Azzi Fudd is sweeping all the awards, and this time around, the UConn star has found herself named the 2025-26 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The award comes with a $2,000 scholarship for her graduate studies.

Fudd is currently pursuing a master’s in business administration after graduating with her bachelor’s degree in communication last year in May 2024. Despite her grueling routine on the court that involves strenuous training and game preparation, she has not allowed her GPA to be affected, boasting a 3.570 average.

Azzi Fudd is also an eight-time Director of Athletics’ Honor Roll pick. Her tremendous growth with the Huskies was highlighted by last year’s NCAA championship win. She and the Huskies will look to add another championship trophy this season before her college career concludes. She is widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, and that means this will be her last season to capitalize on another major title win.

The BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2025-26 academic year. Furthermore, 22 student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 11 member institutions) get postgraduate scholarships, which makes them eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

So what more can you possibly ask for? Stellar performances on the court, an undefeated season, and now a scholarship to boot, Fudd is definitely not ‘Fudding Around’ by any means as UConn looks to defend its title, but coach Geno Auriemma is already administering caution as he believes the road in March won’t be easy to navigate.

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Geno Auriemma Believes March Will Come With Its Own Challenges

UConn has flowed like a breeze through the 2025-2026 NCAA season. The team has been so dominant that they are on a 47-game win streak. Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd lead the defending national champions. Strong is a frontrunner for National Player of the Year, while Fudd is the expected top pick in April’s WNBA Draft.

Yet Auriemma is wary about what’s about to come in March. Every team will look to set its sights on them, and they are also missing one of their big superstars in Paige Bueckers.

“When the NCAA Tournament begins, it certainly is not going to be as easy as we experienced it last season. I think somebody like Paige can do that. But we have enough good players to have as good a chance as anybody else out there to win a national championship. But again, like everyone else that’s going to be playing in that tournament, you have to play your best at the absolute time when you need to be at your best.”

Cautious Auriemma knows the road that lies ahead is full of threats, and that is what is making him anxious. The record is surely on UConn’s side as they haven’t lost a tournament game since 2013, including its current run in the Big East and its seven seasons in the American Athletic Conference. Thus, a chance to win their 13th conference championship beckons Azzi Fudd and her troop.

Geno knows that he has a very capable team, but they are still without their diamond in “Paige Bueckers,” who was simply extraordinary in whatever she did.

Bueckers scored 105 points between the second round and the Elite Eight and will be cheering her former team from the sidelines. Losing one of the top 5 players in the WNBA has its repercussions, and Geno understands its effects.

“We have a few more players that we can trust and put on the court. And that’s why I said I think we’re different and we have a different way of playing. We have different options. But, you know, none of those guys that I bring off the bench are Paige,” laments Auriemma.

The Huskies now will have a point to prove, it seems, showing the coach that even without Paige, they are strong and can win trophies. Azzi certainly wouldn’t want anything less than a trophy in her final year. So it’s a game-on situation at this point. The coach has probably lit a fire under their belly now, comparing them with Paige, and whether the team will crumble under pressure or rise to the occasion is what will ultimately shape how their season ends.