Recovering from an ACL tear is a daunting task. Doing it twice—along with a foot injury—is even more difficult. 

But Azzi Fudd did just that.

And at the WNBA Draft on Monday night, Fudd was selected first overall to the Dallas Wings.

But her journey through the past five years hasn’t been an easy one. Fudd tore her ACL and MCL when she was in high school in 2019, but made a full recovery and joined UConn as ESPN’s No. 1 recruit in the class of 2021.

Her injury woes did not stop in college play, though. In fact, Fudd was forced to miss 11 games of her freshman year with a foot injury and 22 her sophomore season. Then, the worst possible scenario happened. Only two games into her junior season, Fudd tore her ACL and meniscus during practice and was forced to miss the rest of the season.

“She worked hard to be healthy for this season, and it's unfortunate when you put in a lot of hard work and have a setback like this," coach Geno Auriemma said in a press release. “Azzi loves the game and works tirelessly. I'm confident she'll rehab with the same work ethic and come back better than ever.”

After a minor knee sprain early in her senior season, Fudd was able to play in 32 games—the highest she had recorded in a season up until that point—and averaged 13.8 points on 44.6% shooting from the 3-point line.

The Huskies went on to defeat the Gamecocks in the National Championship game 82-59, with Azzi Fudd winning Most Outstanding Player. Fudd scored 19 points against UCLA in the Final Four and 24 points in the Championship matchup.

“We as coaches felt like Azzi was the key to the tournament,” Auriemma said after the National Championship game. “We kind of know what we're going to get from Paige, we kind of know what we're going to get with Sarah, so Azzi became the focal point for us of who has to really step up tonight and she did magnificently.” 

And in her fifth and final year, Fudd played in every game in the Huskies’ season.

Fudd, who averaged a career-high 17.3 points per game, helped bring the overall No. 1-seeded UConn to the NCAA March Madness Final Four for the third year in a row, where the squad ended up falling to South Carolina.

The Huskies entered the March Madness Tournament undefeated, with their closest regular season game being a 72-69 victory over then-No. 6 Michigan. In this matchup, Fudd proved to be a crucial piece of the win, scoring a game-high 31 points on 7-for-12 shooting from deep.

Backed by Fudd, the squad breezed through the rest of the regular season, entering the tournament as the top dog. UConn was cruising through the first four rounds, winning every game by at least 18 points. 

Fudd was showing out for her last ride. 

In the second round, she scored a game-high 34 points on 8-for-11 shooting from deep. When the squad was tasked with a Final Four matchup against South Carolina in a rematch of last year's National Tournament, UConn couldn’t replicate the win it had produced a year ago.

The Huskies faltered, and Azzi Fudd was no different. Scoring only eight points—her fourth game all season that ended with her in single digits—on 2-for-9 shooting, Fudd couldn’t change the curse of the overall-No. 1 seed.

But a disappointing ending doesn’t take away from her fantastic fifth year. 

The First Team All-American still entered the WNBA Draft as one of the best 3-point shooters in the 2026 class. Fudd left her senior year connecting from behind the arc at a 44.7% rate, averaging three made 3-pointers a game.

“I wouldn’t say I’m stressed,” Fudd said entering the draft. “There’s a lot going on, a lot of emotions to unpack, a lot of newness. All of us are living out our dreams right now, getting to be invited, getting to go through all these things, be together [and] experience this. I think I’m really just trying to focus, not focus, but take everything in.”

She was picked up by the Dallas Wings, a squad that shot 30.4 from deep last season, so Fudd’s impact should be shown quickly.

The ability to come back from injury year after year and continue to produce and impact one of the best programs in the country shows Fudd’s commitment to the game and her team, making her an exciting player in the upcoming season.