Op-Ed: Paige Bueckers receiving “The Shedeur” treatment over announcing return to UConn

Following a Final Four run, Bueckers finds herself at odds regarding her decision not to go pro

Apr 4, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers during press conference at / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Watch enough sports over time and you will begin to see patterns and trends reveal themselves, especially when it comes to fan reaction. This is exactly the case when it comes to Paige Bueckers staying at UConn this week.  

Bueckers has an incredible story, and it didn’t start two years ago. In 2019, she was a five-star recruit playing for the FIBA US Women’s U19 World Cup team. If you’re not familiar, that roster included Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith, Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, and Aliyah Boston. Looking at this year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament, that sounds like a 92’ Dream Team but before they were in college. Put Angel Reece and Juju Watkins on that roster and it’s an All Star team. From there, Bueckers would commit to UConn and Gino Auriemma. She earned freshman of the year honors and draws comparisons to what Watkins is doing now. Bueckers was sidelined for most of the next two years, but came back and we got to witness all of that coming together as UConn went on a great tournament run. However, they were stopped by Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team. 

The news of Bueckers returning to school next season and how simplistically people reacted to it can be categorized as a perfect storm. Those reactions felt eerily familiar to another polarizing college athlete. Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and staying for his senior year. It seems most fan reactions have been the exact same. “Paige doesn’t want to be second to Caitlin Clark.” Really people? That’s the best the droves of internet keyboard assassins can come up with? There is an entire landscape full of aspects and motivating factors, but most reactions from the internet watching basketball fans out there is “Paige just doesn’t want to be second to Caitlin.”

No consideration at all for the fact that while the Women’s College game took leaps and bounds, that does not mean the pay concern with the WNBA was miraculously fixed. That take doesn’t consider the journey Bueckers has taken or why she might not want her final college moment to be a non-shooting violation by someone else. Didn’t consider that Paige most likely watched South Carolina see the confetti fall. No way that is something Paige might want for herself. Instead, people are falling onto the easiest and least likely reason for her decision. This was exactly what was being said about Sanders not entering the 2024 NFL Draft. “Shedeur Sanders doesn’t want to be second to Caleb Williams.” 

Again, different situations, similar issues with that take. Would Sanders like to be the first player selected in the draft he enters? Yes. Who wouldn’t? Is going top overall and not being second to anyone the reason (or even a primary reason) why Shedeur will not be in this draft? Of course not. It’s literally too easy to be the answer. 

You just have to actually listen to Coach Prime on the subject of Shedeur in the NFL to know there are a number of reasons why his youngest son coming out after 2023 was completely illogical and had nothing to do with Williams. The first issue is Caleb’s tape doesn’t line up with the narrative of how great he will be at the next level. That's a topic for another day. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Sanders ran for his life and was hit more than any QB in Power Five last year. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with how he might be viewed by NFL GM’s and scouts when most of his 2023 tape is him getting hit. Another nice factor is through the first 3 games of the season, before teams knew how to attack the offensive line, Sanders was the top QB in the country and it wasn’t exactly close. If Shedeur gets any protection whatsoever, he is the best QB in the country, including Williams. Don’t look now, but CU’s offensive line is looking completely different. 

Throughout that season, one must believe Coach Prime and Shedeur Sanders had conversations. One of the biggest had to be, “I’m going to bring in better offensive lineman so next year won’t be like this.” Now, you have optimism for next season. Another big factor is the current NFL landscape. 

Coach Prime recently said on the Million Dollarz Worth of Game podcast that he doesn’t want Shedeur going to a cold weather team, and he knows where he wants him to go; even if that means “pulling an Eli.” Prime told us all from day one Shedeur is not coming out in 2023. Did that stop ESPN and FS1 and every sports fan you know from deciding none of that mattered? No. He said it in press conferences, interviews, and from the luxury box at Empower Field at Mile High during a Denver Broncos game. One of these days, people are actually going to take Prime at his word. Especially, when it’s been the same words over and over again. 

As it were, fans and pundits have resorted to the least common likely answer to paint two elite athletes as the same. Afraid to not be at the top. I assure you fear of not being the top-overall pick is not a significant part of the equation. The case for Paige Bueckers is very similar. She doesn’t ‘need’ to go pro now, so she’s not going to. Keep in mind, she can make ten years of WNBA money in college. With most of the Indiana Fever games televised and names like Caitlin, Angel, Brink, Pili, and others making the jump, maybe the landscape will be different this time next year. Like Sanders, Bueckers will come back next year and likely be in the conversation again as one of, if not the best player in the country. Both will make significant money that players in their position 10 years ago could not have dreamed of. They both will likely be in “playoff” situations next season. Finally, for both, fear of not being No. 1 overall likely played no part in the decision. 

NIL and the Transfer Portal are changing the game and player motivations in more ways than the most obvious. Players have no urgency to go pro because they aren’t broke longing for their big payday. They don’t need to enter the draft to ‘save their family’. The elite players in all college sports no longer must make a mad dash for the draft for fear of losing out on money or opportunities. 

Most college players have a respect for their opponents and jealousy of not going No. 1 just doesn’t have the power it once did. We might actually be entering a golden age of college sports where the movement of the top players aren’t influenced by the money they’re leaving on the table if they stay. Coaches don’t love what NIL and the Transfer Portal have created for them, individually, but the fans will end up the big winners.