New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
A friendly reunion
Bueckers, Fudd settling in together at UConn
STORRS — Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd were standing side by side outside the Werth Champions Center when the question was asked by a reporter.
What do you like about each other?
Bueckers responded first: “She cooks good breakfast, like smoothies and eggs or stuff.”
After nodding her head in agreement, it was Fudd’s turn to volunteer something about Bueckers.
“Umm,” Fudd said, nervously twisting a cap on her water bottle. “We’re going to have to come back to that question. What do I like about you off the court? I’m drawing a blank.”
Bueckers certainly needed no introduction to Fudd when she arrived in Storrs earlier this summer. Few know UConn’s newest prized freshman better.
“For her to finally be here and for the process of recruiting her to be over, we’re just enjoying going to school together and playing together,” Bueckers said. “It’s fun.”
Bueckers’ friendship with Fudd goes back to their high-school days. They first met at a USA Basketball camp, where
both were trying out for the same position. At the time, Fudd didn’t think Bueckers stood much of a threat.
“I kind of just stereotyped her. I was like, ‘This skinny little white girl, I’m good,’ ” Fudd remembers thinking. “But she’s deceiving.”
Fudd changed her mind after watching Bueckers score with ease on five or six straight possessions during practice.
“We both made the team, and I realized that she’s actually one of the best players I’ve ever seen play,” Fudd said.
“I don’t really look like a basketball player as much as I am,” Bueckers said smiling. “She definitely underestimated me. I knew what she was. She was a bucket. But I guess it took a while for her to understand what I was.”
Bueckers is a natural playmaker, a silky-smooth point guard who defied expectations by becoming the first freshman to win national player of the year. Turns out, she’s also an avid recruiter, a big reason why Fudd, a lights-out shooting guard from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., spurned interest from practically every other major program in the country to come to UConn.
Before committing last November, Fudd received a recruiting video from Bueckers. It was basically a compilation of Bueckers’ finest passes.
“I’m not going to pass it now that I’ve got her,” Bueckers joked. “If I’m open and she’s open, I’ll probably take a shot.”
Like Bueckers, Fudd arrived at UConn as a heralded recruit, No. 1 in her class, the national high school player of the year, a generational talent whose game has been compared to Huskies legend Maya Moore.
They like having each other around.
“She helps calm my nerves,” Fudd said. “At the same time, I don’t understand her. She’s a different breed.”
“She’s a hard head,” Bueckers joked. “She doesn’t like listening to me sometimes. But I try to help her as much as I can. Right now, I’m trying to get her to be more confident and not second-guess everything she does because she’s a really great player.”
According to Fudd, Bueckers doesn’t get nervous.
“We’re similar, but at the same time very different,” Fudd said. “I’m quieter, she’s louder, but we have a lot of the same qualities: our work ethic, our goals.”
Bueckers, who is recovering from offseason ankle surgery, is anxious to join Fudd on the court. To this point, Bueckers has been limited to shooting drills and jogging in the pool. She’s on track to be cleared when the preseason gets underway in September.
“My favorite thing to do is play basketball. Having to sit and watch is hard,” Bueckers said. “But, I mean, getting to watch (my teammates) is really fun, to see them go at it each and every day over the summer session.”
Bueckers promises to beat Fudd in one-on-one when she’s back. H-O-RS-E, too.
“Everything, every game,” Bueckers insisted. “I’ll beat her.”
“I have nothing to say,” responded Fudd, rolling her eyes. “You can’t argue with her like this.”
Both are competitive, especially when playing against each other, a characteristic they say will benefit the Huskies when season tips off in November.
“We both hate losing,” Bueckers said. “I think we both hate losing to each other more than anything. We both want to win, we both want to make each other better. I think that works on and off the court as well. We’re just here to make each other better.”
Bueckers’ goal, of course, is to win a national championship. The Huskies came up a few steps short last season, losing to Arizona 69-59 in the national semifinals.
With every key rotation player back, plus the additions of Ohio State graduate transfer Dorka Juhasz and a celebrated freshman class of Fudd, Caroline Ducharme, and Amari DeBerry, the Huskies figure to be on the shortlist of contenders to cut down the nets in Bueckers’ backyard of Minneapolis in April.
“That’s something I didn’t get to do my freshman year,” Bueckers said. “It’s something I’m going to be hungry for. That’s really my main focus right now.”
Fudd should undoubtedly help once she gets settled in. That in itself isn’t easy.
“It’s just such a different environment,” she said. “Our team is so skilled and competitive that our practices and our workouts, everything we do together, it’s so high level, high energy that you’re not allowed to fall behind. No one will let you. The upperclassmen, everyone just keeps you accountable. There’s no falling behind.”