As March Madness edges closer, everyone is looking forward to seeing the biggest players in women’s college basketball do battle.
Two future WNBA superstar who could meet in latter stages of the competition are UConn’s Page Bueckers and USC’s JuJu Watkins. The NCAA’s most recent Top 16 Reveal had USC as the No. 1 seed in the Spokane Regional 3, with UConn being the No. 2 seed.
That means the Trojans and Huskies are on course to face each other for a place in the Final Four, just like they did 12 months ago in Portland. That game saw UConn come out on top thanks to a stellar display from Bueckers, who put up 28 points in an 80-73 win.
Watkins scored even more points, 29, but that wasn’t enough to stop the Huskies. Bueckers showed her true colors after the game by consoling Watkins as she wiped away the tears. The UConn star also spoke very highly of the freshman beforehand.
“Her confidence, her fearlessness and the ability to just not care that she’s a freshman, and just perform the way that she does at the level that she does, it’s pretty amazing,” Bueckers said of Watkins, who went on to be named as the WBCA Freshman of the Year.
Watkins was simply sensational last season, becoming the all-time leading scorer among freshman in NCAA Division I history. The guard, still only 19, has a chance of breaking Caitlin Clark’s NCAA Division 1 scoring record of 3,951 points before turning professional.
Bueckers consoled Watkins after UConn’s win last year (
ESPN)
At this rate, Watkins is likely to be a first overall pick in the WNBA Draft when she becomes eligible in 2027. The player who’s most likely to be the first overall pick in this year’s draft is Bueckers, who has achieved almost everything in college basketball with UConn.
The 23-year-old was named 2021 AP Player of the Year and overcame an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to regain her stellar form. The only thing missing from her CV is a national championship, and she’ll probably need to overcome Watkins to get that ring.
Impossible to predict winner of Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins
USC has already beaten the Huskies in Connecticut once this season, winning 72-70 in December. Watkins said of Bueckers after that game: “Paige is an excellent player, and I think it’s just a testament to – when you give women a platform, we’re going to perform.”
And Watkins did exactly that on Saturday by inspiring to the Trojans to a 80-67 victory against UCLA, clinching the Big Ten title. The 19-year-old was undoubtedly the star of the show, producing 30 points, three rebounds, and five assists in a dominant display.
Yet Bueckers and the Huskies have also picked up hardware in recent days, collecting the Big East title with a 72-53 win against Creighton. UConn is also coming off the back of an emphatic 87-58 victory against national champion South Carolina last month.
Right now, it’s impossible to say whether UConn or USC will win in a matchup between the two teams. Yet it promises to be a game millions of fans will tune into watch, and it’s clear Bueckers and Watkins have a huge amount of respect for each other.
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