Azzi Fudd revenge tour...

[AzzisBraids]

Azzi's return is huge. Coach Auriemma said as much in the postgame conference noting "No other team at this point in the season is returning someone like Azzi." Her presence on the floor brings a monster bolster. She can run the point, handle the ball, makes great basket decisions, low-turnover player, is one of the best shooters, likes to mix it up in the paint but has an automatic pull-up jumper.

Remember, Fudd has been on the sidelines watching what we have been seeing without being able to help. She will be out for blood and using the Big East tournament as a tune-up, will enter March Madness as the threat of all threats. She joins a career season by Muhl, an All-American season by Edwards, Lopez-Senechal, who herself, is one of the best shooters and scorers in the nation, an Aubrey Griffin who is March-hungry after missing time and a Dorka Juhasz quest to make every WNBA scout aware of who she is.

PS...the Final Four is UConn's house. Has been for 14 years. There have been moments this season where the mortgage may have looked like it wasn't going to be paid, but there's no need to panic of pack any bags. Fudd is back and she pays in cash. Her revenge tour is loading

 

[fomalhaut]

There were times this season when Connecticut didn't even look like a team I'd ever seen before, and some of the games (even wins) were hard to watch. But today they looked (for the most part) like the team I've followed almost a quarter of a century.

 

[wingsfan055]

Geno will be doing his best Michael Corleone end of Godfather impression over his opponents the next 8 games...

 

[BRS24]

"Getting the knee right would take time, and getting back the confidence that she could move without reinjury would take more time. That began to materialize in this seventh week, when Fudd rejoined her teammates in practice and it felt right, she said. On Friday she practiced with her hair in the trademark braids, a sure sign the return was close."

"The biggest hurdle is the physical part, but the mental piece is bigger, because her second reinjury, there was no explanation why it happened. That’s hard to get your mind around. But she’s sharp, her body language is saying she’s locked in.”

Dom Amore: Azzi Fudd is back, a happy occasion for UConn women as postseason begins

After reinjuring her knee, Azzi Fudd needed a day to ‘cry out’ all her emotions, then she put in seven weeks work to recover physically, and mentally. Fudd returned in style for the Hus…

www.courant.com

 

[Bigboote]

Everybody knows how much talent Azzi brings back to the team and how much it means to have someone to come in when the wheels are falling off the bus, or just to give the team a blow. But there are two things that aren't talked about as much.

What I noticed (and pointed out in the post-game thread) is that there seemed to be a psychological boost, too. When players know there's a viable sub on the bench, it frees them up to expend more energy or to play less tentatively since there are five more fouls to go around.

The other is, Azzi is a student of the game. She can see a lot from the bench that she'd never see on the court. And moreso, she could think about what she was seeing and process the game, motions, positions, etc., in a way she never could while playing or sitting on the bench for five minutes between stints on the court.