Lisa Bluder piles praise on what Paige Bueckers brings to the floor

Paige Bueckers is as much of a star as any other woman in the sport or in this Final Four. Lisa Bluder knows it too as she and Iowa prepare for her and the Huskies in Cleveland tonight.

Bluder spoke about Bueckers’ talent and feel for the game ahead of the Hawkeyes’ matchup with UConn on Friday. She noted all that she brings to the court in several different aspects that makes her highly effective on both ends of the ball.

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“(Paige) is such a great point guard,” Bluder said. “She plays so hard defensively and I think she’ll be guarding Caitlin (Clark). She uses her size. Such a smart basketball player. It does kind of relieve Paige of some of those duties, in my estimation. It’s like she doesn’t really have to force things or create things. She kind of is doing what is there and available for her.”

To Bluder, Bueckers’ role actually reminds her of one that another girl plays on her own team

“I think Gabbie Marshall does that for us,” said Bluder. “Plays extremely hard defensively. Doesn’t have to make points to be validated but we’ll take them if they’re there.”

Bueckers is one of the best guards and best players in the nation as the next up at Connecticut. She’s having a career-best year after her season ended early a year ago due to injury. Now, she has returned better than ever at 22 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.4 blocks. She’s doing so while shooting 53.4% from the field and 41.8% from deep.

Those numbers have improved even more over the course of this NCAA Tournament. Over the Huskies’ four wins, Bueckers is posting 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists, 3.3 steals, and 1.5 blocks on a 51.1% field-goal percentage. She did that on essentially no rest in order to take UConn back to the Final Four for the first time since her freshman year.

Buecker is a do it all kind of girl out on the floor while leading UConn in points, steals, blocks, and three-point percentage, being seconds in assists, and securing the third-most rebounds. Now, Bluder and the Hawkeyes have it on them to slow her down somehow with only one spot in Sunday’s title game on the line.

Clark on UConn matchup in Final Four: ‘It’s not Paige versus Caitlin’

Two of the biggest stars in college basketball are squaring off on Friday with a spot in the national championship on the line.

Iowa‘s Caitlin Clark is going up against UConn‘s Paige Bueckers, a matchup you circle once the brackets are released. We saw the Hawkeyes face off against some brand names in the Elite Eight against LSU and, now, we get an encore of that in Cleveland.

However, Clark does not like how many are drumming the game up. As usual, she wants to involve her teammates and make sure they get some credit as well. Clark understands four other players on the court will be helping her trying to get a victory.

“It’s not Paige versus Caitlin and it takes the entire team to win a basketball game,” Clark said. “Both of us are going to do everything we can.”

Lisa Bluder had similar thoughts when speaking on the subject. While those two stars are going to gain most of the headlines, Iowa and UConn are the ones on the court, not just Clark and Bueckers.

“I do not want this to be a game that’s promoted as Caitlin versus Paige,” Bluder said. “It already has been but I don’t want that. I want it to be Iowa versus UConn and let these two women do what they do best.”

Clark went on to talk about the respect she has for Bueckers and the journey she has been through in college.

“I really honestly couldn’t be happier for her for the year she’s had and the way she’s led this team back to the Final Four when they’ve dealt a tough hand as a program,” Clark said. “They never made excuses. To me, I think that’s something, you know, you just really admire as a competitor more than anything. So I think it’s really cool.”