Amid a 4-0 start to the 2025-26 season, the UConn women’s basketball team landed four players on the 50-player watchlist for the Wooden Award.
Redshirt senior guard Azzi Fudd, sophomore forward Sarah Strong and senior forward Serah Williams were selected after all three also made the preseason watchlists for the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy. Sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel also made the list. UConn is one of four programs with at least four players on the watchlist, joined by LSU, South Carolina and UCLA.
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Strong is considered a favorite to bring home national player of the year awards this season after earning second-team AP All-America honors and WBCA Freshman of the Year in 2024-25. She was named the preseason 2025-26 Big East Player of the Year and was the youngest player selected to the preseason AP All-American team. She also earned preseason recognition on the Katrina McClain Award watchlist for the nation’s best power forward.
Strong averaged 16.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.7 blocks as a freshman and is out to a hot start in her sophomore campaign. Through UConn’s first four games, she leads the team in every major statistical category with 20.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, five assists, 3.2 steals and 2.5 blocks shooting 61.1% from the field.
Fudd also looks like one of the best players of the country early in her final collegiate season. The Huskies’ sharpshooter appeared in 34 games last season after returning from a 2023 ACL tear and averaged 13.6 points shooting a career-best 47.4% from the field and leading the team hitting 43.6% from beyond the arc. She hit her stride during the NCAA Tournament and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Fudd was named a second-team preseason All-American by The Athletic and USA Today, and she landed on the watchlist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award given to the nation’s top shooting guard. She is averaging 17.8 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals shooting 46.2% from 3-point range so far this year, all of which are career highs.
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Williams was a two-time All-Big Ten first team selection and the 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year during her three seasons at Wisconsin before transferring to UConn for her senior year. She was a preseason All-Big East selection and was named to the watchlist for the Lisa Leslie Award given to the best center in the country. Williams averaged a near double-double in her last year with the Badgers, but she is still settling in with the Huskies currently averaging 8.8 points and four rebounds shooting 53.3% from the field.
Heckel also transferred to UConn this year after playing her freshman season at USC and has been an immediate contributor for the Huskies. The sophomore guard is averaging eight points, two assists and 2.8 steals in 20 minutes per game.
The Wooden Award has been given in women’s basketball every year since 2004. Only three UConn players have earned the honor: Maya Moore in 2009 and 2011, Breanna Stewart in 2015 and 2016 and Paige Bueckers in 2021. USC’s JuJu Watkins, who is out for the season with an ACL tear, earned the honor in 2024-25, and Bueckers was a top 5 finalist.
