{"id":299992,"date":"2025-11-22T16:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/299992\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:49:09","slug":"rebecca-lobos-bold-azzi-fudd-wnba-draft-take-goes-viral-after-uconn-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/299992\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Lobo&#8217;s Bold Azzi Fudd WNBA Draft Take Goes Viral After UConn Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">The UConn Huskies women&#8217;s basketball team had a lot to live up to in the 2025-26 season after winning the program&#8217;s 12th NCAA national championship last season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">Since star guard Paige Bueckers left for the WNBA after that championship, the onus was on graduate guard Azzi Fudd and star sophomore forward Sarah Strong to make it so Geno Auriemma&#8217;s squad didn&#8217;t lose a step from last season to this one. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">These two have done a fantastic job of that through five games into their championship defense campaign. The No. 1-ranked Huskies are 5-0 to start the season and have beaten several solid teams, including the No. 6-ranked Michigan Wolverines by a score of 72-69 on November 21. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">The Huskies dominated Michigan in the first half, outscoring them 45-27 after two quarters. But the Wolverines stormed back in the third quarter, outscoring UConn 18-4 heading into the final quarter. Ultimately, the fantastic performances that Fudd (who finished with 31 points, which included seven made three-pointers on 12 attempts) and Strong (who added 16 points, a staggering 20 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 steals) produced led UConn to victory. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01kap57ybz1hpfmsbwva.jpg\" alt=\"UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd (35) drives the ball against Ohio State Buckeyes guard Jaloni Cambridge (22) on November 17\" title=\"UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd (35) drives the ball against Ohio State Buckeyes guard Jaloni Cambridge (22) on November 17\" width=\"4469\" height=\"2513\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5x\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Nov 16, 2025; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd (35) drives the ball against Ohio State Buckeyes guard Jaloni Cambridge (22) in the first half at Peoples Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca Lobo Makes Strong Azzi Fudd Assertion After UConn-Michigan Game<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">There&#8217;s a strong case to be made that Sarah Strong is already the best women&#8217;s college basketball player in the country, despite being just 19 years old. However, while Strong already seems like a lock to be the top pick of the 2028 WNBA Draft (when she first becomes eligible), Fudd is sure to be at least a top-five pick (and probably in the top three) in the upcoming 2026 WNBA Draft. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">Women&#8217;s basketball legend and ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo took this sentiment a step further with an X post after UConn&#8217;s win against Michigan that read, &#8220;Sarah Strong is the best player in the country and Azzi Fudd will be the top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft (assuming she stays healthy and current eligibility rules remain in the new CBA).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">The post already has over 80,000 views in about 12 hours.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sarah Strong is the best player in the country and Azzi Fudd will be the top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft (assuming she stays healthy and current eligibility rules remain in the new CBA). <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W3jDBqkbUi\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/W3jDBqkbUi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RebeccaLobo\/status\/1992079844616659111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The fact that Lobo believes Fudd could be the No. 1 overall pick is fascinating, given that most others think either UCLA center Lauren Betts or Spanish star center Awa Fam will be the draft&#8217;s top pick. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">But there&#8217;s no question Fudd is talented enough to take that top spot from either center. And since the Dallas Wings have the best chances of securing the No. 1 pick (the official 2026 WNBA Draft lottery takes place on November 23), this could mean Fudd will be reunited with Paige Bueckers at the professional level.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Reading:<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UConn Huskies women&#8217;s basketball team had a lot to live up to in the 2025-26 season after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-299992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}