UConn’s Fudd ‘staying present,’ focused on Final Four, not draft

PHOENIX — UConn guard Azzi Fudd is aware of the WNBA draft looms as quickly as her season ends. But slightly than take into consideration the potential for being the No. 1 choose in a number of weeks, she stated Thursday her objective is to soak in her remaining days with the Huskies.

“My goal all year has been to stay present because I’ve had four years to watch the upperclassmen before I go through this and get drafted, and just how easy it is to get sucked into all the things that are coming next,” Fudd stated throughout a media availability earlier than UConn’s sport in opposition to South Carolina within the semifinals on the Final Four.

“But at the same time, I’m like, ‘This is my last year in college, my last year with this team, my last everything with this team.’ I know how special it is to be in this program, with these people, with these coaches, so I want to take full advantage and just really appreciate everything about this year. It’s definitely gotten harder as it’s gotten closer, but I can’t look that far ahead because I know I’m going to miss these moments with my team.”

The draft is about for April 13 in New York, the place Fudd is expected to take center stage. If she goes No. 1, she would give the Huskies back-to-back No. 1 picks — because the Dallas Wings picked Paige Bueckers with the highest choose final 12 months. The Wings have the No. 1 choose once more, so in the event that they choose Fudd, she and Bueckers can be teammates once more.

Fudd has elevated his sport in his senior 12 months, main the Huskies to a 38-0 report, averaging 17.5 factors per sport whereas capturing 45.5% from 3-point vary. Fudd was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 Final Four, a efficiency she says gave her the boldness to have an All-American senior season.

But the work is not carried out, because the Huskies enter their sport in opposition to South Carolina hoping to win consecutive nationwide championships whereas finishing an undefeated season. Fudd says whereas there may be strain to uphold a regular with the Huskies — who’ve received 54 straight video games — this workforce does not take into consideration the strain.

“This whole season, it was never like, ‘Oh, we can’t lose, we can’t break the streak,'” Fudd stated. “It’s just next game. How can we get better? How can we win? What can we do to just focus on the game, the present, ourselves, instead of all that outside noise, the expectation, the pressures. At the end of the day, when you’re focused on those things, is when you lose, when you know you have those things get to you. I feel like leaning on each other, being focused on how we can get better, how we can win, how we can just continue to develop throughout the season has been our main priority.”

Fudd was additionally requested about critics who’ve questioned whether or not UConn is battle-tested sufficient at this stage given its Big East schedule. On choice day, there have been conversations centered round whether or not UCLA deserved the No. 1 total seed — the Bruins performed a more durable nonconference schedule and had extra Quad 1 wins than UConn.

“People love having something to talk about and also, when a team is historically so good and has so much success, there’s a lot of people rooting on their downfall at the same time,” Fudd stated. “I feel like people love that narrative of they want to see the people with that much success go down. They want to see the underdogs win. I don’t know. They just like to ask those kind of questions.”