'It means everything to me': Hopkins star Paige Bueckers picked for McDonald's All-American Game
Hopkins star Paige Bueckers is the No. 1 girls basketball player in the country and will play in the McDonald's All-American Game in April.
MINNEAPOLIS - The talent for high school basketball in Minnesota has never been higher and deeper, and it’s never been more evident than how the state will be represented in April at the McDonald’s All-American Game in Houston, Texas.
For the first time ever, Minnesota will have three players in the showcase. That includes the No. 1 recruit in the country on the girls side, in Hopkins senior guard Paige Bueckers. She’ll be joined by Minnehaha Academy guard Jalen Suggs, and Prior Lake forward Dawson Garcia. The last time Minnesota had more than one player in the game was in 2014, when it was Tyus Jones of Apple Valley and Reid Travis of DeLaSalle.
Bueckers is the fifth Minnesota girl to be selected for the showcase, and the first since fellow Hopkins graduate Nia Coffey and Braham star Rebekah Dahlman in 2013. Her selection was a formality, being the top-ranked player in the country for 2020, but it remains a dream come true for the Hopkins senior.
“It means everything to me. I mean this is why I play, to just have fun experiences like this, fun opportunities and it’s stuff I dreamed about as a kid,” Bueckers said Tuesday. “To finally be able to be blessed enough to be named a McDonald’s All-American, it means everything.”
Bueckers was joined by her teammates, friends, coaches and family Tuesday at the McDonald’s in Minnetonka to celebrate the selection. She’s won every basketball award there is to win locally. She’s been on the Class 4A All-Tournament Team three out of the last four years, is a three-time Star Tribune All-Metro selection and will likely win her third straight Metro Player of the Year honor at the end of the season.
In four-plus seasons with the Royals, Bueckers has helped lead Hopkins to a 167-8 record. She averaged 24.4 points and 5.5 assists to lead the Royals last year to a 32-0 record and a state title. She started every game as a sophomore and averaged 22.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 4.1 steals per game as the Royals finished 24-3 and lost in the 2018 state title game.
Nationally, she was the MVP of the 2019 FIBA 19-and-under World Cup, was named the 2019 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year and has won four Gold medals at various levels in USA Basketball.
Hopkins coach Brian Cosgriff says her unselfish nature makes his job easy.
“She’s special and her best trait is she makes the players around her better. She loves to pass the basketball, she enjoys that the most and she loves being around her teammates,” Cosgriff said. “That’s a really special trait when you have somebody that is so good and really wants to share the basketball and share the spotlight with her classmates.”
When she’s not busy trying to break ankles, make jump shots or set up her teammates, Bueckers is also breaking barriers. She became the first female high school basketball player ever to be put on the cover of SLAM Magazine. It happened last month.
She was in shock both when she got the news, and when she saw it for the first time. In addition to her skills on the court, Bueckers has more than 300,000 Instagram followers.
“It’s surreal, I think I’m the first high school girl to ever be on the cover so I’m just super thankful that I could do that and I just want to keep playing the game and just making a name for women’s hoops. It just leaves me speechless,” Bueckers said.
More than anything, she values most her teammates, friends and relationships she’s built in her time at Hopkins. The Royals are undefeated, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and chasing yet another state championship. She just wants to keep playing, and winning.
She kept it simple when asked about her goals for the McDonald’s All-American Game.
“Just to have fun and compete and play hard, just enjoy the opportunity and experience. Whenever I play, I try to make my teammates better so that’s definitely a goal,” Bueckers said.
She’s headed to UConn next year to play for Geno Auriemma, a coaching legend in women’s college basketball. Cosgriff thinks she’ll very likely be the next Minnesota player in the WNBA.
“She’s the complete package. When you meet her, you understand how humble she is and how hungry she is, they’re getting a great player. You’re going to see her in the WNBA one day, I just really think she’s that special,” Cosgriff said.