Paige Bueckers — UConn basketball's next big star — is the 2020 Gatorade Athlete of the Year

• Paige Bueckers is the 2020 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.
• The superstar UConn recruit — who has more than half a million Instagram followers — is one of the most hyped prospects in recent history and is primed to become Geno Auriemma's next star for the Huskies.
• After winning the most prestigious award in high school sports, the 6-foot point guard spoke with Insider about her UConn aspirations, her basketball role models, and the award reveal featuring Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, and Sue Bird.

Paige Bueckers has accumulated nearly every basketball accolade available to a player her age.

And now, she is officially the recipient of the most prestigious honor in all of high school sports.

The 6-foot point guard is this year's Female Gatorade Athlete of the Year, a title awarded to the most outstanding high school student-athlete in the country. The UConn Huskies commit — who is the most hyped recruit in recent history — averaged 21.4 points, 9.4 assists, 5.4 steals, and 5.0 rebounds per game during her undefeated senior season at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She was previously named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year back in March.

"It hasn't fully sunken in," Bueckers told Insider. "But going through this experience and being named not only the Gatorade National Player of the Year for basketball but just the female athlete of the year in general, it means so much to me because it's the most prestigious individual accolade you can receive in all of high school."

As Bueckers herself noted, Gatorade recognizes not only the remarkable athletic achievement but also excellence in academics and character in choosing the recipient of its Athlete of the Year award. And though the top-ranked recruit in the class of 2020 undoubtedly garners most of her publicity thanks to her next-level game, her "Buckets With Bueckers" youth basketball clinics that raise money for local charities — combined with her 3.8 GPA — paint a picture of an exceptional woman on and off the court.

"Of all the female athletes across all sports across the whole country, they picked me," Bueckers told Insider. "It's amazing ... I am extremely proud of who I am off the court and the person that I've become. This award, it means everything."

The way Bueckers learned that she was selected for the distinction may have been just as special as the honor itself. Gatorade typically reveals the winners of the award in person with a special ceremony. But with the coronavirus pandemic keeping people at a distance, the winners learned they received the award in a surprise congratulations video featuring a number of professional athletes.

"I was completely surprised," Bueckers said. "I had no idea."

The star-studded cast featured in Buecker's reveal included WNBA superstars Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Griner, and Elena Delle Donne and Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns. Seattle Storm point guard and UConn great Sue Bird also got in on the surprise.

"Listen, these are obviously really unique times," Bird told Insider. "Sadly, you can't do the things that you'd love to do in-person so you have to do them virtually."

"It was really fun to be a part of it," she added. "I think any time you're presenting or helping present such a prestigious award, you're just honored to be there. Obviously this award is just that."

Bird is widely considered a legend of the game after having won three WNBA championships, five EuroLeague championships, two NCAA championships, and four Olympic gold medals over the course of her illustrious career. A point guard herself, Bird is the WNBA's all-time assists leader and has been named a WNBA All-Star 11 times.

It's no wonder she's been a role model that Bueckers has tried to emulate throughout her young career.

"I've always looked up to Sue and her game," Bueckers said. "For her to acknowledge me and know me and just to appreciate me, just being an 18-year-old kid, it means a whole lot. I want to be in her shoes and I want to do the stuff that she's done.

"For her to give credit to a player like me is just crazy," the superstar UConn recruit added.

As she reaches the twilight of her career, Bird has given considerable thought to the league she'll leave behind and the young stars to whom she'll pass off the torch. To no one's surprise, Bueckers made the shortlist.

"When you watch Paige play, the first thing is that Paige just has a flair for the game and a swag to her," Bird said. She can impact in so many different ways at that point guard spot."

"If Sabrina [Ionescu] and Paige are the ones to take the reins, the game's going to be in great hands and my work here is done," Bird added.

• Read more:
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• The Washington Mystics stepped up and will pay Elena Delle Donne's WNBA salary even if she opts out of 2020 season over coronavirus concerns
• Viral video of college softball recruit's batting practice is better than anything MLB has produced this year
• We spoke to USWNT star Kelley O'Hara about interviewing iconic female athletes for her new podcast with Just Women's Sports