TAMPA, Fla. — When Paige Bueckers tore her ACL in the summer of 2022, a year after winning Player of the Year honors as a freshman and a few months after leading UConn to its first NCAA Tournament title game since 2016, it left a void in the national women’s basketball landscape. Bueckers had become the face of the sport, and someone would have to fill that role.
Bueckers’ fellow Class of 2020 recruit Caitlin Clark ended up assuming that mantle — and then some — helping propel women’s basketball to new heights. After Clark took her star power to the WNBA, Bueckers and USC star JuJu Watkins attracted bicoastal spotlights this season. But now Bueckers has finished her college career. Her theoretical heir, JuJu Watkins, missed most of the tournament with her own ACL injury and could miss the bulk, if not all, of next season.
The game is looking for another face heading into the 2025-26 season. The problem: There is no obvious successor. Talented players abound, but a player who can break through into the national consciousness could be essential to maintaining the unprecedented momentum the sport has gained over the past few seasons.
The most likely successor to Bueckers’ stardom could be on her team. En route to a national championship on Sunday, Sarah Strong was an…
