Women’s basketball rising star Paige Bueckers has graced the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskie’s women’s basketball team with her duo with Azzi Fudd that lasted for an entire season. But since then, the two have not been on the court playing together. But UConn coach Geno Auriemma sparked excitement and hype anew with his recent statements, raising the hopes of a comeback for the duo as early as next year.
In a recent press conference, Coach Auriemma admitted that it has been a long time since Bueckers and Fudd teamed up in court. While they were together for non-basketball events, the two had yet to share a ball game for quite some time now.
“I’ve almost forgotten what that could look like, or should look like, or have an imagination of, ‘Wow, I’ve seen them at their best together,’ and I’m anxious to see that again,” Auriemma said of the duo. “It’s really an unknown at this point. I can only go by some of the things that I’ve seen I practice. I do know that having a much more aggressive Azzi would really help that combination work.”
Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd Duo: “Let’s Keep Our Fingers Crossed”
Opting to defer her entry to the WNBA, another year of Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd has captured the imagination of the UConn coaching staff thinking that they can do more in the upcoming NCAA season. Coach Geno Auriemma is very much excited to see both players grow together for another year together.
“I think we’ve seen a lot of one or the other, but we have only seen a glimpse of that combination together,” Auriemma said during the UConn Huskies press conference. “So I am anxious to see what that looks like. I’m sure they’ve had many talks about it and I’m sure they had a lot of talks about it before and it always fell apart. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that we get to see it.”
Among other reasons, injuries prevented Bueckers and Fudd from teaming up for a game. Paige had a meniscus tear and tibial plateau fracture in 2022, while Fudd also had a foot injury that caused her to miss more than 10 games. Bueckers missed the entire 2022-2023 season due to an ACL tear, leaving Fudd in her absence.
With Fudd still recovering from injury and expected to miss early games of this season, fans have still a little waiting to do to see her and Paige Bueckers in action.
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