How Fudd nearly joined UConn this season
Azzi Fudd was merely a spectator for last month’s Final Four in San Antonio. Still in high school, she took in UConn’s loss to Arizona from the seats at the Alamodome, unable to do much more than cheer on the Huskies.
But what if circumstances had been different? What if Fudd, a senior at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., and the consensus top prospect in 2021, was able to enroll at UConn this past winter and team up with her good friend Paige Bueckers a year early?
Turns out, she nearly did.
Fudd told Hearst Connecticut Media that if she had it her way, she would’ve taken advantage of the one-time loophole from the NCAA allowing high school seniors an opportunity to compete during the 2020-21 season without burning a year of eligibility.
“I was really hopeful that I was going to get to do that, but my school said no,” she said, referring to her high school. “I was really bummed.”
Fudd’s father, Tim, said they challenged the school’s ruling around Christmas, expressing frustration during a Zoom meeting that no decision had been made regarding the upcoming basketball season.
“They explained the reason why they said no,” Tim said. “We kind of pushed back. Azzi wrote a letter to the board members that basically expressed she had given everything she could give to the school, and the school didn’t give everything they could give to her and she was ready to move on. At the time, we were not allowed to play basketball. There was no basketball season.”
Worried about the mental toll that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was having on his daughter, who had signed with UConn on her 18th birthday in November, Tim con
sidered transferring her to another school where she could follow through with her plan of graduating early.
“For us, it was just about making sure she would have access to a facility, a gym,” he said. “We had no access to anything. We were struggling with finding access, spending tons of money to get access to these private facilities so she would have some place to work out. That’s bestcase scenario, is let her go to (UConn) so she’d have access to the gym every day and work out and do the things she could do.
“I said something about her losing some spark, not necessarily physically but in general. As educators, we have to be more aware of that. These kids are not playing sports, they’re not getting the opportunity to do things they can do their senior year.”
They reached a compromise, allowing St. John’s College a three-week window for competition. But Fudd didn’t play much — the 5-foot-11 guard sprained her left foot in the school’s first official game in February.
Despite the shortened season, Fudd was named the Morgan Wootten High School Player of the Year.
“She didn’t really have closure to her AAU season and never really got off the ground to have a high school season this year,” Tim said. “We played a couple games and she sprained her foot in one of them. That’s life and that’s just how things go. I think she’s just excited to move on to the next phase.”
The injury prevented her from playing in the Who’s Nxt All-American Game in San Antonio during Final Four weekend. The roster included two future teammates: Amari DeBerry, a 6-5 forward who’s ranked No. 15 in her class by ESPN, and Caroline Ducharme, a 6-1 guard and the No. 5 recruit.
The other member of UConn’s 2021 class, Saylor Poffenbarger, was one of several players who did end up jumping to college a year early. While Poffenbarger, a 6-2 wing and the No. 30 prospect, averaged only 2.7 minutes in 12 games after arriving in January, she was able to practice with the team and learn from the coaches.
Fudd — billed by some as a better prospect than Bueckers — would’ve had the same opportunities and an even larger role.
“That advantage I would’ve had, the experience I would’ve gotten, here things were opening up, but they weren’t completely open,” Fudd said. “I would’ve had consistent basketball with the best team in the country. Moving up there would’ve been really good just to better myself whether if I played or I didn’t play. It would’ve given me an advantage.”
Fudd plans to participate in the USA Basketball U19 World Cup trials in Denver May 14-16 before heading to UConn Memorial Day weekend to train and attend summer classes. She’ll be back home June 4 for her high school graduation.
“It’s honestly crazy,” she said. “I can’t believe how soon I’m going to be leaving.”