{"id":202282,"date":"2025-09-05T12:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202282\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:25:09","slug":"azzi-fudd-set-to-replace-gf-paige-bueckers-as-geno-auriemma-looks-for-another-coach-claims-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202282\/","title":{"rendered":"Azzi Fudd Set to Replace GF Paige Bueckers as Geno Auriemma Looks for \u201cAnother Coach\u201d, Claims Analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd<\/a> will likely uncork a new role for coach Geno Auriemma\u2019s squad in the 2025-26 season. After the 2024-25 season, Fudd\u2019s girlfriend and now Dallas Wings standout Paige Bueckers exhausted her collegiate basketball eligibility with the Huskies after they won the program\u2019s 12th national championship.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s college hoops analyst Mark Zanetto detailed on the \u201cThe Hoops Cap\u201d podcast on Tuesday, Sept. 2, how he feels about Fudd stepping into a role that Bueckers<\/a> played in the previous seasons at UConn.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen it comes to UConn women\u2019s basketball this season, coming off a 12th national championship, the expectations are through the roof, sky-high. And for Azzi Fudd, they\u2019re going to be even higher, maybe unfair at times. But that\u2019s the standard when you play for UConn, a program with 12 national titles and 24 Final Fours. Azzi is expected to expand her leadership role,\u201d Zanetto said (1:53).<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got to be more vocal, set the tone and become almost like another coach on the floor the way Geno and Paige had that rapport where it almost looked like they couldn\u2019t stand each other. But, the reality is it was a great coach and player combo, right? I think she\u2019s going to be very excited to become the focal point of this offense even with another Player of the Year candidate in Sarah Strong, who we\u2019ll get to next,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the 2024-25 campaign, Fudd, Bueckers, and the rest of coach Auriemma\u2019s<\/a> Huskies shot down the defending national champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks, in the NCAA title game by 23 points, 82-59, to snap UConn\u2019s nine-year NCAA title drought. The Huskies last won it in March 2016.<\/p>\n

Read More: \u201cWe Need You To Coach Dallas\u201d: Fan Calls For Azzi Fudd\u2019s Dad To Take Over $250,000,000 Worth Franchise In Hilarious Livestream Moment<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Zanetto is Confident That Azzi Fudd Will Become a Candidate For Both Big East and National POTY Honors<\/p>\n

On the same podcast, Zanetto expressed confidence in Fudd, saying she can become both the Big East conference Player of the Year and National Player of the Year in her last stint of collegiate basketball.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHer resume already speaks for itself. She\u2019s a national champion, multiple Final Fours, came back from injury, so there\u2019s been adversity that she\u2019s been able to overcome, and she\u2019s absolutely going to be a favorite for the Big East Player of the Year and one of the favorites for National Player of the Year candidates,\u201d Zanetto said (2:45).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Also Read: IN PICS: UConn\u2019s Azzi Fudd, KK Arnold and More Sweat It Out in Gym While Preparing for 2025 Season<\/a><\/p>\n

College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in\u00a0football<\/a>,\u00a0basketball<\/a>, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd will likely uncork a new role for coach Geno Auriemma\u2019s squad in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-202282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115151682104223165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}