‘Just weird’: Azzi Fudd among rash of injuries hitting women’s hoops

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — UConn star Azzi Fudd wasbattling for rebounding position in the first half Sunday when shebanged knees with Georgetown’s Ariel Jenkins. Fudd left the gameand did not return.

It was just her second game back after missing eight games withan injury to the same right knee. It also came a week afterinjuries forced the fifth-ranked Huskies to postpone a game withDePaul because it did not have enough healthy players available — astep that became sadly familiar during the height of the pandemicbut is rarely seen otherwise.

A few days later, Arizona State was forced to forfeit gamesagainst Utah and Colorado because the Sun Devils had too manyinjured players.

Programs such as Vanderbilt also have lost multiple starters tothe injury report. Low roster numbers because of health issues ledLewis and Clark Community College in Illinois to cancel theremainder of its season just this week.

With injuries mounting in women’s programs, experts note thereare number of factors in play, including the specialization ofsports at a younger age, and longer recovery times contributing tothose thin benches. Certain knee injuries are more common in femaleathletes then men.

Whatever the reasons, the search for solutions is always on.

At UConn, just two players have been available for every game.Coaches have burned sage in the locker room, brought holy water topractice and had Native American dancers perform healingrituals.

Former national player of the year Paige Bueckers, who missedmost of 2021-22 with a knee injury, and freshman Ice Brady bothsuffered serious knee injuries in the preseason. Two other playersare sidelined with concussions. Other players have missed time withfoot and hand injuries.

“What kind of exercises do you do in the weight room to makesure you don’t get a concussion?” coach Geno Auriemma said.“There’s nothing, you know. What do you do to make sure that yourteammate doesn’t push a kid into you, a teammate knocks you on onthe ground and you hit your head or where you catch your thumb anda kid shirt and break your thumb in the first first game of theyear? So some of these are just weird.”

Some injuries, sports medicine experts say, may be linked to theway elite athletes are preparing for college.

Nicole Alexander, the head trainer for the WNBA’s ConnecticutSun and a former trainer at Notre Dame and North Carolina, saidkids are specializing in one sport earlier and playing that sportyear-round.

“So, they’re not getting a chance to rest their bodies,” shesaid. “You’re putting the same amount of mileage on the same bodyparts, over and over again. So, now you get these kids who are incollege, but their bodies are such that it’s almost like they’vebeen playing professional ball for 10 years because that’s allthey’ve been doing.

Fudd missed two months last year with a foot injury. She alsosuffered ACL and MCL tears while in high school.

UCLA coach Cori Close has another theory. She said she thinksthe apparent rise in injuries, especially knee injuries, can belinked to the pandemic.

“I definitely think because of COVID — the interruptions ofprehab and training and periodization and off times and preventionwork,” she said. “I talked to Geno about this at UConn and severalother coaches. And we think it’s a dramatic effect for how thetraining regimens were interrupted from COVID.”

Dr. Andrew Cosgarea, an orthopedic surgeon and sports injuryspecialist at John’s Hopkins, said there is no data yet suggestingthere are more injuries this year than in previous seasons. He saidschools have been doing a lot of work teaching kids how to preventACL and other injuries by changing, for example, the way they cut,jump and land.

Cosgarea and other experts said one factor in the lack ofavailable players is that athletes are sitting out longer becauseit leads to better outcomes when they return.

Dr. Anthony Alessi, UConn’s team neurologist, declined to talkabout specific players he’s treated, but said the time it takes toreturn varies with each individual, but on average is now between10 days and two weeks.

“It’s multi-factorial,” he said. “But, what we’ve found is thatby making the investment in time, by gradually bringing them backto their full capacity based on their symptoms, you’ll get them atfull strength to the end of the season.”

At top-ranked South Carolina, coach Dawn Staley said she’s notgoing to overrule the recommendation of her trainer just to get aplayer back sooner.

“He’s not going to tell me when to put the 2-3 (zone) out thereor when to do a triangle and two. I don’t interfere in his businessso that our players are ready to rock and roll. I’m going tolisten,” she said.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said coaches have to take some ofthe responsibility for not having enough healthy players to put afull team on the court.

“Women’s basketball has 15 scholarships,” she said. “I thinkit’s a challenge sometimes but it’s your responsibility as coachesto have a full roster. It’s challenging when you have a new coachand the (transfer) portal and people leave and stuff but part of italso is keeping people healthy. That’s a big part of the job.”

Auriemma said coaches have already cut back on the length,number and intensity of practices on the advice of medical staff,sometimes to the detriment of play. He said he is learning to bemore patient when it comes to injuries.

UConn guard Nika Mühl, who missed time last year with aconcussion, said that’s the hardest part for everyone involved.

“We see everybody playing every day you just want to get outthere already but you have to go through the protocol,” shesaid.

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AP Sports Writers Peter Iacobelli and Joe Reedy contributed tothis story.