UConn star Azzi Fudd believes Kobe Bryant, Gigi, God 'watching down on us'

There were signs that the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player said weren’t coincidences during the Huskies’ title game win.

Connecticut Huskies guard Azzi Fudd (35) dribbles the ball against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half of the national championship of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Azzi Fudd scored 24 points in the national champonship game to help the UConn Huskies defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks to win the school’s 12th overall championship, and first since 2016. The number 24 was significant because it was Kobe Bryant’s jersey number and Fudd believes it wasn’t a coincidence.

Fudd, who was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, wasn’t the only one who felt Kobe and his daughter Gigi’s presence out there either. Star Paige Bueckers said the signs were there during the week for the Huskies, including her mom’s hotel room number.

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Bueckers and Fudd during the national title game. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Kobe and Gigi tragically passed away in 2020 in a helicopter crash on their way to Gigi’s basketball game. Gigi was quite the player herself and “hellbent on UConn,” and she’d have been a freshman on this year’s Huskies team. Fudd, 22, met Kobe and Gigi in Los Angeles back in 2019 and ran through drills with them at his Mamba Academy. Her photo with the two Bryants is now so heartbreaking to see.

In observance of #MambaDay, top girls HS basketball prospect Azzi Fudd's wrote a touching open letter to her late friends Kobe and Gigi: https://t.co/oJVJ6ZrW44 pic.twitter.com/Rc1H9KyNp7

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 24, 2020

In an exclusive interview with TMZ, Fudd said the 24 points she had, as well as some number 8s in the box scores, definitely wasn’t a coincidence:

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'Yeah, that's God. That's them. That's Kobe. That's Gigi. That's them watching down on us, cheering us on in this game. She was there. She's not here, but she was there in spirit."

No doubt, somewhere Kobe and Gigi were smiling down watching Fudd and UConn win it all.

Fudd gets a confetti shower after winning it all. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images