PORTLAND, Ore. — The small group of young girls standing on the front row of Moda Center across the court from the biggest star in the gym must have called out Paige Bueckers’ name 100 times.
They kept on — “PAIGE, PAIGE, PAIGE, PAIGE ” — until UConn guard KK Arnold noticed them.
“You should go take a picture with them,” Arnold told her teammate. Bueckers shyly headed that way, as fans clamored for autographs and beamed with excitement as she delivered.
Bueckers is unlike any of Geno Auriemma’s superstars in the past, he said earlier this week. On the one hand, the public can’t get enough of her — as was the case again Monday night, when she put on a clinic against USC in the Elite Eight with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists to propel UConn to the Final Four for the 23rd time in program history and third time in four years.
On the other hand, she can be hard to gauge — internalizing her emotions so much that Auriemma sometimes cannot read her. He has seen her break down exactly once — at Tennessee in the locker room last year when an ACL injury prevented her from playing.
“She doesn’t show it,” Auriemma said. “Other players that I’ve had that were of that level, they walked around like they owned it. They talked like they owned it. … Paige…
