Dallas Wings GM explains why team selected Azzi Fudd with No. 1 pick

The Dallas Wings selected UConn star Azzi Fudd with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday.

Fudd wasn't a consensus choice for the No. 1 pick in mock drafts. When asked about the team’s reasoning behind taking Fudd, Wings GM Curt Miller, though, argued that she was the best player for them, and the data and tape backed it up.

Dallas Wings kept going back to Azzi Fudd

“We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class. But it all came back, always, to Azzi,” Miller said, per Myah Taylor of the Dallas Morning News. “Words that we heard over and over again in the investigation of her were: ‘a winner,’ ‘a competitor,’ ‘a hard worker.’ Obviously, the skill set speaks for itself.”

Fudd's impressive college resume certainly backs up her case to, at the very least, be in the top five.

She's coming off averaging 17.3 points and 3.1 assists per game on 48.1 percent from the floor, helping Geno Auriemma's Huskies reach the Final Four and win 38 out of 39 games.

She also played with current Wings star Paige Bueckers — the two have also gone public about being in a relationship — in college for years and won a national championship sharing the backcourt. 

It makes sense to judge Fudd by her credentials or her skill set and argue that perhaps she wasn't the best player in her class. As long as the discourse is respectful and sticks to the facts, it should all be fair game.

That said, it should also be additional motivation for Fudd to work twice as hard to prove the naysayers wrong.