How Azzi Fudd Became Basketball’s Princess

You can see the confidence. A season after winning the NCAA Championship and being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, the guard is averaging career highs in virtually every statistical category. Off the court, her more than 1 million social media followers are captivated by her megawatt smile and breezy personality. The combination of her chronic TikTok presence and near-perfect gameplay fueled her rapid rise in popularity.

It was easy to notice when I attended last December’s matchup against the USC Trojans in Los Angeles. Thousands turned out to cheer for UConn, a school almost 3,000 miles away. Fans sporting jerseys with Fudd’s number, 35, flooded the sold-out arena. Young girls dotted the tunnel in hopes of a photo, a glimpse, or a high-five from Fudd. When the guard’s name was announced during the starting lineups, she received the loudest roar. Even the USC usher for section 119, where I sat amongst screeching UConn fans, couldn’t contain her glee when Fudd swished a three-pointer. She clapped and yelled, “Let’s go, Azzi!”.

After the game, a screaming crowd—some even matching Fudd’s signature two-cornrow gameday hairstyle—clung to bedazzled posters and waited anxiously by the UConn team bus. I mean, she is, after all, the People’s Princess (a nickname started by close friend and former teammate Paige Bueckers because the coach rarely yelled at Fudd). Now you can buy Fudd’s merch with the slogan emblazoned on it.

“It’s just surreal to think I really am living out my dreams,” she says. “And it’s all because of a sport. It’s all because I like to put a ball in a basket.”

“Her experience has been very different from mine,” Azzi’s mom, Katie Fudd, tells me. Katie played college basketball at NC State and Georgetown and was later drafted into the WNBA, but back then, schools cared only about their big-ticket men’s programs, she says. But she was so passionate about the women’s game that she named her daughter after her favorite player, ’90s Olympic legend Jennifer Azzi. “Wherever [Fudd] went, we wanted the women’s program to matter to the community, to the school, to the athletic department. And it really does here.”