Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma might know better than anyone that winning a championship is not always based on skill alone.
Health has not been a strong suit for Connecticut over the past few seasons.
Paige Bueckers, the top player of the 2020 recruiting class, missed all of the 2022-23 season rehabbing from a knee injury.Yankees, Mets up Juan Soto bids north of $700M as his historic free agency nears finish lineAzzi Fudd, the top player of the 2021 class, was sidelined for most of last season and the start of this one after suffering ACL and medial meniscal tears.Finally, Bueckers and Fudd have a clean bill of health at the same time.
Fudd got sandwiched between two Louisville players and collapsed to the floor. She immediately reached for her surgically repaired right knee.She gingerly made her way to the left corner, where she knocked in a 3 that put Connecticut up 63-26.“Obviously you don’t want to see that,” Bueckers said. “But as a team, we had to really band together, weather the storm, not play too much into the emotions and try to just focus on the game, but definitely feel for her .
Fudd returned to the team’s bench later in the third quarter and didn’t play another second. By the fourth, though, she was seen standing and cheering on her teammates as they demolished Louisville.“It didn’t look like worst case scenario,” Auriemma said. “We were crossing our fingers and hoping so… We’ll know more when we get back, but I hope I’m right. But it’s not that worst case scenario.”
Still, that brief moment Saturday was a reminder of just how quickly a key injury could dash championship hopes.
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