#Jalen Suggs, Paige Bueckers on verge of NCAA Tournament titles

This was after the West Region final, after Jalen Suggs had nearly posted a triple-double, beating USC every possible way in a performance that screamed out top-three draft pick.

The cut-down net hanging around his neck, Suggs was asked about the women’s NCAA Tournament, and in particular Paige Bueckers, UConn’s dynamite freshman.

His face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“She said some things that really helped me,” Gonzaga’s impressive freshman lead guard said. “It got me going. … She’s the GOAT for a reason.”

Bueckers has made similar comments about Suggs, her close friend and fellow Minnesotan. Together, the two ultra-talented, 19-year-old guards from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area are taking over college basketball, leading their respective teams into the Final Four and doing their best to stay connected from a distance.

The 6-foot-4 Suggs and overall top seed Gonzaga enter the men’s Final Four undefeated, looking to become the first team since Indiana in 1975-76 to finish off the year without a single loss. Bueckers, the first women’s player to be named the Associated Press Player of the Year as a freshman, has led No. 1 UConn to within two wins of a 12th national championship.

The 5-foot-11 Bueckers, known for her ball-handling wizardry and lights-out jumper, keyed the one-loss Huskies’ rally from 10 down in the Elite Eight against No. 2 Baylor, scoring 28 points and hitting three 3-pointers.

Their relationship traces back to the fifth grade, when a close friend of Bueckers’ was on the same team as Suggs. She would tag along and mimic the drills the team would be doing on the sideline, sometimes even joining them. They played on a few teams together and a friendship sprouted between two elite like-minded athletes.

“Almost like cousins, or sister-brother,” is how Tara Starks, Bueckers’ longtime AAU coach who knows Suggs and his family well, described their relationship.

In the eighth grade, they both played varsity. They developed into heralded five-star high school prospects, each winning state championships in 2019, Suggs with Minnehaha Academy and Bueckers with Hopkins High School. They both played for USA Basketball, winning a combined seven gold medals, and were the Minnesota Gatorade players of the year as seniors. For Bueckers, it was her third such award in a row. Suggs won it in both football and basketball.

“They’ve always challenged each other,” Starks said. “Paige does something, she’ll call Jalen and say you have to do it now. Jalen does something, he’ll text or call Paige and tell her you have to do this now. The fact that they both have had success, they can kind of feed off of each other, as well as challenge each other, ‘Hey, I did it, now it’s your turn.’

“That kind of helped them get through all the media and all the talk, having somebody who’s going through the same stuff you’re going through.”

They became integral parts of each other’s life. They still work out with each other when they are home, competing in friendly shooting competitions. Bueckers is so close to the Suggs family, she doesn’t have to ring the doorbell.

“Those friends don’t knock on the door,” said Suggs’ father, Larry. “They just come in.”

Attending colleges in different parts of the country hasn’t changed their relationship. They remain close, helping one another particularly in tough times, rare for them on the court, offering encouragement after bad performances or constructive criticism after good ones. They share text messages after every game. During UConn’s Elite Eight win, Suggs was locked in, pacing as he watched the nail-biter.

“I couldn’t sit down,” he said.

Afterwards, they spoke, and the next night Suggs turned in his best game of the tournament.

“It helps to have that person to lean on, knowing he goes through the same things I do,” Bueckers told ESPN. “He’s my biggest fan, and I’m his biggest fan.”

Their future is incredibly bright. Suggs is a likely top-three pick, and could be in the mix to be No. 1. Bueckers will have to wait a little longer. She won’t be eligible for the WNBA draft until 2023 at the earliest, because there are different eligibility rules for the women.

Both, however, could be the first player taken in their respective sports.

“We joke and we laugh about that,” Larry Suggs said. “We’re like, ‘Jalen, you might have the harder one. Paige, you’re probably a lock.’ ”