UConn star Paige Bueckers says she’s cleared from ACL injury: ‘Ready for takeoff’

University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers is cleared from her ACL injury, she said in an Instagram post Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Bueckers wrote she is “all cleared and ready for takeoff,” adding, “369 days… GOD DID!”
• The guard tore her left ACL last August and missed the entire 2022-23 season. She was limited to only 17 games the season prior after tearing her lateral meniscus, requiring surgery.
• Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said in June that Bueckers was “90 percent” recovered and expected to be c to start the 2023 season.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What does Bueckers’ return mean for UConn?

When Bueckers tore her ACL last summer, she called the injury “devastating.” Auriemma used the same word as well. Last season, her absence was certainly felt by both the Huskies — whose 14-year Final Four streak came to an end in March — and the sport as a whole, as both were left to not watch the player with perhaps the smoothest shooting stroke in college basketball. Now, however, Bueckers returns, bolstering a Huskies team that enters next season as the No. 2 team on The Athletic’s Way-Too-Early Top-25 list.

The former National Player of the Year rejoins a roster that also includes other proven veterans in Aaliyah Edwards, Nika…