Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade stepping into UConn’s leadership void

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Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade stepping into UConn’s leadership void

As UConn marched to its 12th national championship last season, Paige Bueckers and Kaitlyn Chen handled the bulk of the team’s leadership duties. But with the pair off to the WNBA, the Huskies need new voices to lead the way.

So far, two veterans have stepped out of their comfort zone to fill the void: Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade.

On paper, Fudd is an ideal candidate for a leadership role as one of the best, oldest and most experienced players on the team. But if all things were equal, she’d rather let someone else lead the line.

“Her personality is such that she likes being in the background to somebody else, whatever that case, whoever that may be, whatever that may be,” Geno Auriemma explained.

Fudd doesn’t have that luxury anymore, though. Last year’s roster was perfect for her — Bueckers absorbed the spotlight and Sarah Strong was the ultimate sidekick, which left Fudd to just do her thing. But now, UConn will count on her to drive the bus alongside Strong. She understands there’s no hiding anymore.

“She's definitely become more vocal,” Caroline Ducharme said about Fudd. “That's obviously not her natural way to go about things. She would rather lead by example but she knows that this year, she kind of has no choice, so she does it in her own ways.”

Fudd first started to find her voice during UConn’s summer workouts in June. The low-stakes environment proved to be the perfect testing ground for her; she had time to settle into her new role. Fudd took it slowly at first but continued to improve as the month went on.

“One step at a time,” Fudd said. “Saying the things I see, whether it's starting with just my stuff on defense or on offense like, ‘Oh, here comes the screen,’ and ‘Screen right,’ ‘Switch this.’ Then progressing that to what I see, like, ‘Oh, you should do this,’ or ‘You should do that.’ Calling huddles — we've been playing a lot more pickup and that's been really helpful for me. To have my team, we have our team meeting before, during and after the game like, “Let's do this. Let's run this. Cut here.’ So I think it's a learning process.”

Whereas Fudd’s position on the team thrust her into a leadership role, Shade views it as a natural next step in her development. Just as she improved her defense as a sophomore, the rising junior wants to find more ways to impact the team.

“The biggest thing I want to challenge myself with this year is being another leader for this team, being a vocal leader on and off the court,” Shade said. “I think having experience being an upperclassman now, it puts me in a position to guide the younger guys and just be another voice that people can turn to on the team.”

Like Fudd, that isn’t something that comes naturally to Shade.

“I've had to force myself into that position and just try to be vocal, try to help out the younger guys,” she explained.

While both players feel as if they still need to continue developing their voice and leadership style, their teammates have noticed a difference. Even the newcomers can easily identify the loudest voices.

“I think Azzi and even Ash,” Kayleigh Heckel said when asked who stood out as a leader. “I think Ash has stepped into a leadership role, especially this year. She's an upperclassman now, so I think that she's really stepping into that and taking that role.”

The burden of leadership won’t fall exclusively on Fudd and Shade, either.

KK Arnold has been preparing to take over point guard duties from the minute she stepped on campus and understands that job requires leadership. She made an effort to learn from Bueckers, Chen and Nika Mühl before and is now well-prepared for her new role.

“I feel like my voice can be a good thing and a positive for the newcomers — the transfers and the freshmen… knowing the ropes around our program, knowing what coach wants, what we want as a team and how we want to go about things on the court,” Arnold explained.

Caroline Ducharme has also emerged as an important voice for the Huskies over the last few years, in part because that’s all she could do to help the team as she dealt with head and neck injuries that kept her sidelined.

“That was not natural when I came in. [Auriemma] was probably thinking, ‘When is she going to start talking’? So I think it took me a while to get going,” she said. “But then being out, it dawned on me that [using my voice] was going to be my only way to still have an impact on the team.”

Given the cyclical nature of college sports, new leaders typically have to be broken in on an annual basis. It’s something UConn has experienced before, though it helps that there are players willing to take up the mantle. It doesn’t have to just be upperclassmen, either — sophomore Sarah Strong was more assertive during summer workouts. Leadership comes in many forms, so through the ups and the downs of the new campaign, it won’t all fall on a few players’ shoulders.

“I think what's special about this team is that we have so many guys that have played a lot and have that experience and that confidence,” Fudd said. “This year, it's gonna be everyone. Ash is stepping up saying more. KK has been on the side, coaching and telling people what to do. Caroline [too], so I think it's going to be the whole team leads, I love that.”

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