For years, UConn star Paige Bueckers has been one of the biggest names in women’s college basketball. She hasn’t even turned pro, and she already has an offer to play for Unrivaled.
However, it seems like she’s often been in someone else’s shadow. Even this year, the media raved about JuJu Watkins, a younger player, more often than they did about her.
According to former NBA player Etan Thomas, race has played a big factor in her failure to be acknowledged as widely as Caitlin Clark. In his latest column, he argued that she didn’t have a ‘black villain’ like Angel Reese.
Etan Thomas says Paige Bueckers hasn’t had a ‘black villain’
“Much of the media made Reese the villain to Clark’s heroine after the Black Princess upstaged the Great White Hope in the 2023 NCAA Tournament championship game,” Thomas wrote. “The viral image of Reese defiantly waving her hand in front of her face – the same taunt Clark had used in a previous game – transformed Clark and Reese from great players to lightning rods for racial animus. People who had no interest in women’s basketball suddenly became fanatics – in every sense of the word – for all the worst reasons. They were there to cheer Clark’s whiteness, and attack Reese’s Blackness, not their talent.”
Paige Bueckers #5
Of course, not winning a national championship may have also taken a toll on the public’s perception of the Huskies star. But make no mistake, she’s a superstar in the making.
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Bueckers is about to take her talents to the WNBA as the first-overall pick. Hopefully, she will finally get the recognition he deserves once she turns pro, regardless of who she plays against.
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