The Huskies guard will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn ACL and a medial meniscal tear in her right knee.
Connecticut guard Azzi Fudd will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season after she suffered an ACL tear and a medial meniscal tear in her right knee, the school announced on Wednesday.
The junior suffered the injury in a practice session on November 14. She will undergo season-ending surgery to repair the damage.
“We’re all just so upset for Azzi,” head coach Geno Auriemma said in a statement. “She worked so hard to be healthy for this season, and it’s unfortunate when you put in a lot of hard work and suffer a setback like this.”
This is Fudd’s third major injury in three years with the Huskies. She only played 25 games as a freshman after dealing with a foot injury, and she played 15 games as a sophomore after knee injuries again sidelined her.
“Azzi loves the game and works tirelessly,” Auriemma said. “I’m confident she’ll rehab with the same work ethic and come back better than ever.”
On Wednesday, women’s college basketball fans were stunned to learn that Uconn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd will miss the remainder of the 2023-2024 season.
Fudd hoped to return to the Huskies this season after unfortunate injuries had stalled her playing career. She needed the time to get healthy and develop to make it to the WNBA after college. But, Fudd’s road back to total health will have to wait.
In a shocking turn of events, her lingering absence in recent days has now been explained. After only two games of playing time, she is out for the season with a brutal meniscus and ACL injury.
NEWS: Azzi Fudd will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
Breaking: UConn guard Azzi Fudd will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season after suffering medial meniscal tear and an anterior cruciate ligament tear in her right knee last week
“We’re all just so upset for Azzi. She worked hard to be healthy for this season, and it’s unfortunate when you put in a lot of hard work and have a setback like this. Azzi loves the game and works tirelessly. I’m confident she’ll rehab with the same work ethic and come back better than ever. We’ll obviously miss her presence on the court, but Azzi will continue to be a great teammate and important part of this team this season. Our program will support Azzi through her recovery however we can.”
Women’s college basketball fans couldn’t help but feel shock and sorrow over the news:
Azzi Fudd is clear about her priorities, and the WNBA will have to wait.
The Uconn Huskies guard is talented but has battled several injuries. A lingering foot issue kept her out of 11 games during her first year. Then, some awful knee injuries stopped Fudd from appearing in 22 games during her sophomore season.
In a recently posted clip, WNBA star turned ESPN basketball analyst and reporter Rebecca Lobo recently asked Fudd about her plans at the end of the upcoming 2023-2024 season.
“I plan on staying,” Fudd said calmly and confidently. “Why would I want to leave the basketball capital of the world?”
Despite being eligible to join the WNBA once she turns 22, Fudd plans to return to UConn. The move makes sense, given that she would have time to work on staying healthy and developing her game. Fudd would also likely be a top pick in 2025 and has several NIL deals that she can continue to utilize in the interim.
Also, with five Final Four appearances since 2017, there’s a chance Fudd could add hardware to her trophy case before joining the WNBA.
Azzi Fudd is clear about her priorities, and the WNBA will have to wait.
The Uconn Huskies guard is talented but has battled several injuries. A lingering foot issue kept her out of 11 games during her first year. Then, some awful knee injuries stopped Fudd from appearing in 22 games during her sophomore season.
In a recently posted clip, WNBA star turned ESPN basketball analyst and reporter Rebecca Lobo recently asked Fudd about her plans at the end of the upcoming 2023-2024 season.
“I plan on staying,” Fudd said calmly and confidently. “Why would I want to leave the basketball capital of the world?”
Despite being eligible to join the WNBA once she turns 22, Fudd plans to return to UConn. The move makes sense, given that she would have time to work on staying healthy and developing her game. Fudd would also likely be a top pick in 2025 and has several NIL deals that she can continue to utilize in the interim.
Also, with five Final Four appearances since 2017, there’s a chance Fudd could add hardware to her trophy case before joining the WNBA.
In 2019, it was an incredible streak from Sabrina Ionescu that powered Oregon to the Final Four. Last season, strong play from the duo of Emily Engstler and Hailey Van Lith lifted Louisville there. And South Carolina and UConn don’t meet for last year’s title without the awesome play of Aliyah Boston and Paige Bueckers.
More unfortunate injury news this season for Azzi Fudd.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: injuries are the absolute worst!
After missing over a month of basketball following a knee injury suffered against Notre Dame in early December, UConn’s sophomore guard Azzi Fudd made her return to the court on January 11 against St. John’s. Less than a week later, Fudd re-injured the same knee against Georgetown, forcing her back to the sideline again, where she is reportedly going to stay for an indefinite amount of time.
In basketball, and sports in general, there’s always a risk of injury — mostly everyone is well aware of that fact, especially players and members of programs. But I can’t imagine that understanding that possibility makes reality any easier to deal with.
NEWS: Azzi Fudd reinjured her right knee in the Huskies’ game vs. Georgetown on Jan. 15. No timeline will be released for Fudd’s return to play. pic.twitter.com/av5RHRV0bn
For UConn’s women’s basketball program, the ramifications of the injuries are obvious — the team takes a significant blow without its two best players Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers (Torn ACL) on the court, which was also the case last year when the two dealt with injuries.
But schools can always reset and bring in a new crop of players when the time comes. On the other hand, the players are the ones whose careers are altered by the setbacks. They must reshape and rehab mentally and physically to return to their peak levels. Whether they can or not isn’t the question, but the process that goes into it really makes you feel for these young athletes.
Nevertheless, it’s a waiting game now for Fudd and the Huskies women’s basketball team. They’ll have to operate without her for the time being in a tough Big East conference. Could Fudd return in time for an end-of-season push? Will she return at all? Time will tell.
UConn has +600 national championship odds at DraftKings Sportsbook.
The 2022-23 women’s college basketball season has yet to complete its first full month of play and the sport has already received its first tough break of the year.
For the second season in a row, one of the nation’s top players will be sidelined for quite a bit of time. And for the second straight season, that player is a UConn Husky.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Huskies women’s basketball program announced that standout sophomore guard Azzi Fudd is expected to miss three-to-six weeks after sustaining a right knee injury in a game against Notre Dame over the past weekend.
BREAKING: UConn sophomore guard Azzi Fudd is expected to miss 3-6 weeks with a right knee injury, the team announced Tuesday. Fudd suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to Notre Dame.
Unfortunately for Fudd, who was averaging 24.0 points per game before Sunday’s showdown with the Fighting Irish (which she exited in the first half), the recent injury is just the latest of her early career. Last season as a freshman, she missed around two months with a foot injury sustained just before Thanksgiving, which kept her out until the thick of conference play.
As Fudd recovers and rehabilitates the right knee, she’ll join another injured star Husky on the sidelines. Junior guard Paige Bueckers also missed a chunk of her sophomore season before suffering a torn left ACL this past offseason to put her 2022-23 season completely out of the question.
UConn, now 6-1 and out of the Top 5, will have to stem the tide while Fudd is out of the lineup. Head coach Geno Auriemma’s squad did just that a season ago while Bueckers rehabilitated, and then went on to march to the 2022 national championship game, where they finished as the runner-up.
Can they draw from prior experiences?
The Huskies have +7000 national championship odds at DraftKings Sportsbook.
The future of Notre Dame got some exposure during Final Four week.
Both Notre Dame and South Bend were represented in this year’s American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships. Specifically, Riley product and Irish commit Blake Wesley was on hand for the competition ahead of the Final Four in Indianapolis. The contest was held Tuesday, but the broadcast was delayed until Sunday on CBS.
Wesley’s first appearance in the competition came in the IHOP Team Shootout, which teamed him with Auburn commit Jabari Smith and UConn commit Azzi Fudd. His team went first, and it took 48 seconds for the group to complete the sequence, which bore a resemblance to the Shooting Stars competition that once took place at NBA All-Star Weekend. The second team failed to make the final half-court shot in 48 seconds, so Wesley’s team was declared the winner. His prize was a trophy shaped like a stack of pancakes, one of the coolest things you’ll ever see:
Wesley also took part in the dunk contest, but he did not fare nearly as well. Scoring a 22 out of a possible 30 on his first dunk of the first round already put him in a hole. He sealed his fate when he failed to complete his second dunk of the round in the allotted 30 seconds, giving him a 15 on the attempt and a 37 overall. Kansas commit KJ Adams ultimately won the title.
The top-ranked recruit in the class of 2021 has been named this year’s Morgan Wootten Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year.
Azzi Fudd, the top-ranked girls basketball recruit in the class of 2021, has been named the 2021 Morgan Wootten Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year.
The award is given to a high school girls basketball player who demonstrates outstanding character, exhibits leadership and embodies the values of being a student-athlete through schoolwork and community affairs.
Fudd, who is committed to the University of Connecticut, plays her high school basketball at St. John’s College High School, where she has developed into “the best women’s basketball prospect the game has seen in decades,” according to ESPN. Fudd returned from a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee to average 19.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and two assists per game for St. John’s College in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to the season.
In 2019, Fudd was named Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year after leading St. John’s College to a 35-1 record and District of Columbia State Athletic Association tournament championship with 26.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She was the first sophomore to ever win the award. Prior to her sophomore season, Fudd became one of the first girls to ever attend the SC30 Select Camp, an elite offseason program orchestrated by two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
St. John’s College did not play a 2020-21 girls high school basketball season because of the ongoing pandemic. However, the team has played some unofficial exhibition games as the D.C. Cadets, which Fudd advocated for as the school’s student body vice president at the time of the pandemic.
The Morgan Wootten Award is named after the legendary DeMatha Catholic (Md.) coach, who went 1274-192 and won multiple national championships in his storied career. Previous winners of the Wootten Award include Candace Parker, Maya Moore, Elena Della Donne and Breanna Stewart. UConn star Paige Beuckers won the award in 2020.
While the 2021 Class of All Americans won’t take the court this year, you can see Fudd be honored during the McDonald’s All American Games hour-long Special on ABC on Saturday, April 3 at 2 p.m. ET.
Five-star high school basketball players like Azzi Fudd and Sharife Cooper give thanks for skills.
In observance of Thanksgiving, we caught up with a handful of elite high school athletes to find out what they’re most thankful for.
No, we’re not talking about health, family or any of the typical responses you hear around the table; instead we had them reveal which skill they’re most thankful to have in their arsenal.
St. John’s College High School (Washington, D.C.), SG, 2021
College: Uncommitted
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is… “The in-and-out crossover dribble and the pull-up jumper. That’s my go-to move and everyone’s always like, ‘That’s all she does,’ but no one can stop it. That move has gotten me to where I’m at, so I love it.”
Hunter Dickinson
DeMatha Catholic High School (Hyattsville, Maryland), C, 2020
College: Uncommitted
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is… “My left-hand hook shot. That’s my go-to if I need a bucket.”
DJ Steward (Photo: Jon Lopez)
D.J. Steward
Whitney Young High School (Chicago), PG, 2020
College: Duke
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is… “My ‘heart-over-height’ mentality and not caring about who’s in front of me. It helps me to just go out there and have fun.”
Henry Coleman
Virginia Episcopal High School (Richmond, Virginia), F, 2020
College: Duke
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is… “Just being amiable and being able to be friends and a great teammate. This skill allows me to be a great leader on and off of the floor.”
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is…“Being able to shoot the way I do. When you can shoot, it opens everything else up.”
Sharife Cooper
McEachern High School (Powder Springs, Georgia), PG, 2020
College: Auburn
The one skill/move I’m most thankful to have in my repertoire is…“My ability to make my team better and my ability to switch speeds. Making my team better with little things like pass aheads, knowing people’s spots, lobs… Those sorts of things and switching speeds because it’s harder for my defender to stay in front of me.”
