{"id":415297,"date":"2025-11-30T15:20:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/415297\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:20:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:20:16","slug":"geno-auriemma-on-paige-bueckers-chance-to-emerge-as-sue-bird-successor-for-usa-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/415297\/","title":{"rendered":"Geno Auriemma On Paige Bueckers\u2019 Chance To Emerge As Sue Bird Successor For USA Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma has seen Paige Bueckers<\/a> rise through every level of basketball \u2014 from a top recruit to a national champion contender, to the No. 1 overall pick, to one of the most productive rookies the WNBA has seen in years. Now, as the Dallas Wings guard prepares for her first USA Basketball Women\u2019s National Team training camp, Auriemma believes her next leap is arriving right on time.<\/p>\n

USA Basketball invited Bueckers to its Dec. 12\u201314 senior national team camp at Duke University, placing the 2025 Rookie of the Year among the early pool of candidates for the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup roster. It marks the latest step in a rapid ascent that has drawn steady praise from her former college coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first step is to get invited,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s number one. So, that\u2019s happened. The second is going to come easy for her \u2014 to understand what they\u2019re asking you to do once you get there. She\u2019s great at that. Whatever you need her to do, she\u2019s going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige Bueckers Already Shows the Traits of a National Team Guard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bueckers enters the camp following a rookie season defined by both production and poise. She averaged 19.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 36 games, while becoming the only player in the WNBA to rank top-nine in scoring, assists and steals. Her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 included a record-setting 44-point performance in Los Angeles, a Rookie of the Year award, All-WNBA Second Team recognition and a starting nod in the league\u2019s All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

Auriemma said the early success has strengthened her readiness for the next level of competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the year in the league has helped her to understand that I can handle myself in this level of competition and I can be what my team needs me to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that national team environments reward players who understand their roles immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying on a national team involves a lot of awareness \u2014 being self-aware, knowing who you are, what you are, and knowing you might have a different role than you have on the team you\u2019re playing on regularly,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI think all of those things are things that she\u2019s very familiar with. So, not a lot that I can give.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Wide-Open Backcourt and a Chance to Emerge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Auriemma did not shy away from noting that USA Basketball is still searching for its long-term answer at point guard in the post\u2013Sue Bird<\/a> era. He said the national team landscape has yet to produce a definitive successor \u2014 and that openings remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a position that I think \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s completely up for grabs because I haven\u2019t followed it that long \u2014 but since Sue retired, there hasn\u2019t really been a clear-cut successor,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cHere\u2019s the successor, here\u2019s the next person that can take over this team and be able to lead a lot of veteran players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Bueckers ultimately fits within that competition, he said, will depend on timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think someone\u2019s going to emerge, whether that\u2019s Paige or someone else, whether it\u2019s now for the World Championships or for the Olympics,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe she\u2019s too young, I don\u2019t know. Or maybe she\u2019s ready. I do know she has all of the things that she needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige Bueckers Continues to Rise One Step at a Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bueckers has not spoken at length about the camp invitation but reflected on her rookie season in an Instagram post, thanking teammates and emphasizing growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, God, for an amazing rookie year,\u201d she wrote. \u201cProcess over results. Unconditional joy and gratitude\u2026 Now let\u2019s keep on keeping on. Go Wings!\u201d<\/p>\n

For Dallas, the invitation affirms her trajectory as a franchise cornerstone. For USA Basketball, it marks the beginning of an evaluation process that will run through 2026. And for Auriemma, it is simply another checkpoint on a path he has expected her to reach for years.<\/p>\n

More Dallas Wings News & Rumors<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UConn head coach Geno Auriemma has seen Paige Bueckers rise through every level of basketball \u2014 from a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":415298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[194827,2470,9768,131200,2471,62,89707,67,132,68,1347,232,124540],"class_list":{"0":"post-415297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-2026-fiba-womens-world-cup","9":"tag-dallas-wings","10":"tag-geno-auriemma","11":"tag-kara-lawson","12":"tag-paige-bueckers","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sue-bird","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa-basketball","19":"tag-wnba","20":"tag-wnba-rookie-of-the-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115639328826251498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}