Despite several massive superstars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink (to name a few) leaving college basketball for the WNBA in 2024, the women's college game was still left in a great place.
This is shown by there still being stars like UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers, USC Trojans sophomore JuJu Watkins, and Notre Dame spark plug Hannah Hidalgo. All three of these players entered the 2024-25 NCAAW season with a lot of hype and all delivered.
However, there can only be one National Player of the Year winner. And a March 13 article from ESPN delivered their verdict on who it should be.
"Player of the Year: JuJu Watkins, USC Trojans," the article wrote. It went on to add, "Watkins was a revelation last year as a freshman, and might have won national player of the year had she not been overlapping with Clark. This year's race had several strong candidates -- including Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, who was the midseason front-runner.
"But Watkins separated herself down the stretch with outstanding play in some of USC's biggest games, helping the Trojans earn their first regular-season conference crown since 1994 (not to mention in their first year in a new league)," it added.
This section of the article concluded by writing, "Watkins looks poised to deliver the Trojans their first consecutive No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament since Cheryl Miller's tenure, and she has her sights set on something else that USC last accomplished with Miller: hanging a national championship banner in the Galen Center."
ESPN's writers name their women’s college basketball player of the year, coach of the year, All-Americans, All-Freshman Team and biggest surprise.https://t.co/zbOfoAqruC
— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) March 13, 2025
There's no doubt that Watkins is deserving of this honor. However, she would surely prefer to win a NCAA National Championship trophy over any Player of the Year accolade if she had to choose.
