They've risen together. Junior Elissa Cunane, who also is on the Wooden list, leads the Wolfpack. Azzi teases José about beating up on him in practice earlier that evening. Now things are even worse. But as the muscle shrinks, the MCL heals. Paige Bueckers is good at basketball. It's Tasty Tuesday, a Fudd tradition. At halftime, Tim tells Azzi that Gigi Bryant was in the helicopter with her father. But as she lands, her right knee buckles and she collapses backward to the floor. Fudd hasn't played consistently in weeks. Even after Bueckers moves on from the Fudds' and heads to UConn, Azzi continues the routine. Texts and calls fly from Colorado Springs as quickly as teenage fingertips can send them. "You never saw any of that in Azzi.". Produced by Jennifer Karson-Strauss; edited by Amanda Winkler & Sam Nicodemo. Paige Bueckers, who is set to make her NCAA debut Saturday, is following in the footsteps of UConn legends Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi. (1:28). Sometimes when she's sad, when this all gets to be too much, Azzi crawls into Katie's arms. His AAU team is in between games and there's no cell service in the gym, so he grabs a soda from the concession stand and walks across the parking lot to his car. If not for the pandemic, Bueckers said she would have left for Storrs toward the end of May. She slowly lowers herself onto the other couch across the room and digs into her McDonald's fries. Then the weeks. Katie knows a guy. Leg lifts. She's among the nation's leading scorers (20.5) and 3-point shooters, averaging 53.7% through her first 18 games. All she wanted to do, she says, was tell Gigi that she loved her. Something about a helicopter. Most of all, a chance to be who she was before. And Fudd -- who once hit 256 NBA-range 3s in 18 minutes during a catch-and-shoot drill -- might be even better, bringing a steadiness, a constancy to match Bueckers' unrelenting flair. "You're coming with us!" Women's college basketball's top 10 transfers for 2020-21, Women's Champ Week: 2021 conference tournament dates, Lapchick: 2020 college racial and gender report card shows 'insignificant progress', WNBA mock draft 2021, version 2.0: Texas' Collier projected to go No. Their flight home to Virginia leaves tomorrow, and the swelling in her daughter's right knee will only worsen. "She is, quite frankly, better than some of the NBA guys I've worked with at understanding what needs to be done day in and day out to create new improvement opportunities for herself," Payne says. Bend. The first time Azzi called Tim "Dad" was a little before her second birthday. As a sophomore at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., Fudd put up an absurd 26.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, and by the time she was 16, she already had led Team USA to two international gold medals. "She's just better at basketball than everyone else," says Jonathan Scribner, her high school coach. Sweat pours as they grind -- iron sharpening iron. And, of course, Gigi had been there too. She's the vice president of the student body, and she wrote to the principal of the high school, asking to be allowed to play ... unofficially. "Wait, what?" "I've lost a lot of people this year," Azzi says. Back in D.C., Fudd, reeling from the news of Kobe's death, takes her spot on the bench. She'll be forced to heal from a devastating injury alone, isolated by a pandemic that ripped away her senior season. In August, she returns to the Bay Area for Curry's camp, the same one where he had awarded her a trophy the previous year for being the best shooter there. Her heart thumps in anticipation. Instead, she's here, home. Fudd signed a national letter of intent with UConn last November, and excitement (or dread) for what a Bueckers-Fudd backcourt will look like has erupted ever since. Azzi had first met Gigi Bryant three months earlier in Los Angeles. She had sent Kobe a direct message asking if she could work out with him while she was in town. Tshitenge sees the fear in Azzi's eyes. Precious minutes tick away. Why did he let her? Tim looks at Azzi and tries to listen to what Katie is telling him. "We can see you at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning," Dr. Shelbourne's assistant says. FUDD PEERS OVER the railing in a corner of Knoxville's Thompson-Boling Arena. — Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) June 1, 2020. At just 18 years old, Azzi Fudd is considered the best women's basketball prospect the game has seen in decades. All the while, she thinks about what awaits her -- travel with her AAU team, a full senior season, maybe a couple more championships. Fudd says from across the room. 17 DePaul. Auriemma, for his part, first saw Fudd play when she was in eighth grade. This historic run has placed her in conversation with all-time great UConn stars like Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart. The days run together. UConn's Paige Bueckers is the only freshman on the Wooden Award late-season top 20 list for women's college basketball, which was released Monday. Katie scoops Azzi off the floor with help from an athletic trainer and carries her to the training table on the side of the court. Azzi and Paige sometimes play one-on-one. Scouts across the basketball landscape were comparing her to everyone from Diana Taurasi to Maya Moore. She can't stop thinking about her mother's pain-filled eyes looking at her as she lay on the floor after her knee gave way. "It was really hard trying to see the light," Azzi says. Says Brickley, "At the high school level, I don't think I've ever worked with anyone that could shoot the ball as well as she does. Freshman phenom Bueckers notches first double-double for UConn (1:28), UConn's Bueckers lone freshman on Wooden list, ACC men's and women's tourneys to have fans, Women's hoops HOF moving induction to August, Official hurt after Rutgers-Michigan State buzzer, Bill introduced, would OK endorsements, more, Terps top Iowa in game with 32 3-pointers made, UConn signee Fudd headlines McDonald's class, Stanford wins Pac-12 title for first time since '14. UConn is up two with 30 seconds to go. She's been playing well, slowly regaining the confidence and strength the injury had robbed from her. News of Fudd's fall quickly spreads across the country. The next step in Fudd's ascension: teaming with Paige Bueckers at UConn. He often rebounds for Azzi; he sees it as his job, he says. She drives to a vacant track to run sprints. With just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, she had shot 2-of-13 from the field and 0-of-5 from three. Then Katie Smrcka-Duffy, she was the ACC Rookie of the Year at NC State in 1997 before transferring to Georgetown and becoming the first Hoya drafted into the WNBA, in 2001. ", THE FUDDS CROWD around the farmhouse table in their dining room on an October evening. You have come to the ESPN Africa edition, for other ESPN editions, click above. She can barely move. Azzi picks out the middles of the folded tortillas, turning them into tortilla snowflakes. kobebryant/Instagram. Sitting atop the narrow wooden surface, the weights pulling against her, she fights to straighten her knee. When Fudd learned the accident had killed Kobe, her mind raced immediately to Gigi. Then her dad comes in. Azzi walks into the room after pouring water into a Game Ready, a portable contraption that sends icy water to a compression sleeve she wears around her knee. Sometimes she would reach out and tap him on the shoulder. Delle Donne also has handed a trophy to Fudd, when she became the first sophomore in history to be named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, winning the award over her close friend and future UConn teammate Paige Bueckers. Her grandmother, Karen, navigates their rented black SUV through the accumulating snow. 1, Why each team in the NCAA's top 16 could win the 2021 NCAA title, What we learned from the NCAA women's bracket reveal. "I wish I could have spent more time with them.". But Napper keeps running into tweets about an accident in the hills of Los Angeles. Gone is the upcoming AAU season. We'll be there.". Just after tipoff, Fudd sheds her earrings and slides her knee pads over her shoes. Run wherever she can. "I've always felt like God placed them in my life for a reason," he says. This ESPN Cover Story captures her journey and the adversity that put those hopes and expectations in peril. Paige Bueckers: Early life, Career, Relationship & Net Worth It's April 13, 2019, and they're rushing from the USA Basketball 3-on-3 U18 nationals in Colorado Springs to Denver, some 75 miles away, for an emergency MRI to see whether Azzi's injury is as bad as they all fear. JK Turner: Every pro team's Jackie Robinson, Marc J. Spears: HBCUs are well-represented in NBA games, holding a referee's whistle, The Undefeated: Black athletes share words of encouragement, Nick DePaula: Kobe Bryant tributes seen around the NBA, Branson Wright: Red Sox coach Bianca Smith proving she belongs. In 2002, she gave birth to her daughter -- one who would eventually claim Katie's old number, 35, as her own -- and named her after a player she admired, 1996 Olympic basketball gold medalist Jennifer Azzi. Rinse. "Oh my god ... oh my god ..," Fudd whispers into the silence. She cycles through exercises four or five times a day -- bend, extend, lift, bend, extend, lift. "She is like my little sister," Tshitenge says. The good news? But it's never just one game; always a series. With just 3:12 remaining, Bueckers sits on a table with a UConn trainer rolling tape over a badly twisted ankle. Could she catapult to greatest UConn player...ever? Layup lines, jumpers, bounce passes -- familiar drills that for years had signaled the impending Azzi Fudd show. John Loomis for ESPN. She heads to New York for private sessions with renowned skills trainer Chris Brickley, or to South Carolina to work with Brandon Payne, who trains Curry. Paige Bueckers, who is set to make her NCAA debut Saturday, is following in the footsteps of UConn legends Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi. They can make that work. The snow grips like quicksand. His phone buzzes with a message from Katie. Repeat. Her quad shrinks with each sleepless night. HOBBLING ON CRUTCHES, Fudd returns home the next day to find her dad lying on the couch in the dark. "My first thought was of Gigi.". From her perch on the bench, Bueckers looks on in horror as her friend crumples to the ground. "Just the blessings that I've been given, just the opportunities I've received. Having fractured his patella during his senior season at American University, Tim also knows what's ahead for his daughter. As they slowly remove her knee pads, the damage is exposed -- in minutes, Azzi's right knee has already swelled so much that she can barely make out the bone. He punches the steering wheel. Check. Now, like so many others, she waits again. 3 Huskies’ game at Tennessee on Thursday night. Paige Bueckers' 3-pointer with 28 seconds left sealed the Huskies' win, but the freshman also scored or assisted on 13 of UConn's 22 points in the fourth quarter (59%). With that impatience, you could tell how much the game meant to her.". Her mask loops over her ears. Bueckers powers her team to a win, but the championship game is never played. Fudd looks out the window, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stares at the mountains passing her by. The next morning, they detour to a Walmart, where Azzi breezes around the store on crutches. He had met Katie when Azzi was a year and a half or so. It's what he will miss the most when she leaves for college. At the 3-point line, Fudd pounds the ball one more time toward the basket. Katie hands out orders from Café Rio, a Mexican restaurant nearby. Now they know the future is theirs to own. And again, pounding the wheel over and over, his thoughts spinning as he sits alone in the parking lot. With fresh scars and a racing mind, Azzi returns to the family's hotel room to find it filled with unicorn stickers, notes from Katie with positive messages, a phone clip and a stuffed narwhal she names Mr. Bigglesworth. A childhood friend had died at the end of November 2019. "Whenever you talk trash, you miss," he says. Recovery seems within reach. The stakes are high. Paige Bueckers (born October 20, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the UConn Huskies of the Big East Conference. "I'm supposed to be able to do that. In response, Azzi persuades Harper to wear her tutu when they get back to Virginia for practice that night. "I'm sitting there," she says, motioning to the chair he is also eyeing. The SEC leads all conferences with six on the late-season list, including Kentucky junior Rhyne Howard, ESPN's unanimous pick as the preseason player of the year. SIX WEEKS LATER, after her own season had been shut down, Bueckers pulls up to the Fudds' home. University of Connecticut freshman Paige Bueckers has notched three straight 30-point games. Like Fudd, Bueckers has been in remote learning for more than a month, and her spring club basketball season seemed more doubtful by the day. She catches Azzi's eye. Kobe. UConn guard Paige Bueckers is left by herself and knocks down a 3-pointer. She was a consensus five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2020 class. But it is merely the first loss in a two-year stretch full of sorrow. This historic run has placed her in conversation with all-time great UConn stars like Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart. He takes Azzi into the hallway and wraps his arms around her. She sneaks into a park to put up shots and play one-on-one against José. As he folds his 6-7 body into the front seat of his minivan, he takes a sip of soda. When it rains, she moves to her basement. "She never gets tired of working out.". "She makes me feel better," she says. The ball, naturally, is in the hands of the 16-year-old Fudd. "He felt so bad, like it was partially his fault.". Gone is in-person school -- and access to the St. John's gym. As the shot clock nears zero, Bueckers catches a pass on the left wing and shoots over a converging double-team. By the time the Fudds return home, it is a different world than the one they'd left. The Pac-12 and Big 12 each have four players on the list. It's Jan. 26, 2020. She's back to being the quiet little girl with bouncing pigtails. She thinks about everything she is going to miss. Paige Bueckers is heading to Storrs next year, where she hopes to bring UConn Women's Basketball back a title (or two or three or four). It looks like a red toolbox with buttons. Like Gigi, Azzi had grown up in gyms, following Tim and Katie around and looking up to the older players. "Like, something bad. All she wants to do is tell Gigi that she's here for her, that she loves her. Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports Voepel: UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the game that Bueckers keeps telling him she would rather pass the ball than shoot it. José settles across the table as Azzi sets the box down next to her and slides the sleeve over her right knee. Dana Evans, one of eight seniors on the list, has led Louisville to the No. Tshitenge has known Azzi since she was in eighth grade and Azzi was in sixth. He swallows. TWO DAYS LATER, Katie Fudd is back on the court, coaching the Fudds' AAU team as Azzi sits and watches. Soon after arriving, though, her knee begins to swell again. Strength and conditioning is in the afternoon, either at a track or in the yard or street, anywhere they could run. The seconds tick closer to five. She thinks about how much rehab she'll have to do just to play again. She's going to call Dr. K. Donald Shelbourne, who is based in Indianapolis and specializes in ACL tears and knee repairs. Azzi has torn her ACL and her MCL, she says. South Carolina sophomore duo Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke also made the cut. "I would rather them steal my clothes than eat my food," she says. She reads one of them out loud. But today Fudd's knee is reminding her of something else. Ballhandling in her basement. All she wanted to do was hoop. Napper reads another one. "Being a St. John's graduate is really important to me," the 18-year-old Fudd says. Inside Maya Moore's extraordinary quest for justice, Mom was my first coach: Mothers with major influence, Coronavirus leaves Mississippi football family at a loss. "All she wanted to do was hoop," Curry says. "She might have won two spots," Bueckers says, "but I always won three. The machine whirs all through dinner; like her rehab, the sound is omnipresent. She crosses back over to her left and attacks. A year ago, she was waiting to get back on a basketball court as she rehabbed her knee. Azzi makes eye contact with her younger brother José. Six players were removed from the midseason top 25 released in early January, while Oklahoma State senior Natasha Mack, the nation's leading shot-blocker (4.2), was included for the first time this season. ... "It's still crazy to me," Bueckers said, per ESPN. "I want to achieve her dreams that she didn't get to achieve," Azzi says, "and do the things that she couldn't do.". She can't look at her mother, Katie, who's sitting in the passenger seat, too distraught to drive. Azzi sits in the middle seat of the table with a view into the living room that displays most of her big awards, including the Gatorade Player of the Year trophy from her sophomore season. The latest stats, facts, news and notes on Paige Bueckers of the UConn Huskies Read it. "My right leg was this little bony leg.". The Fudds are there to cheer on Bueckers in the Minnesota 4A state semifinals. "I had never really experienced people's perspectives opening right in front of their eyes," Curry says. Talk of extending -- or reviving -- perhaps the greatest dynasty in the history of sports is more than mere chatter. He and his wife used to come to all of Azzi's games to cheer her on. She has traveled 460 miles with her family in a rented RV to watch her soon-to-be Huskies teammates play their biggest game of the 2020-21 season, against their longtime rival, the University of Tennessee. Paige Bueckers speaks to reporters after No. Katie too was once a budding basketball star, a red-hot recruit in the Washington area some 25 years ago. Shot after shot nets clang after clang, to the tune of a 2-for-13 shooting night as the game clock winds down to its final minutes. A crash. The next night, on Jan. 3, Fudd warms up with her St. John's teammates just like she has done all season. Bueckers drops 30 in UConn's rout of Marquette on the road (1:21) Paige Bueckers puts up a monster 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting as UConn handles Marquette on the road 87-58.
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