WATCH: UConn star Paige Bueckers gets showered with love by a flock of fans during an event at a gym

Ever since she was captured excitedly supporting her UConn teammates at the WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers has become one of the country's most popular college athletes. The energetic guard has been having the time of her life during the offseason and has documented it all on Instagram.

Bueckers posted a video on Instagram of fans mobbing her and excitedly scrambling to take pictures with her when she visited a basketball gym, with organizers forced to create a line of people wanting to take pictures with her.

Paige Bueckers has a surge in popularity

Paige Bueckers was labeled "a mother hen" for her support of her friends during the WNBA draft, and ever since then, her popularity which was always high, leaped to previously unknown heights.

Bueckers has since uploaded videos of herself dancing, professing her affection for her friends and attending NBA games, bringing her much closer to the fans in a way that was not possible during her long injury layoffs in previous years.

The first time that she became an internet sensation was in 2021 during her freshman year when she swept all the individual accolades, including the much-coveted Naismith Player of the Year Award.

After winning the ESPY for Best Women's College Athlete, she gave a remarkable speech against racism and as a champion for Black student-athletes which won her a lot of admiration.

“I want to shed a light on Black women. They don’t get the media coverage they deserve," Bueckers said. "They’ve given so much to this sport, the community, and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable.”

Paige Bueckers recently graduated with a degree in human development and family sciences, and she had a cumulative GPA of 3.497, earning the 2024 Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

During her graduation ceremony, which she attended alongside her close friends Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl, Bueckers delighted the crowd and fans on social media when she did the Griddy dance when her name was called out.

This has been Bueckers' year, and her popularity levels have risen as fans of other sports take note of the UConn star.

After opting to return to college basketball, analysts are projecting Paige Bueckers as one of the front-runners for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, and fans are rooting for her to fulfill that destiny.