UConn teammates Paige Bueckers and Isuneh Brady
UConn guard Paige Bueckers has been having a busy offseason after leading the Huskies to within a bucket of the Final Four. She attended the WNBA draft in New York on April 15 and watched the Miami Heat play the Chicago Bulls in their play-in game on April 19.
The UConn star who has been in the public eye for a sustained period since the ceremony recently posted a video on Instagram of herself dancing with teammate Isuneh Brady.
She captioned the clip with J.P.’s “Bad Bitty” song playing: “💃😝”
Isuneh “Ice Brady” living her UConn dream
Isuneh Brady, aka “Ice Brady,” always wanted to join the UConn Huskies after watching coach Geno Auriemma lead them to four consecutive national championships in the mid-2010s.
She got a dislocated patella on her right knee during practice a few weeks before she played her first game for the Huskies, ruling her out for the rest of her freshman season.
Even before Brady made her debut this season, seasoned coach Geno Auriemma showed his excitement during the Huskies media days at the prospect of having the forward available for selection.
“Now don’t get me wrong, she (Brady) hasn’t played college basketball and there’s some issues that are going to rise and all that. But anytime a kid can make shots from the perimeter, score in the lane, (is a) really good passer; she just has that kind of game,” Auriemma said.
“And it’s a great complement to, you know, to Aaliyah (Edwards) and Aubrey (Griffin) and Carol (Caroline Ducharme) and some of the other guys that we have.”
Last season, when Ice Brady finally played, she averaged 4.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 17.4 minutes of action on average, helping to provide the spark off the bench that drove the Huskies to the Final Four.
Now she gets to dance with returning Huskies guard Paige Bueckers in videos, attend NBA games with the UConn star and is living her dream of being a Huskies player.
Paige Bueckers is the face of college basketball
After her record-breaking exploits over the past two years, there was barely any space for any other student-athlete not named Caitlin Clark to be the face of college basketball.
With Clark’s departure to the WNBA, the heir to the throne of the most marketable player in college basketball is an open debate that Paige Bueckers seems to be winning.
After making an appearance at the WNBA draft ceremony at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to support her former teammates, Nika Muhl and Aaliyah Edwards, Bueckers’ public profile has exploded.
She was well-known for her exploits on the court after winning all the major individual awards as a freshman in 2021, but Bueckers was out of the public eye for a while due to her ACL injuries, which severely limited her game time.
In the past few days, the sports-watching public has fallen in love with Paige Bueckers afresh after her selfless show of support for her friends, and maybe this is the moment she occupies the throne of the face of college basketball.