After a half-decade in Connecticut, Azzi Fudd is now a couple of weeks into a major lifestyle adjustment, arriving in one of the United States’ fastest-growing and most sprawling metro areas.
The former UConn women’s basketball star was selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings in mid-April and quickly headed down to Texas to begin her professional career. Fudd broke down her transition from life at UConn on her weekly “Fudd Around and Find Out” podcast released Friday, captivated by Dallas’ famous cuisine, the relative abundance of shopping and, as it turns out, the re-emergence of Chili’s.
“The other day, we passed like 10 strip malls,” Fudd said on her podcast. “I don’t really see any of these in Connecticut. Paige was like, ‘What are you looking at out the window?’ I’m like, we just passed 500 different stores. I haven’t seen any of these stores in like, literally, years. I didn’t even know Chili’s still existed.”
More specifically, Fudd has spent most of her time in Arlington, Texas, where the Wings’ College Park Center is located, along with most of the Dallas area’s prominent sports venues. It’s been an adjustment for Fudd, a native of northern Virginia, to associate Arlington with Texas instead of her hometown Washington D.C. suburb.
Fudd is newly living alone since moving to Dallas after sharing a home with several of her UConn teammates in Storrs, and the star shooting guard reflected fondly on KK Arnold, Kelis Fisher or Sarah Strong barging into her room during these college days. Still, she’s valued the increased freedom of professional life, and the “People’s Princess” brought some of her own flair to northern Texas, as her family recently arrived in a moving truck from Connecticut full of pink accessories and stuffed animals.
The rookie checked one early item off her local sightseeing bucket list before the WNBA season got underway, attending a Texas Rangers game Tuesday evening, where she threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Fudd also expressed some interest in attending a Cowboys game in the fall, betraying her family’s Washington Commanders allegiances as NFC East rivals, and she’ll lean on fellow UConn alum Paige Bueckers for food recommendations as she continues adjusting to life in Dallas.