She put in a lot of effort, working relentlessly to be ready for the 2023-24 season. However, the cards had a season-ending injury in store for Azzi Fudd. She sustained an injury during the practice session when she talked to Geno about having a funny feeling in her right knee as she walked out of the gym. Little did she know, it was something that would limit her to spectate her team from the sidelines for the rest of the season.

This past season, the Huskies and UConn’s head coach Geno Auriemma tread on valiantly with half of their roster out with season-ending injuries. Although they looked after the fort well, the exhaustion was visible in glimpses as they had to keep moving on. Paige Bueckers’ return was a blessing in disguise but her desire to play alongside her best friend, Fudd was thrown to the wind. These facts have been rippling on the surface since then, so, it is necessary to dive a little deeper.

When Azzi Fudd got stuck with an injury, again!

This past season would have been the UConn junior’s crowning glory with all those remarkable moves coming in handy at crucial plays. However, she could only two games into the season. In UConn’s season opener game against Dayton, Fudd scored 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, contributing to UConn’s 102-58 victory.

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The second game she played was against NC State, to which the Huskies bore a 92-81 loss, with Fudd scoring 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. It was just the next day after their first loss when Fudd tore her ACL along with a medial meniscal tear in her right knee altogether.

Everyone was devastated by the news, especially Geno, who had to contemplate the team’s way forward into the season without a bunch of players including the sharpshooter Fudd. Auriemma gave a compassionate press statement shortly after her injury saying, “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.”

One of the most anticipated partnerships of college women’s basketball has been that of Fudd and Bueckers. Both of them came to UConn, raising people’s hope of them playing together as a fiery duo, however, their injuries didn’t let the dream come to life.

It was a huge toll on the Huskies team with Aubrey Griffin, Qadence Samuels, Caroline Ducharme, Jana El Alfy, and Ice Brady facing injuries like a domino effect with Azzi Fudd being one of those tiles going down. As a result, it was too much to carry for Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards on their shoulders.

But this was not the first time that Fudd had suffered that excruciating pain. She experienced a similar injury during the FIBA U18 3×3 World Cup when she tore her ACL and MCL. At the time, her knee reconstruction turned out to be a tedious process including two separate surgeries the first one for MCL and the second one for the ACL with a duration of several weeks in between.

Then fast forward to 2022, when she was a UConn sophomore, she again suffered a knee injury in December when her teammate fell on her knee in a game against Notre Dame. Hopefully, the leave was short-lived. She returned to the court, after missing out on 8 games, in January. She played for 20 minutes and scored 15 points off the bench. However, she yet again injured her right knee just one game after her return at the time.

With the 2023-24 season gliding past, when can we see Fudd dribbling on the court?

Answering the anticipation

A few months into rehab, Azzi Fudd has started looking a bit sharp as she grooved to the music alongside Bueckers in Bueckers’ last week’s post on Instagram. This whiff led the fans to go crazy with some commenting, “AZZI CAME OUT OF RETIREMENT TODAY IS A GOOD DAY”  and “The comeback is on!!” A fan took the conversation to another level saying, “Now if you two could just stay healthy together for one season !!”

The next NCAA season is nowhere to be seen anytime soon, but could this be a glimpse of the two pumping up for D-day? There hasn’t been any official announcement made by Fudd or UConn, however, hopes are up as the fans await her to pounce alongside Bueckers beating the odds.