Paige,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma told the Associated Press. “Paige is better than she was last year. Paige is a little more comfortable than she was last year. She’s not as hesitant to take shots as she was last year.”
Later in the day, Huskies senior Christyn Williams and freshman Azzi Fudd earned spots on the preseason watch list for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given to the nation’s best shooting guard. Fudd was the only freshman on the list of 20 players.
Williams was the Huskies’ second-leading scorer last season as a junior with 16.3 points per game. Fudd, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021, became the first sophomore to win Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2019.
The watch list will be narrowed down from 20 to 10 in late January and then to five in late February before the winner will be selected in March.
