Opposing Coach's Bold UConn Stance Before March Madness Says It All

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team received a telling endorsement from one of their rival coaches.

Mar 8, 2025; Uncasville, CT, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after a play against the St. John's Red Storm in the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is riding a 10-game winning streak heading into Selection Sunday, when they will find out their seed and region for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Within this winning streak came a blowout win against the South Carolina Gamecocks (who will likely be the top seed in the entire tournament) and a series of easy wins in the Big East Conference Tournament that resulted in them winning this Big East tournament for the fifth consecutive year.

Few expected UConn to be challenged against their conference foes, instead believing their real test would come during March Madness. While that's probably true, Huskies star guard Azzi Fudd conveyed her confidence by saying, "I'm not worried about wherever we go, who we're going up against... I have so much confidence in this team, and I can't wait to keep playing with them," when speaking with the media on March 10.

Fudd isn't alone in thinking the Huskies have a good shot at their first NCAA National Championship since 2016. In a March 11 article from FOX Sports' John Fanta, St. John's head coach Joe Tartamella was quoted saying, "Sarah [Strong] is the best and most difficult player to match up with that they've had since Breanna Stewart. Strong completes them if she's at the top of her game because Bueckers is driven, Kaitlyn Chen is steady and Azzi Fudd is the X-factor." 

St John's coach hyping up the girls 🙂‍↕️ pic.twitter.com/HsBlJtXMTe

— Azzi Fudd is better than you (@Yourbestbreak) March 11, 2025

Fanta then wrote, "Tartamella also brought up the fact that this UConn team didn't even celebrate on Monday night. In past years, the Huskies did show a bit more jubilation over winning the conference tournament crown, but this felt like a rung on the ladder toward what feels like a very realistic outcome for the first time in several years: a national title."

Time will tell whether this stoicism indicates how far UConn can go in this year's NCAA Tournament.