So of course, let’s discuss a potentially transcendent figure in college hoops.
Azzi Fudd from northern Virginia was the No. 1-ranked recruit in the 2021 class and by many accounts the most intriguing prospect in years. She’s a 5-11 guard with professional level 3-point shooting range and uncommon maturity and grace.
Fudd is a freshman at UConn, and her potential already has drawn comparisons to Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore.
Fudd won a 3-point shooting contest at Steph Curry’s camp at age 15, guys included, and she’s played for three FIBA World Championship youth teams. Curry told ESPN last year that she possesses as pure a jump shot as he’s ever seen and said that if you were teaching someone to shoot, you’d show them Ray Allen, Klay Thompson and Azzi Fudd.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma has tried to temper expectations surrounding Fudd, but said in the Hartford Courant that her footwork is that of someone preparing to be a pro. He said that her consistency is amazing and given her footwork and form, it appears that every shot she shoots is going in. She appears to have recovered completely from a severe knee injury she suffered in April 2019, when she tore both her anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments.
Fudd’s name might be familiar to some in the audience. Her mother, Katie Smrcka-Duffy, was a college hoops standout and professional player whose career was scuttled by injuries. She named her daughter after Jennifer Azzi, the former college and pro star who she admired. Her stepfather is Tim Fudd, the former American U. standout who played in the early ‘90s and was part of an inexplicably one-sided conference rivalry.
American and William and Mary were often within a spot or two of each other in the standings when both competed in the CAA, yet in a 15-year span AU won 26 of 31 games in the series (I believe that Nathan Smith still pisses off the site’s Pocket Pasha). [Fuckin' A right, Dave. Still not over the 2008 CAA Tournament.]
UConn figures to have a pretty fair backcourt with Fudd and Paige Bueckers, who as a freshman last season won Wooden and Naismith awards as national Player of the Year. They’ve known each other for years through AAU and national team play and were friends before Fudd decided to join the Huskies.
No telling if Fudd can help UConn win national championships again. The Huskies’ last natty was 2016, the longest drought since their first of 11 titles in 1995 – if you can call regular Final Four appearances, a national presence, and a slew of All-Americans a “drought.” Regardless, she and they will be worth a look. For the next four years.
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