Scouting report on UConn freshman Azzi Fudd: 'Really, really freaking good'

[JordyG]

A couple points of clarification, since I am one of the ones who watched every FIBA U19 game and have made comments about Azzi based on those games.

First, she was not the starting PG. Paopao was. So she wasn't exactly tasked by "the coaches in bringing the ball up and acting as a trigger on offense". She started 6-7 games, and certainly was relied on by the coaches, but from an assist perspective, she was 3rd on the team in assists at 27 behind Clark (39) and Paopao (32). Johnson had 23, Citron 20, and Verhulst 19. Mostly it was Paopao or Johnson who ran the point, and Azzi certainly was involved, but not the leader from that perspective. Azzi started game 2 after Spear was injured - Spear started the first and only game she played. Azzi started the remaining 6.

2nd, she didn't have close to the best shooting %. Overall, she was 49% but Citron (55%), Johnson (51%), Betts (64%), Ware (56%) and our own DeBerry (66%) were all better. You are correct, her 3 point % was the best at 52%. Johnson was 2nd at 46%. I'm not counting Spears who only played 1 game but shot 4-5 or 80% from 3 in her 1 game.

3rd, she's not the youngest player on the team. Lauren Betts is 1 year younger, at least class wise. I'm not certain of their exact birthdays, so I can't speak to that. But academically, she's the same age as Citron, Verhulst, Feagin, DeBerry, and Wolfenbarger. The roster does list 7 of them at 18 years and the rest at 19 years of age.

4th, Azzi did not take "far less shots" than the others. Clark (83), Johnson (72) by far led the team, but Azzi was solidly in the next group. Verhulst (55), Citron (54), Paopao (52), Fudd (51), Betts (51).

I will agree her turnovers were slightly better than the other guards for minutes - she had 7, Paopao had 9, Johnson had 15, Clark 17, Citron 10, Verhulst 7. Azzi was better, but not by an eye-popping margin.

I also commented consistently on her play. What I observed/said about her strengths:

• Every shot she takes is a good shot. And they all look like they should go in.
• She's very smart without the ball. On a team that played less like it was an all star game, she'd have scored more.
• She constantly got wide open moving without the ball but teammates did not / would not pass to her (instead they opted to take the shot themselves).
• She has a really good handle and has high BBQ.
• She is a solid defender and is far better at moving her body by moving her feet as opposed to teammates who would reach in or just move their upper body.
• She's a very solid passer.

On the negative side

• She avoided contact, almost to her detriment, and this includes on the defensive side.
• She had almost no drives to the basket (she literally was 0-0 in FT's the entire tourney - only player on the team with no FT attempts).
• She is a decent rebounder for a guard, but it was more a factor of her knowing where the ball was going rather than going after the ball.
• She deferred too much to other players - and to this point I want to add that several players who were more aggressive in looking for their shots were her age - Citron and Verhulst specifically.
• Her pull up jumper was off - she only shot 46% from 2. She shot better from beyond the arc.

Most of the items on my "negative" side I attributed to her maybe being gunshy coming back from her injury. Also IIRC she had a slight foot/ankle thing. I have no doubt she will overcome all of that as she plays for UCONN and gets stronger and more confident. Aside from her incredible form and 3 point shooting, there was zero in that 7 game tourney that screamed "I'm the best player in my class - look out here I come".

On the flip side, everything about Lauren Betts screamed exactly that.

Azzi has the luxury at UCONN, like she did on the U19 team, of having players around her who are more experienced. I have no doubt Azzi will be great. I have no doubt she will be on the wall of honor. She may very well be a NPOY player. She's fortunate that she will not be "needed" like Paige was last season, but I worry that will hold her back. If it's her nature to defer and pass up shots to more experienced teammates, we won't see the best of her for some time.

My last point cuz this is a super long post. I am THRILLED Azzi chose UCONN. I hope she's a superstar. I am psyched to see her suit up and play for everyone's favorite WCBB team (on this board anyway). So I hope this post does not come across as "he's down an Azzi". I've seen the reports. I've read comments by experts who have seen her. I think she will be sensational. But from what I saw, she's not entering college as a "generational" player (like Dee, Maya, Stewie, Paige). Time will tell what she turns into for sure.

I stand corrected.

 

[Alydar]

Yes, I believe that she's really , really, freaking good. My concerns are health and physicality of the game. Other teams will probably subject Azzi to the same physical treatment they gave Paige. Essentially try beating her up .....bumping , being handsy , pushing her out, etc. Teams will be as physical as possible until refs start calling fouls. Paige and Azzi have slight frames , and Azzi looks to be a little smaller than Paige...( since Paige has now muscled up). Paige was tough mentally and physically. Hopefully Azzi will be too.

Healthwise , injuries happen. The depth of this team is going to come in real handy I think. No more running players over 35min. There is enough players , quality players , for every starter to get adequate rest during games. No more possible injuries due to excess minutes. Not that there ever was , but even less possibility now with depth.

Yes , she's really , really , freaking good. The sweetest shooting stroke since KML. Now let's go watch the next conference ROY do her thing.

Geno said that Fudd had a college-ready body as a HS sophomore. Next to Bueckers Fudd is veritable Charles Atlas.

 

[D J B]

Remember, she was High School NPOY as a sophomore!!! She beat out Paige when Paige was a junior, and then got hurt. Now she is going to hurt defenses. It feels great having the two best WCB players at UCONN along with a deep cast of outstanding players.

No doubts about AZZI here! Hopefully, we get them (SC) on 11/22/21 in addition to 1/27/22, that way it can't be said to be a fluke!

Keep the wisdom flowing JordyG!!!

Try to stay away from !!!!!. Thanks.

 

[Skeets]

Geno said that Fudd had a college-ready body as a HS sophomore. Next to Bueckers Fudd is veritable Charles Atlas.

I agree, but here's what I worry about and I sincerely hope it's unfounded. Azzi is a couple of months removed from being a high school kid. Now she's stepping up against D1 competition. Many of those competitors will be 3 or 4 years older than Azzi. Each of them were the best players (or close to it) on their respective high school teams, sort of like a poor man's all star team. She will be playing on the biggest stage under the brightest of lights, UCONN. Will she get knocked around? You bet, Paige did. I hope she responds like Paige did.

I'll draw an analogy. Ann Strother, and I am a big Ann Strother fan. She came to UCONN as the player of the year from Colorado. In my humble opinion I think Ann was overwhelmed by the level of D1 competition that she faced and while she was very good, she never quite lived up to her type coming in.

This worry is not unique to Azzi. I have this worry about all incoming freshmen.

 

[Alydar]

I agree, but here's what I worry about and I sincerely hope it's unfounded. Azzi is a couple of months removed from being a high school kid. Now she's stepping up against D1 competition. Many of those competitors will be 3 or 4 years older than Azzi. Each of them were the best players (or close to it) on their respective high school teams, sort of like a poor man's all star team. She will be playing on the biggest stage under the brightest of lights, UCONN. Will she get knocked around? You bet, Paige did. I hope she responds like Paige did.

I'll draw an analogy. Ann Strother, and I am a big Ann Strother fan. She came to UCONN as the player of the year from Colorado. In my humble opinion I think Ann was overwhelmed by the level of D1 competition that she faced and while she was very good, she never quite lived up to her type coming in.

This worry is not unique to Azzi. I have this worry about all incoming freshmen.

When Fudd won NPOY as a sophomore she beat out all the current college freshmen, sophomores and juniors. She isn't a normal freshman. And she is a lot better prepared for the physicality of college ball than Bueckers was last season.

 

[Cuango]

A couple points of clarification, since I am one of the ones who watched every FIBA U19 game and have made comments about Azzi based on those games.

First, she was not the starting PG. Paopao was. So she wasn't exactly tasked by "the coaches in bringing the ball up and acting as a trigger on offense". She started 6-7 games, and certainly was relied on by the coaches, but from an assist perspective, she was 3rd on the team in assists at 27 behind Clark (39) and Paopao (32). Johnson had 23, Citron 20, and Verhulst 19. Mostly it was Paopao or Johnson who ran the point, and Azzi certainly was involved, but not the leader from that perspective. Azzi started game 2 after Spear was injured - Spear started the first and only game she played. Azzi started the remaining 6.

2nd, she didn't have close to the best shooting %. Overall, she was 49% but Citron (55%), Johnson (51%), Betts (64%), Ware (56%) and our own DeBerry (66%) were all better. You are correct, her 3 point % was the best at 52%. Johnson was 2nd at 46%. I'm not counting Spears who only played 1 game but shot 4-5 or 80% from 3 in her 1 game.

3rd, she's not the youngest player on the team. Lauren Betts is 1 year younger, at least class wise. I'm not certain of their exact birthdays, so I can't speak to that. But academically, she's the same age as Citron, Verhulst, Feagin, DeBerry, and Wolfenbarger. The roster does list 7 of them at 18 years and the rest at 19 years of age.

4th, Azzi did not take "far less shots" than the others. Clark (83), Johnson (72) by far led the team, but Azzi was solidly in the next group. Verhulst (55), Citron (54), Paopao (52), Fudd (51), Betts (51).

I will agree her turnovers were slightly better than the other guards for minutes - she had 7, Paopao had 9, Johnson had 15, Clark 17, Citron 10, Verhulst 7. Azzi was better, but not by an eye-popping margin.

I also commented consistently on her play. What I observed/said about her strengths:

• Every shot she takes is a good shot. And they all look like they should go in.
• She's very smart without the ball. On a team that played less like it was an all star game, she'd have scored more.
• She constantly got wide open moving without the ball but teammates did not / would not pass to her (instead they opted to take the shot themselves).
• She has a really good handle and has high BBQ.
• She is a solid defender and is far better at moving her body by moving her feet as opposed to teammates who would reach in or just move their upper body.
• She's a very solid passer.

On the negative side

• She avoided contact, almost to her detriment, and this includes on the defensive side.
• She had almost no drives to the basket (she literally was 0-0 in FT's the entire tourney - only player on the team with no FT attempts).
• She is a decent rebounder for a guard, but it was more a factor of her knowing where the ball was going rather than going after the ball.
• She deferred too much to other players - and to this point I want to add that several players who were more aggressive in looking for their shots were her age - Citron and Verhulst specifically.
• Her pull up jumper was off - she only shot 46% from 2. She shot better from beyond the arc.

Most of the items on my "negative" side I attributed to her maybe being gunshy coming back from her injury. Also IIRC she had a slight foot/ankle thing. I have no doubt she will overcome all of that as she plays for UCONN and gets stronger and more confident. Aside from her incredible form and 3 point shooting, there was zero in that 7 game tourney that screamed "I'm the best player in my class - look out here I come".

On the flip side, everything about Lauren Betts screamed exactly that.

Azzi has the luxury at UCONN, like she did on the U19 team, of having players around her who are more experienced. I have no doubt Azzi will be great. I have no doubt she will be on the wall of honor. She may very well be a NPOY player. She's fortunate that she will not be "needed" like Paige was last season, but I worry that will hold her back. If it's her nature to defer and pass up shots to more experienced teammates, we won't see the best of her for some time.

My last point cuz this is a super long post. I am THRILLED Azzi chose UCONN. I hope she's a superstar. I am psyched to see her suit up and play for everyone's favorite WCBB team (on this board anyway). So I hope this post does not come across as "he's down an Azzi". I've seen the reports. I've read comments by experts who have seen her. I think she will be sensational. But from what I saw, she's not entering college as a "generational" player (like Dee, Maya, Stewie, Paige). Time will tell what she turns into for sure.

Great post!

 

[Alydar]

During one of her recent vid

A couple points of clarification, since I am one of the ones who watched every FIBA U19 game and have made comments about Azzi based on those games.

First, she was not the starting PG. Paopao was. So she wasn't exactly tasked by "the coaches in bringing the ball up and acting as a trigger on offense". She started 6-7 games, and certainly was relied on by the coaches, but from an assist perspective, she was 3rd on the team in assists at 27 behind Clark (39) and Paopao (32). Johnson had 23, Citron 20, and Verhulst 19. Mostly it was Paopao or Johnson who ran the point, and Azzi certainly was involved, but not the leader from that perspective. Azzi started game 2 after Spear was injured - Spear started the first and only game she played. Azzi started the remaining 6.

2nd, she didn't have close to the best shooting %. Overall, she was 49% but Citron (55%), Johnson (51%), Betts (64%), Ware (56%) and our own DeBerry (66%) were all better. You are correct, her 3 point % was the best at 52%. Johnson was 2nd at 46%. I'm not counting Spears who only played 1 game but shot 4-5 or 80% from 3 in her 1 game.

3rd, she's not the youngest player on the team. Lauren Betts is 1 year younger, at least class wise. I'm not certain of their exact birthdays, so I can't speak to that. But academically, she's the same age as Citron, Verhulst, Feagin, DeBerry, and Wolfenbarger. The roster does list 7 of them at 18 years and the rest at 19 years of age.

4th, Azzi did not take "far less shots" than the others. Clark (83), Johnson (72) by far led the team, but Azzi was solidly in the next group. Verhulst (55), Citron (54), Paopao (52), Fudd (51), Betts (51).

I will agree her turnovers were slightly better than the other guards for minutes - she had 7, Paopao had 9, Johnson had 15, Clark 17, Citron 10, Verhulst 7. Azzi was better, but not by an eye-popping margin.

I also commented consistently on her play. What I observed/said about her strengths:

• Every shot she takes is a good shot. And they all look like they should go in.
• She's very smart without the ball. On a team that played less like it was an all star game, she'd have scored more.
• She constantly got wide open moving without the ball but teammates did not / would not pass to her (instead they opted to take the shot themselves).
• She has a really good handle and has high BBQ.
• She is a solid defender and is far better at moving her body by moving her feet as opposed to teammates who would reach in or just move their upper body.
• She's a very solid passer.

On the negative side

• She avoided contact, almost to her detriment, and this includes on the defensive side.
• She had almost no drives to the basket (she literally was 0-0 in FT's the entire tourney - only player on the team with no FT attempts).
• She is a decent rebounder for a guard, but it was more a factor of her knowing where the ball was going rather than going after the ball.
• She deferred too much to other players - and to this point I want to add that several players who were more aggressive in looking for their shots were her age - Citron and Verhulst specifically.
• Her pull up jumper was off - she only shot 46% from 2. She shot better from beyond the arc.

Most of the items on my "negative" side I attributed to her maybe being gunshy coming back from her injury. Also IIRC she had a slight foot/ankle thing. I have no doubt she will overcome all of that as she plays for UCONN and gets stronger and more confident. Aside from her incredible form and 3 point shooting, there was zero in that 7 game tourney that screamed "I'm the best player in my class - look out here I come".

On the flip side, everything about Lauren Betts screamed exactly that.

Azzi has the luxury at UCONN, like she did on the U19 team, of having players around her who are more experienced. I have no doubt Azzi will be great. I have no doubt she will be on the wall of honor. She may very well be a NPOY player. She's fortunate that she will not be "needed" like Paige was last season, but I worry that will hold her back. If it's her nature to defer and pass up shots to more experienced teammates, we won't see the best of her for some time.

My last point cuz this is a super long post. I am THRILLED Azzi chose UCONN. I hope she's a superstar. I am psyched to see her suit up and play for everyone's favorite WCBB team (on this board anyway). So I hope this post does not come across as "he's down an Azzi". I've seen the reports. I've read comments by experts who have seen her. I think she will be sensational. But from what I saw, she's not entering college as a "generational" player (like Dee, Maya, Stewie, Paige). Time will tell what she turns into for sure.

I agree with your assessment of her U-19 play and I think her ankle had a lot to do with it. She's not going to be Clark, because of where she's playing and not because she can't. Like Bueckers she will look to do everything and we'll see it in the box score.

 

[Skeets]

When Fudd won NPOY as a sophomore she beat out all the current college freshmen, sophomores and juniors. She isn't a normal freshman. And she is a lot better prepared for the physicality of college ball than Bueckers was last season.

And that is why I hope my worries are unfounded, but they are still my worries.

 

[JonathanXIV]

And that is why I hope my worries are unfounded, but they are still my worries.

Put that on a bumper sticker.

 

[Stymie]

Yes, I believe that she's really , really, freaking good. My concerns are health and physicality of the game. Other teams will probably subject Azzi to the same physical treatment they gave Paige. Essentially try beating her up .....bumping , being handsy , pushing her out, etc. Teams will be as physical as possible until refs start calling fouls. Paige and Azzi have slight frames , and Azzi looks to be a little smaller than Paige...( since Paige has now muscled up). Paige was tough mentally and physically. Hopefully Azzi will be too.

Healthwise , injuries happen. The depth of this team is going to come in real handy I think. No more running players over 35min. There is enough players , quality players , for every starter to get adequate rest during games. No more possible injuries due to excess minutes. Not that there ever was , but even less possibility now with depth.

Yes , she's really , really , freaking good. The sweetest shooting stroke since KML. Now let's go watch the next conference ROY do her thing.

I think that, by and large, opponents will find that extremely physical play will provide their only option to even staying close.
I watched Paige get slapped around a lot last year (ie: contested jumper-hand to the face) and unfortunately expect more of the same.
Maybe the safest approach would be to slice and dice opponents early with the press and run, or the inside game with sharp cut and feeds and pick and rolls- get the lead, then hammer away from outside once defense is packed in.
Concerned with the potential muggings.

 

[Biff]

Put that on a bumper sticker.