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Paige Bueckers finished her career at UConn as a national champion after only losing three games in 2024-25. She is now joining the Dallas Wings in the WNBA, and she knows her expectations need to change as she begins her rookie year.

"I think I've come to that realization that I've been extremely blessed and fortunate to be in great situations in high school and in college," Bueckers said during Wings media day. "It's different in the W. You don't see teams going undefeated, you don't see a lot of single-loss seasons, which is something that the teams I've been playing on have not been accustomed to, so it's definitely going to be an adjustment."

UConn women's basketball has had six undefeated seasons, something that has never happened in the WNBA. The best season for any WNBA franchise was the Las Vegas Aces registering a 34-6 record in 2023.

Paige Bueckers makes WNBA preseason debut with Wings: Takeaways from No. 1 pick's first professional game
Jack Maloney
Paige Bueckers makes WNBA preseason debut with Wings: Takeaways from No. 1 pick's first professional game

Bueckers is also joining a team that has been struggling. The Wings finished 2024 with a 9-31 record. In comparison, the Huskies have not lost more than eight games since 1992-93. 

"You never want to get used to losing," Bueckers said. "But you want to get used to learning from games, learning from lessons and moving forward and taking whatever you learned from the last game, the last practice the last whatever to continue to make you better for the future."

There will be many adjustments she has to make as she begins her WNBA journey, but Bueckers has received advice that can help her enter the season with the right mentality. 

"I've talked to coach about it, both coaches. My old coach (Geno Auriemma) and my new coach (Chris Koclanes)," Bueckers said. "I have a sports psychologist that I work with that just helps you stayed focused and in the present. Not focused on the win and loss column, but focusing on how you can get better very single day. Just keeping that in the forefront and learning from things and trying to get better from that."