When Paige Bueckers made her WNBA debut, she was already a household name thanks to her standout run at UConn. What truly elevated her profile, though, was winning a national championship – an achievement that, for all her college brilliance, Caitlin Clark never managed. Now, since being taken as the No. 1 overall pick, PB has been checking every box, averaging an impressive 18.4 points per game and living up to the hype. So it’s no surprise she secured a starting spot in the All-Star voting. But even with a glowing résumé and a spot on the ballot, she’s still trailing behind CC, just slightly.
It all comes up with the announcement of the winner for the 2025 Collegiate Women’s Sports Honda Cup. For nearly half a century, the Honda Sport Award has been the gold standard for recognizing top-tier female athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. Each winner is crowned “the best of the best” and automatically advances as a finalist for the big one. And when it came to predicting this year’s winner, Paige Bueckers’ name was hardly a surprise. And why not? She didn’t just help steer UConn to its 12th national championship; she left her name all over the record books while doing it. With 2,439 career points, she ranks third in UConn history, boasts the highest scoring average in program history at 19.9 PPG, and now holds the school record for most NCAA tournament points with 477.
Even when it comes to honors, she’s not behind, having been named National Player of the Year twice, first in 2021 and again in 2025. She’s also the 2025 Wade Trophy recipient, making her the nation’s top upperclass player. And those are just a few of the records she holds. So now you can easily predict how she’s better than most players at the collegiate level. Yet, while she was among the nominees, she wasn’t the winner of the award as Gretchen Walsh took the title.
May 19, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) and guard DiJonai Carrington (21) run back up the court during the second half against the Seattle Storm at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
But of course, Walsh deserved it, too. Just consider: she’s a 25-time NCAA champion over four seasons, with 9 individual and 16 relay titles. She’s even set NCAA, American, and U.S. Open records in the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly categories in swimming. And yes, there’s more. She broke 11 world records (9 individual, 2 relay) at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, also earned Best Female Swimmer honors, and set long-course world records in the 100 Butterfly (55.18) while contributing to 4×100 Medley Relay records at the 2024 U.S. Trials.
Well, with the award, Walsh joined basketball star Dawn Staley, who won the Honda Cup in 1991 as the second student athlete to attain the title from Virginia. So, you know the kind of phenom Walsh is and how she’s outshone Paige, at least in terms of awards.
But while Paige lost the overall award to the Swimming star, the former Huskies star ensured to top the basketball list as she capped off her storied UConn career by winning the 2025 Honda Sport Award for basketball. Selected through a nationwide vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools, PB beat out elite finalists Madison Booker (Texas), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), and JuJu Watkins (USC) to claim the honor.
So, you know why HC Geno Auriemma praised her for finishing her collegiate journey on the highest note: “Paige finished her UConn career as a national champion. Winning the Honda Award and being able to say she won every major national player of the year award in college is like the cherry on top.”
But here’s the thing – while Paige Bueckers came close, she couldn’t quite clinch the Honda Cup. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark didn’t just win it once; she pulled off a back-to-back sweep during her college career. For three straight years, basketball had a firm grip on the trophy. In 2022, it was Aliyah Boston, the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft. Then came Clark, also a top overall pick, who claimed the honor in both 2023 and 2024. So when Bueckers, also a No. 1 overall pick in the W, entered the picture, many assumed she’d keep that streak alive. But that’s not how the script played out.
Award or not, Paige Bueckers is still outshining the competition!
Sure, Paige Bueckers didn’t walk away with the 2025 Collegiate Women’s Sports Honda Cup – but that takes nothing away from her being named a 2025 WNBA All-Star starter. Because let’s be honest, she earned that spot, every bit of it. And in doing so, Bueckers made franchise history: she became the first rookie in Dallas Wings history to be named an All-Star starter. Not a bad way to kick off your pro career.
And it’s not just hype. Her numbers back it up. Paige currently ranks 11th in the league in scoring with 18.4 points per game and sixth in assists with 5.8 per game, leading all the rookies in both categories. Well, that’s not just impressive but elite. So makes sense that Bueckers earned her place with the sixth-most fan votes overall and the second among guards alongside fellow backcourt starter Caitlin Clark, who was named team captain after pulling in a record-breaking 1,293,526 fan votes.
And with that, she becomes just the sixth No. 1 overall pick to start in the All-Star Game as a rookie, joining an iconic list alongside CC (2024), AB (2023), Maya Moore (2011), Sue Bird (2002), and Chamique Holdsclaw (1999). And while the media loves to pit her against Clark, Bueckers herself isn’t playing that game. As she calmly put it: “Running my own race… I don’t think me and Caitlin play at all alike… Those comparisons are just media-driven, narrative-driven.” And that says it all. From Paige’s perspective, this has never been about outshining CC but more about owning her own journey. So, whether she won the award or not? Doesn’t matter as she’s already showing why she belongs among the league’s best.
The post WNBA All-Star Nod Insufficient As Paige Bueckers Fails To Win Prestigious Award Caitlin Clark Received appeared first on EssentiallySports.
