UConn may have steamrolled UCLA in this year’s Final Four, but next season promises a rematch laced with vengeance. Lauren Betts isn’t just running it back—she’s hunting for redemption, a national title, and maybe one last dance with her sister in powder blue. And standing in her way? Azzi Fudd, still in Husky blue, ready to defend her turf.

Both Fudd and Betts had every reason to leap to the WNBA. The 2025 Draft had their names written in lottery ink—polished games, pro-ready instincts, spotlight built in. But they hit pause. Not out of hesitation, but purpose.

Azzi Fudd’s return isn’t just a comeback—it’s a mission

A mission to finish what injuries stole; fueled by Geno Auriemma’s belief in potential.

Azzi Fudd’s story has always read like the script of a star who was destined to rise. The top recruit in the nation when she committed to UConn in 2020, Fudd’s jumper once earned praise from Stephen Curry, who called it more “textbook” than anyone’s he’d seen. But if her talent was elite, her timeline has been anything but smooth.

Her college career has been a sequence of injuries—an ACL and MCL tear in 2019, 11 missed games as a freshman, 22 as a sophomore, and another ACL tear derailing her 2023-24 campaign. In total, she’s played just 72 games in four seasons. Still, when she has suited up, she’s been electric. In 2025, she dropped 28 points on defending champion South Carolina and posted a career-high 27 points in the NCAA tournament opener against Arkansas State.

Yet, even that flash hasn’t been enough to convince her—or her coach—that she’s truly had her moment.

“Do I think she’s ready? Um, I mean, I’ve always thought to myself that players have to be tremendously confident when they leave here about what the next step for them is,” Geno Auriemma said in a post-game press conference in early March. “And I just want her to make sure that she’s played enough basketball here, done enough things, tested herself enough, that she feels completely 100% ready to go.”

Fudd agreed. “He said, ‘I would say 10 games, maybe, you’ve played to your full potential of who Azzi Fudd really is and so you wouldn’t do yourself justice leaving,’” she recalled. “‘You would leave here not doing what you could in a UConn uniform.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, he has a point.’”

There’s also a very real hunger in Fudd—not for the pros, but for completeness. “Next year, I want to get all these things done, and I want to make sure that him and all the other coaches, even my teammates, are on my back, making sure that I’m being held accountable for everything.”

Fudd wants to step out of Paige Bueckers’ shadow as the team’s primary leader. She knows she has to be the vocal presence, the engine. “Paige is going to be gone, so I can’t rely on her to speak and do all that [leadership] stuff, on and off the court,” Fudd said to ESPN. “I will have to be in that position.”

And perhaps most poignantly, she’s motivated by memory. “I’m playing for me who couldn’t play last year,” she said. “I know what it feels like to be on the outside, so I don’t want to take even a possession for granted or lightly at all but especially now during the tournament.”

Why is Lauren Betts staying at the Bruins?

For Lauren Betts, the decision to stay echoes with joy rather than redemption. While Fudd’s journey has been about climbing back, Betts is building something that’s already in motion—and she’s in no rush to leave.

The 6-foot-7 center, once ranked No. 1 in the 2022 ESPN HoopGurlz rankings, could easily be a lottery pick. Her numbers are strong, her ceiling high, and her presence unmissable. But her return to UCLA in 2025-26 isn’t about the WNBA just yet—it’s about legacy, love, and sisterhood.

“College is the best years of your life, and so I don’t think I’d ever give that up,” Betts told ESPN. “Why not be spoiled for a whole another year? The way the coaches take care of us in this program, like, how comfortable I am here, and I think that the friendships I’ve created—I’d want to do that for another year.”

And then came the game-changer: her younger sister Sienna, the No. 2 prospect in the 2025 ESPN Top 100, committed to UCLA. For Betts, the decision was no longer just about development—it became personal.

“I think that I would be crazy if I gave up the opportunity to play with my sister, so obviously, I’m going to come back next year,” she said.

The idea of siblings on the court is more than sentimental—it’s foundational. Betts wants to share that moment, that history, that jersey. With her back in the Bruins lineup, UCLA isn’t just retaining an elite post player—they’re forming a family dynasty. And Betts knows exactly what’s still on the table.

“I want to win a national championship, obviously, if not this year, then obviously next year,” she said. “But hopefully we could just do it both times.” For Fudd and Betts, it’s a bet on their future. For us, it’s a showdown in the making—and the entertainment is all but guaranteed.