UConn women’s basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd were both named to the Naismith Trophy Women’s Player of the Year watchlist on Monday, adding to a growing list of preseason accolades for the duo entering 2024-25.
Bueckers and Fudd were also preseason All-Big East selections, and Bueckers was unanimously voted a preseason All-American by the Associated Press as well as the Big East Player of the Year. The pair were named to the Naismith Trophy watchlist together ahead of the 2023-24 season too, and Bueckers ended as a finalist for the award after averaging a career-high 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks. She was also one of the most efficient shooters in the nation hitting 53% from the field and 41.6% from 3-point range.
Bueckers was the first freshman to win Naismith Player of the Year in 2021, but she missed 19 games her sophomore year with a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear. She returned at the start of the 2022 postseason and powered the Huskies to their first national championship game appearance since 2016.
The 2023-24 season was a triumphant return for Bueckers after an ACL tear in August 2022 ended her junior season before it began. She was the Big East Player of the Year and a unanimous All-American, leading UConn back to the Final Four after it ended an 11-year streak of appearances with a Sweet 16 loss in 2023. Bueckers played most of the year out of position as a forward after five teammates suffered season-ending injuries, and she averaged 25.8 points, eight rebounds and 4.6 assists during the team’s NCAA Tournament run with just six players in the rotation.
Bueckers was also named to the Basketball Hall of Fame’s preseason watchlist for the Nancy Lieberman Award on Monday, which is given to the nation’s top point guard. She won the award in 2021, and she was a finalist for the Hall of Fame’s Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for best shooting guard in 2024.
Fudd missed almost the entire 2023-24 season after suffering a right ACL and medial meniscus tear on Nov. 14, 2023, and though she is not expected to be available for UConn’s season opener on Nov. 7, coach Geno Auriemma said she is “pretty far along” in her recovery progress. Fudd has struggled with injuries throughout her career appearing in just 42 games over three seasons, but she averaged 12 points shooting 43% on 3-pointers and 45.7% from the field over 25 games as a freshman in 2021-22. She was the No. 1 recruit in class of 2021 and became the first sophomore to win Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2019.
