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WNBA superstar Sue Bird gives college basketball's newest sensation some advice on playing at UConn under Geno Auriemma

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sue bird paige bueckers

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Sue Bird knows a thing or two about finding success in Connecticut, and she's ready to pass on her wisdom to the next generation.

Before she was a four-time Olympic gold medalist and a bona fide WNBA legend, the 5-foot-9 point guard was a floor general for Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies. Bird helped bring the program its second and third national championships, setting the foundation upon which Auriemma has built the foremost powerhouse in college basketball.

sue bird

Now, heading into their fifth season since winning their last title — which is astonishingly considered a drought for the program that has won 10 championships in the past 20 years — Auriemma and company have anxiously awaited the arrival of Paige Bueckers, the young phenom who promises to be Connecticut's next great star.

The top-ranked recruit in the class of 2020, Bueckers — who has more than half a million Instagram followers — is one of the most hyped women's college basketball prospects in recent history. The 6-foot point guard averaged an astounding 21.4 points, 9.4 assists, 5.4 steals, and 5.0 rebounds per game during her undefeated senior season at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

As one of the best to ever play the game, Bird recognizes that Bueckers has the tools to dominate at the next level.

"When you watch Paige play, the first thing is that Paige just has a flair for the game and a swag to her," Bird told Insider. "She can impact in so many different ways at that point guard spot."

paige bueckers

When Bueckers won the 2020 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award, a title awarded to the most outstanding high school student-athlete in the country, Bird was one of a slew of pros on hand to virtually congratulate the young star on the honor.

"I've always looked up to Sue and her game," Bueckers told Insider at the time. "For her to acknowledge me and know me and just to appreciate me, just being an 18-year-old kid, it means a whole lot. I want to be in her shoes, and I want to do the stuff that she's done."

"For her to give credit to a player like me is just crazy," she added.

sue bird

Bird had plenty of advice for Bueckers as the 18-year-old heads into her first season in Storrs — and she's more than qualified to give it. A three-time winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award and the 2002 College Player of the Year, Bird enjoyed a historic career with the Huskies that saw her finding her way on to many of the program's record lists. Eighteen years after leaving UConn, the 11-time WNBA All-Star still ranks No. 1 in career three-point shooting percentage, career free-throw percentage, and assists in a single season.

But even after garnering so much success and countless accolades, Bird acknowledges that playing ball for Connecticut is no easy feat.

"Going to Connecticut is definitely going to be challenging — that's just how Coach Auriemma likes it," Bird said. "He wants to bring out the best in you. My advice to Paige is really to trust that there's gonna be highs, trust that there's gonna be lows, and trust that it's all happening in order for her to reach her potential."

"The whole idea of being comfortable with being uncomfortable?" Bird added. "That's really what your career at Connecticut is like. You gotta be real comfortable with being uncomfortable."

sue bird geno

She also had some refreshingly honest pointers about playing under Auriemma.

"I think all of us always joke that you're actually more in trouble if he's not yelling at you," Bird said, laughing. "The quicker you figure that out, the better. He's probably yelling at you, and he's probably hard on you because he sees the potential, and he's just trying to get you to reach it."

Bueckers has heard similar advice before, albeit from other UConn greats — including Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. Collier was a first-team All-American in two of her four years in Connecticut, and she aided the Huskies in their journey the 2016 national championship. Meanwhile, Stewart was a four-time NCAA champion, four-time NCAA tournament Most Oustanding Player, and three-time Consensus College National Player of the Year during her historic tenure in Storrs.

breanna stewart geno

"The first tip they gave me is that you cannot handle Coach Auriemma," Bueckers recounted. "He kind of just comes at you, and you really don't have any say about it. He's gonna push you. He's gonna test you. I talked to Stewie, and I played on a 3-on-3 team with Napheesa Collier, and they told me that freshman year is going to be pretty hard just because you're transitioning from high school to college, and you have a lot of things you have to work on."

Bird was on the same page.

"My advice for her would be to embrace those tough moments," she said. "Nobody goes through four years at Connecticut, nobody moves onto the WNBA, if she ends up being on Olympic teams, you don't get there by not having some down moments. That's where you find out what you're made of."

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