UConn Guard Eyes Paige Bueckers-Like March Run
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March Madness is nothing new to Azzi Fudd, yet this year feels different. For the first time in four seasons, the UConn Huskies will be entering the NCAA Tournament without Paige Bueckers. Yet, the Huskies look stronger than ever.
The defending champions enter March with a 34-0 record and carrying a 50-game winning streak. However, March is unlike the regular season. And with postseason play comes pressure and expectations.
Last season, Bueckers’ leadership powered UConn through a championship run that ended a rare title drought for the program. This season, that falls on Fudd, who will be playing her last NCAA Tournament as a Husky.
Now, with the Huskies chasing another deep March run, Fudd admits she has been studying exactly how her former teammate, Bueckers, handled that moment.
“Oh, I mean, she’s someone that I look up to in so many different aspects. But the way that she just went about all of last year, especially the end, how she handled the expectations, the pressure, her mindset, how she was able to perform and be a great leader and great teammate through it all, and at the end of the day still be herself. She didn’t change at all. That’s so impressive. So I definitely got to learn a lot from her, and I’ll be trying to be like her this month,” said Fudd.
After battling injuries, Fudd is finally enjoying her first fully healthy season in Storrs. And no doubt, it has been a historic campaign. Fudd is averaging 17.7 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 44.6% from three-point range.
However, what makes this run even more intriguing is how it compares to last season’s championship team. A year ago, UConn entered the NCAA Tournament with a 37-3 record. This season, the Huskies are undefeated. But the context here matters.
Three of the teams that beat UConn in 2025, USC, Notre Dame, and Tennessee, have struggled this year and even lost rematches to the Huskies. USC, for instance, has been without national Player of the Year JuJu Watkins after her knee injury last March, while Tennessee has endured a rough stretch with double-digit losses.
Notre Dame managed a late push but still finished with its highest loss total since 2008. Still, there is no diminishing what the Huskies have done this season. Next up, the Huskies enter March Madness as a No.1 seed.
No. 1 UConn Opens NCAA Tournament Against UTSA
UConn hosts the UTSA Roadrunners in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies earned the No. 1 seed in the Fort Worth region, making it the 23rd time the program has claimed a top seed.
This year’s squad enters the tournament undefeated for the 10th time in program history, extending a streak that dates back to November. Meanwhile, UTSA earned its tournament bid, winning the American Athletic Conference championship.
UConn vs. UTSA this Saturday at 3 PM on ABC in Gampel Pavilion!
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 16, 2026
🎟️ https://t.co/n30keUY1yH pic.twitter.com/77WUhhvORb
The Roadrunners come with an 18-15 record, after winning four games in four days during their conference tournament. In their title-winning game, they took down Rice 54–40. This is UTSA’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009, and just the third in program history.
The Huskies are six wins away from a record 13th national championship, and with the tournament beginning on their home floor in Storrs, they will be heavy favorites to start the journey.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.