Sports
Paige Bueckers aims to make this her final season at UConn … and to go out with a bang
If there’s an overriding lesson from the last four years of Paige Bueckers’ college basketball career, it’s this, she explains: “You never know what each day will bring. You never know what life is gonna throw at you.”
There was a time when Bueckers didn’t necessary think that way, when she assumed her plans would come to pass. Like when she arrived in Storrs, Conn., in the fall of 2020. She knew then that her freshman season — already outlined with the COVID-19 protocols of testing, masks and isolation — wouldn’t look exactly the way she always imagined as a kid. Still, when she thought about the four seasons in front of her, there was a sense of expectation and progress: Four years of healthy play, a few national titles, a graduation and at the end of it, a seat at the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Very little has gone to plan. Bueckers was, in fact, at the 2024 WNBA Draft, but she was there supporting her teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl being drafted. She described the night as “surreal,” having always imagined that the class she entered with alongside Edwards and Mühl would be the class with which she exited. Instead, she’s now watching them begin their WNBA careers on television as she returns to college offseason workouts, using one of the two available redshirt years.
Paige Bueckers supporting her teammates at the #WNBADraft pic.twitter.com/iQnI3sjNht
— The Athletic WBB (@TheAthleticWBB) April 16, 2024
Bueckers has played only two healthy seasons of college basketball, as a freshman, when she was named national Player of the Year, and last season, when she was again an All-American. She has advanced to three Final Fours in four years but never won a title.
She has readjusted her expectations, imagining her name called in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She plans to make the 2024-25 season her last at UConn, she told The Athletic.
“There’s a much larger sense of urgency,” Bueckers said. “This is my last year to get what I came here for, which is a national championship. … No more ‘Passive Paige.’”
As Bueckers enters her final chapter in Storrs, going through her first (and last) college offseason workouts in which she’s completely healthy, she’s focused on definitively shifting her mentality while recognizing the need for flexibility. After all, that’s the lesson the last four years have taught her.
Bueckers’ final shot at a national title will come with some adjustments. Edwards and Mühl are gone. The three returning upperclassmen — Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and Caroline Ducharme — are coming off injuries. Kaitlyn Chen, a Princeton transfer, is settling into the program after arriving on campus in late May.
But that turnover in roster — nothing new to Bueckers — makes her mental shift that much more important as she prepares to shoulder so much more.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma can point to March to remind Bueckers of her focus. Conversation around Bueckers’ aggressive mentality have been “constant” since she arrived on campus in 2020, he said. But the Huskies’ recent history, an unexpected run to the Final Four, led by Bueckers, provides all the evidence she needs to continue to be a bit more selfish on the floor. Before the Big East tournament, Auriemma said he told Bueckers, “Paige, you need it to get 30 every night. Just make life easier on everybody else. We don’t have a lot of options. We don’t have a lot of choices. So this is what we got. And we can’t be milling around with this stuff.”
In short: No more Passive Paige.
Through five NCAA Tournament games, Bueckers’ game completely elevated. After averaging 21.3 points, 3.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds a game during the regular season, she averaged 25.8 points, 4.6 assists and 8 rebounds a game, pulling the Huskies to their 23rd Final Four.
“I love to score. I’ve always felt like I’m a pass-first player. I love to get my teammates involved. I love to make sure everybody’s happy,” Bueckers said. “But at the end of the day, everyone is happy when we win, and I think we have a better chance of winning when I’m aggressive.”
Added Auriemma: “She’s too nice, too caring about what other people think. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a great, great quality. I just don’t know if it’s a great quality for (a) killer superstar.”
Bueckers has learned too much over the past four seasons to make too many plans. Everything can change in an instant. She knows, because she has been there (multiple times). But with a heightened sense of urgency, she’s approaching this offseason differently. She wants to come in as a better scorer, passer and rebounder. Ask her where her game can improve, and there is no shortage of options that come to Bueckers’ mind: her range, 3-point shooting, off-the-dribble shooting, one-on-one moves, ballhandling, playing off two feet, experimenting with tempo.
She’s trying not to live in the past too much and also not look too far into the future. She hasn’t rewatched the Huskies’ final game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament yet — a loss to Iowa — but she’ll get there. She knows she has to watch it to completely turn the page from last season. Just like the NCAA Tournament, there will be lessons to glean from those 40 minutes, but Bueckers still wonders if she had been just a bit more aggressive, maybe the game would’ve turned out differently. With one final year at UConn, she’ll make sure not to feel that after any game again, she said.
“I want to be an unselfish player, somebody that people love to play with, but at the same time, I’m trying to balance that with also being like, a killer, a scorer, a bucket getter,” she said. “It’s always been a battle of me trying to find the happy medium, but I think for the most part from here on out I gotta be more aggressive first.”
(Photo of Paige Bueckers: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is planning for right fielder Kyle Tucker to be out for the rest of the series against the Minnesota Twins, after he left Monday’s game with low back spasms.
Roberts hopes to write Tucker into the lineup Friday, when the Dodgers open a three-game series in San Diego, after three days off, plus most of the game Monday.
“Hopefully he [can take] advantage of this, obviously to get right, but also kind of a mental reset,” Roberts said. “Hopefully the four days will suffice.”
Tucker, who said he felt a little better Tuesday but still sore, especially when rotating, is “pretty confident” that he’ll be able to avoid the injured list. And if he can take swings on Wednesday, he’ll probably be on track for that Friday return.
“But if he doesn’t, then we’ll have probably a tougher decision on Friday,” Roberts said.
Tucker, who has a .707 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage this season, has had a slow offensive start to his Dodgers’ tenure. He wasn’t ready to make any declarations about the potential benefits of time off to reset.
“Maybe,” he said. “We’ll see after I get back. We’ll see how that goes.”
The news on catcher Dalton Rushing, who exited Monday’s game to rule out a concussion, was more straightforward.
Rushing hadn’t yet gone through the second round of concussion testing needed to clear him to play when Roberts addressed the media Tuesday afternoon. But Rushing had told Roberts he was ready to play.
“That doesn’t carry too much weight until I hear from the medical staff,” Roberts said. “But it is good to know that he said he’s good to go. My hope is that he’ll be available off the bench in some capacity.”
As a downpour hammered the tarped field early Tuesday evening, it was unclear when exactly the Dodgers would be playing. But despite plenty of rain in the forecast Tuesday evening, the teams and Major League Baseball identified a window for the game.
The Twins announced an estimated 5:05 p.m. PDT first pitch, representing a 25-minute rain delay.
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Wyndham Clark reflected on winning what was his second U.S. Open with an emotional message filled with appreciation.
Clark went wire-to-wire at Shinnecock Hills to become the 24th player to win at least two U.S. Opens in their career after beating fellow American Sam Burns by one shot. The 32-year-old’s first U.S. Open title came in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club, another one-shot victory, where he got the best of runner-up Rory McIlroy.
“I’m not sure I’ve found the words yet. If I’m being honest, last year wasn’t filled with many highs. There were a lot more questions than answers, a lot more frustration than celebration, and plenty of moments that tested my belief in myself,” Clark’s note on X began.
Wyndham Clark of the United States looks on after winning the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21, 2026, in Southampton, New York. (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
WYNDHAM CLARK DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LOVED, BUT HE DOES HAVE TO BE RESPECTED AFTER US OPEN TRIUMPH AT SHINNECOCK
“This game can be incredibly humbling. It doesn’t owe you anything, and sometimes the only thing you can do is keep showing up and trust that the work will eventually pay off. That’s why this week means so much. To the fans, thank you for making this championship what it is. New York crowds are passionate, honest, and demanding. Whether you were pulling for me or not, you created an atmosphere I’ll never forget and pushed all of us to compete at our best.
“Thank you to the USGA, the members of Shinnecock Hills, the volunteers, and every person behind the scenes who made this week so special. This place is everything a U.S. Open should be, and I’m incredibly honored to have my name connected to it forever.
“To my team, family, friends, and sponsors, thank you for staying in my corner through the difficult stretches. Thank you for believing in me on the days when believing wasn’t easy. This trophy means more because of the road it took to get here. The setbacks, the doubts, and the hard days all make this moment that much sweeter. I’ll never forget this week, this place, and what it feels like to stand here as a two-time U.S. Open Champion. Forever grateful.”
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NEW YORK GOLF FANS DESERVE TO BE CALLED OUT, SAM BURNS HAS A GOOD CRY, WYNDHAM CLARK’S BEST SHOT AT SHINNECOCK
Wyndham Clark celebrates with his caddie, David Pelekoudas, on the 18th green during the final round of the 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21, 2026, in Southampton, New York. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
Clark was far from the fan favorite during Sunday’s final round at Shinnecock. The majority of fans on the Long Island, New York property appeared to be pulling against the Colorado native with countless shouts for his golf ball to find bunkers and minor roars after each of his five bogeys during the final round.
Wyndham Clark celebrates with his girlfriend Emily Tanner after winning the 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour)
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Clark made a pair of public mistakes during the 2025 PGA Tour season. During the final round of the 2025 PGA Championship, he threw his driver through an advertisement sign behind a tee box. A month later, after missing the cut at Oakmont in the 2025 U.S. Open, he ripped apart two lockers inside the clubhouse and was barred by the historic club in the following days.
SEATTLE — Jaysen Dickinson flew to Seattle from Vermont to cross an item off his lengthy bucket list.
“To see the World Cup and the U.S. play in the World Cup,” he said.
Kim Fletcher and her 17-year-old son Kelan caught a 5 a.m. flight from Sacramento last week for the same reason.
“It’s a must-do right now,” she said.
They weren’t alone. Tens of thousands of people poured into Seattle on Friday morning for the U.S. team’s group-stage game with Australia, turning the Emerald City into a sea of red, white and blue. Some had tickets, most did not.
United States’ Folarin Balogun celebrates the team’s first goal with fans during the game against Australia in Seattle on June 19, 2026.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
But who needed a ticket? More than 66,000 people filled Lumen Field in Seattle’s SoDo district, but thousands more simply stood in the streets surrounding the stadium to soak up the energy.
“It’s electric,” said Fletcher, whose son wore an American flag as a cape beneath a tri-cornered colonial hat. Another man was dressed in overalls in star-spangled colors while one couple wore large and seemingly uncomfortable bald eagle heads, topped by red, white and blue cloth stovepipe hats.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said one fan, whose been attending sporting events in the city for more than seven decades.
If this World Cup has been marred by astronomical ticket prices and an opaque system for selling them, resulting in large swaths of vacant seats visible on telecasts from Guadalajara, Santa Clara and Miami Gardens, that hasn’t put a damper on the tournament in the Pacific Northwest. Los Angeles is far from the only city with World Cup fever.
The midday celebration on Friday engulfed — and overwhelmed — one of the country’s largest cities on what was supposed to be a workday.
A viewing party in historic Pioneer Square was packed so tightly it was hard to move. Along the city’s waterfront, hundreds of people paid $52 to stand on a barge and watch the game on a scoreboard-sized TV. Thousands more had scaled the steep cascading steps across the street, where they strained to watch for free.
“There were just people who wanted to be in the atmosphere. And that’s Seattle,” said Kasey Keller, a four-time World Cup goalkeeper for the U.S. from nearby Olympia, Wash.
“This,” agreed MLS commissioner Don Garber “is a soccer city.”
The first game in Seattle, also played on a weekday afternoon, drew a sellout crowd for Egypt-Belgium while in Vancouver, 35 miles north of the U.S. border, a 10-block stretch that knifes through the heart of the central business district has been turned over to a street party for the duration of the 39-day World Cup, snarling traffic and rerouting buses.
Fans of Belgium wait for the beginning of the World Cup Group G soccer game between Belgium and Egypt in Seattle on June 15, 2026.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Not that many folks were complaining.
Fans marched to last Thursday’s afternoon game with Qatar wearing Canadian flags draped over their shoulders and headdresses that sprouted small maple leafs. Thousands more watched on TV from bars and restaurants along Granville Street, where 15-foot-tall soccer players and giant soccer balls stand beneath miles of red and white streamers.
Even a strip club in the center of the fan zone got in on the action, draping the flags of Canada and nine other World Cup teams above its heavy wooden doors.
“It’s beautiful to see. The whole country showed up,” goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau said. “It’s beautiful. We were all one nation tonight.”
Crepeau and his teammates said they fed off that atmosphere in their victory over Qatar, giving Canada its first-ever World Cup win. Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine-born U.S. coach, said the same thing about the Americans’ reception in Seattle.
“Even if I am not American I was emotional because the atmosphere was amazing, the fans were amazing,” he said. “The way they supported us and the way they celebrated victory, it was an amazing and perfect connection from the stands and the team.
“It makes us feel very proud because to connect with the people is what we wanted — here in Seattle, and the rest of the country.”
U.S. and Australia fans bump fists on their way to the stadium before their game in Seattle on June 19, 2026.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
U.S. and Canadian soccer fans have come a long way since 1994, the last time North America played host to the World Cup. Keller remembers watching a group-stage game with a very confused man at a bar in Florida.
“There was a guy sitting next to me rooting for the wrong team,” he said. “‘Wait a minute. Ireland’s in white?’ It took him 30 minutes to figure out which team he wanted to root for.”
That hasn’t been a problem this summer. Three days before the U.S. game in Seattle some 500 fans, most wearing the blue-and-white striped jerseys of Argentina, filed onto a 322-foot cargo barge moored in Elliott Bay to watch their team play Algeria.
“Our city is really crushing it for the World Cup,” said Daniel Norberg, a recent transplant from Amsterdam. “We’ve been really impressed.
“It’s got a great vibe.”
The aging 53-year-old barge, which typically plies the waters of southeastern Alaska, was towed to Seattle by the RAVE Foundation, the charitable arm of Seattle’s two professional soccer teams, the Sounders and the Reign of the NWSL.
“Elliott Bay on Seattle’s waterfront, it just felt right. Because it is so very Seattle,” said Ashley Fosberg, the foundation’s executive director.
For the U.S. game, tens of thousands more packed the breathtakingly beautiful shoreline. Sitting on folding chairs and under portable awnings or standing on concrete steps and bridges, the crowd seemed to stretch from the water’s edge to the horizon. When the Americans took an early lead on an own goal from Australia, the crowd broke into a raucous cheer that gave way to chants of “USA! USA!”
A mile away, inside Lumen Field, the reaction to Alex Freeman’s goal at the end of the first half produced measurable earth movement, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. The players felt the shaking — and the support.
“It’s tough to put it into words,” forward Folarin Balogun said. “It’s extremely special. It gives us that last bit of motivation to just go out there and really go crazy.”
After the 2-0 win, a victory that sent the U.S. through to the knockout stage and opened up the possibility of a return to Seattle for the round of 16, the players took a victory lap around the field as the fans serenaded them with John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” overwhelming the version playing on the stadium sound system.
Seattle, the crowd told the players, was the place where they belonged.
“It was just incredible,” said captain Tim Ream, who teared up as he gathered with his teammates afterward. “It’s one of those moments where you’re like, ‘Is this real life?’”
Deputy Sports editor Ed Guzman contributed to this report.
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