For the first time in nearly 18 months, following a devastating summer knee injury in 2022 that caused her to miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season, one of the most recognizable and exciting players in all of college basketball will be returning to the court.

The Huskies dearly miss her — and she could be the spark they exactly need coming off a tumultuous, injury-filled campaign in which the longest Final Four appearance streak by any team in college basketball history ended in deflating fashion.

It’s been a long, hard road to recovery for the player who ripped competitors apart during her epic, record-breaking freshman year three seasons ago, setting the newest standard for what a freshman could achieve in the women’s game and providing flash and entertainment with it. 

Older and with plenty of adversity she’s faced since, when the first game since the knee injury that ended last season before it started does finally come for Bueckers, the rest of the basketball world — maybe besides the opponents she’s facing that night who have to deal with her somehow — will rejoice and watch in awe for what she has in store next.

With Bueckers’ return imminent as she awaits her triumphant return to the floor, here’s what to expect as UConn brings her back into the mix and looks to get back to their familiar place of the top of the college hoops world: 

The Journey Back

She rocketed her way into superstardom after a 2020-21 season. Many considered her first year as a Husky year to be one of the greatest freshman campaigns ever in college basketball (from either a man or woman). Bueckers lived up to her expectations as she was the No. 1 recruit and won the Gatorade National Player of the Year during her final high school season. She immediately became the Huskies’ best player and the nation’s premier point guard with dazzling displays after dazzling displays, averaging 20 points per game and leading UConn in scoring, assists (5.8) and steals (2.3) per game as well as 3-point percentage (46.4%). Under her wing, UConn made the 2021 Final Four before losing to Arizona in the national semifinals, and after winning just about every award there was for her to win — Naismith Player of the Year, AP Player of the Year, All-American, you name it — the bumps in the road started arriving. 

Let's. Go. Paige!#BleedBlue x #GATORADEPOY pic.twitter.com/MhTwDqXhd2

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) July 24, 2020

Bueckers’ sophomore season was marred by a knee injury suffered near the end of a December game against Notre Dame, forcing her into surgery and sidelining her for over two months, returning for a late-February BIG EAST game against St. John’s on a limited minutes workload. She eventually got permanently back into the starting lineup by NCAA Tournament time, helping take the Huskies to the national title game where they lost to South Carolina. Then, just a few months before a highly-anticipated junior campaign where she was expected to be roaring back and looking more closely to the Bueckers of old, disaster struck. Bueckers tore her ACL while playing a pickup game in August 2022, ruling her out for the entire year in what proved to be a nightmarish year by UConn’s lofty standards as it was struck by constant injuries and was eliminated in the NCAA tourney in the Sweet 16, the program’s earliest exit since 2004-05. With no setbacks reported so far going into 2023-24, Bueckers will be aiming to make up for lost time — and help get the Huskies back to the promised land.

Then And Now

UConn’s roster, from the last game Bueckers played (the 2022 national championship game) to now, has seen its share of shifts and changes, giving Bueckers the added responsibility on top of her injury comeback of finding a fit and new chemistry with a fresh group of players. The easy part in that is that every upperclassman on the Huskies’ 2023-24 roster already has prior on-court experience with Bueckers from her games played in 2021-22 — and many are taking major strides in their games. 

Senior forward Aaliyah Edwards made probably the most dramatic jump in that timeframe. Turning from a player that featured more often in a complimentary role during her first two seasons in Storrs (including just 7.9 points per game in 2021-22 as a sophomore) into an indispensable piece of UConn’s lineup a season ago, finishing as the team’s leading scorer at 16.6 points per night as one of just two players to start all 37 games, being named an All-American and the BIG EAST’s Most Improved Player in the process. Another highly-touted No. 1 prep recruit, Azzi Fudd, was saddled by injuries last year and limited to just 15 games, but her 15.1 points per game when she did suit up showcased further growth into her role as — when healthy with Bueckers — one part of one of the premier backcourts in the country. 

The adjustments are going to come from gelling quickly with the seven Huskies on this season’s squad that Bueckers has never played a college game with. This includes freshmen guards KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade, who were both McDonald’s All-Americans to close out their high school careers. Redshirt freshmen forward Ice Brady (who also missed 2022-23 due to injury), another five-star recruit at the prep level, has the potential to make waves in the front court. It makes Bueckers, still the undisputed UConn floor general when she does suit up, having to find ways to both reconnect with the old names and mesh with new ones in a manner that helps the Huskies keep on winning ball games.

Back To Normal?

Severe knee injuries can be notoriously fickle, and with it being so long since Bueckers played a game in which she wasn’t being forced to deal with some sort of ailment, it’s more than worth asking if the level of production that she sustained during her groundbreaking freshman season is possible after a pair of knee surgeries. Obviously, coach Geno Auriemma and the rest of the Huskies’ coaching staff are taking it slow toward getting Bueckers back to full speed. She traveled with the team but didn’t play during its recently-completed exhibition trip to Europe, even as she noted in an Instagram post earlier this month that she had been “all cleared” to return to on-court action. 

💙💙 pic.twitter.com/BVey6LQ1zy

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) August 9, 2023

With more than two months until UConn plays a competitive game again (its season opener against Dayton at home is scheduled for Nov. 8), it gives Bueckers additional time to recharge, monitor the knee and ensure that she’s ready to rock and attempt to return back to the fold in her full capacity once the season hits. But will the Bueckers that took the college hoops world by storm a few years ago return as we knew it immediately, or will it take time for the mojo to found on a completely different UConn team than the one Bueckers helped carry as a freshman? Whatever the result and performances to come, one of the sport’s biggest names will be making a return over a year in the making, and with it, college women’s hoops will be better off.