STORRS, Conn. — Four outstanding basketball players from the University of Connecticut have been named to the John R. Wooden Award preseason watchlist, representing the favorites to win the most prestigious individual awards in the men’s and women’s games.
At the end of the 2024-2025 college basketball season, a Division I men’s basketball player and Division I women’s basketball player will win a Wooden Award, named in honor of the late UCLA head coach who is considered one of the greatest of all time.
UConn men’s players on the watchlist include Alex Karaban, a junior forward from Southboro, Mass., and Liam McNeeley, a freshman forward from Richardson, Texas.
Redshirt senior guard Paige Bueckers from Hopkins, Minn. and Azzi Fudd, a graduate student guard from Arlington, Va., both represent the UConn women’s team on the watchlist.
Paige Bueckers
Buckers stands alone on this list of Huskies as the only current player to have previously won the Wooden Award. She took home the honors as a freshman after the 2020-2021 season, when she earned a variety of individual accolades as the sport’s top player.
Injuries derailed the majority of Bueckers’ sophomore season, and cost her the entirety of her junior campaign, but she responded with force in 2023-2024, leading the team with 21.9 points per game. Bueckers was good enough to earn a spot on the Associated Press’ All-America First Team for the second time in her career and led the Huskies to the 2024 Final Four.
The individual awards aren’t enough for Bueckers, however, who looks to cement her place as one of the best players in program history with a national title in her final season of eligibility. Entering the season, Bueckers is perhaps the favorite to win the Wooden Award, but she’ll almost certainly have her eyes set on that elusive national championship trophy.
Azzi Fudd
Fudd entered campus as one of the highest-rated recruits in the history of UConn’s well-established women’s basketball program, but she’s dealt with injuries that have kept her from reaching her full potential.
As a freshman, Fudd appeared in 25 games, averaging 12.1 points per game. She scored 15.1 points as a sophomore, but injuries limited her to only 15 games played. Then, after starting the first two games of the 2023-2024 season, Fudd suffered a season-ending injury.
Now, Fudd is reunited with Bueckers; both are entering their final season at UConn. Fudd, a prolific shooter, will look to recapture the magic that captivated UConn fans on the team’s 2022 run to the Final Four. If Fudd can stay healthy in 2024-2025, there is no reason she can’t compete for the Wooden Award.
Alex Karaban
While Bueckers has a Wooden Award under her belt, Karaban is by far the most accomplished player on this list of Huskies. As a two-time national champion, Karaban only knows winning – he’s never lost an NCAA Tournament game and has never played in an NCAA Tournament game decided by less than 13 points.
After the men’s team lost four players to the NBA following the 2024 national championship run, Karaban is the lone returning starter. The sharpshooter will serve as the captain of this group of Huskies and look to lift them on his shoulders, much as teammates Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson, Tristen Newton and Donovan Clingan did for him during the previous postseason runs.
In the first game of the season Wednesday against Sacred Heart, Karaban exploded, scoring 20 points. He also registered seven blocks and seven assists, becoming the first Division I player to do so while scoring at least 20 points since 2003. To put it in perspective, Karaban was born in November 2002. He threw in six rebounds as well for good measure.
As the roster’s most experienced player, Karaban will shoulder much of the responsibility for the men’s team this season. It is expected that the team will perform how Karaban does, and if Wednesday night is any indication, it could be another memorable season in Storrs.
Liam McNeeley
McNeeley is a rarity – a UConn freshman earning preseason consideration for the sport’s highest accolades. The forward has earned his stellar reputation, however, after finishing one of the most brilliant high school careers in high school history, playing at Montverde Academy alongside another legend, Cooper Flagg, where championships were won.
McNeeley arrives at UConn as a top 10 recruit. He was widely recognized as the purest shooter in the high school class of 2024 nationally. He started his UConn career with a bang on Wednesday against Sacred Heart, scoring 18 points in the season opener while hitting three three-pointers.
While Karaban and McNeeley play similar positions, they will likely share the court for long stretches of play this season and play off each other. McNeeley will look to set the tempo alongside Karaban for a talented group of Huskies. Inexperience shouldn’t slow down the freshman in 2024-2025.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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