From Hoopfest to NCAA history: UConn’s Paige Bueckers returns to Spokane focused on national championship quest

The last time Paige Bueckers played in Spokane, she left opponents dazed and spectators amazed.

That was seven years ago at Hoopfest, when she led a team of high school all-stars to victory at Center Court.

Now Bueckers has a chance to do it again this weekend at the Spokane Veterans MemorialArena, where her UConn Huskies will take on Oklahoma in the first game of what should be a memorable super regional of the NCAA women’s tournament.

In 2018, Bueckers’ USA Basketball-sponsored team – which also featured TCU’s Hailey Van Lith, WNBA player Aliyah Boston and former Notre Dame star Samantha Brunelle as 16- and 17-year-olds – won Hoopfest’s women’s elite title after breezing through a bracket filled with several former Division I players, and even a few professionals.

Now one of the most decorated players in NCAA history, Bueckers has won everything but a national title.

After Bueckers’ final home game on Monday night, a 91-57 blowout of South Dakota State, she opened her heart to fans.

“On behalf of our seniors, our whole entire team, I’ve had the time of my life here,” Bueckers said after the game. “It’s been the five years I’ve dreamt of as a kid.”

Other teams are dreaming, too – of winning two games this weekend and reaching the Final Four in Tampa, Florida.

The action starts Friday afternoon, when North Carolina State, the No. 2 seed in Spokane Regional 1, takes on No. 3 seed LSU. That night, top seed UCLA faces fifth-seeded Ole Miss.

Sweet 16 action continues Saturday with Regional 4 games: UConn-Oklahoma followed by top-ranked USC and Kansas State.

Elite Eight games are scheduled for noon on Sunday in Regional 1 and Monday at 6 p.m. in Regional 4.

No team comes into Spokane with a better resume than UCLA, the No. 1 seed in Spokane Regional 1. The Bruins have the nation’s best inside player in Lauren Betts, who had 30 points and 14 rebounds on Sunday in an 84-67 win over Richmond.

During the game at Pauley Pavilion, former Los Angeles Laker and current broadcaster Mychal Thompson posted on X: “UCLA Center ranking:…1)Kareem…2)Walton…3)Lauren Betts…”

Interviewed after the game, Betts was almost speechless.

“That’s crazy,” she said of Thompson’s post.

To reach Sunday’s Regional 1 final, the Bruins must get past Ole Miss, the closest thing to a Cinderella story in a tournament that so far has followed form.

The Rebels have lost 10 games, but seven of those came against a rugged Southeastern Conference. That experience paid off in a 69-63 second-round win at Baylor.

Perhaps the most intriguing Sweet 16 game is the opener. LSU won it all just two years ago under Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey, who wants more.

“Not that we take it for granted,” Mulkey said Monday night after the Tigers blew out Florida State in the second round. “But our goal every year is to just make a run and see if you can get to another Final Four and see if you can upset somebody you’re not supposed to upset.”

In fact, LSU is a slight favorite Friday against N.C. State, which made a surprise Final Four run last year and is playing in its sixth Sweet 16 in the past seven tournaments,

On Monday afternoon in their final game at Reynolds Coliseum, N.C. State’s trio of guards – seniors Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James and graduate student Madison Hayes – combined for 60 points in an 83-49 win over No. 7 seed Michigan State.

Sometimes, dreams can take a cruel turn. On Monday night in Los Angeles, top Region 4 seed USC lost All-American guard JuJu Watkins to a season-ending ACL injury.

“I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu on the floor crying,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game.

The Trojans went on to rout Mississippi State, 96-59. Their title dreams, however, surely will take a hit.

But don’t count out the Trojans, one of the deepest teams in the tournament even without Watkins.

If they can get past Kansas State, they could face Bueckers and the Huskies with a chance to get to Tampa.

“We didn’t want to let her down,” USC star Kiki Iriafen said after the game. “We just want to keep dancing, so whatever it takes is what I wanted to do. I think it just shows our toughness.”

Let the dreams continue.