Fans Aghast at ESPN Ranking JuJu Watkins Over Paige Bueckers
We are now just a few days away from the 2024-25 women's college basketball season being underway.
While bona fide superstars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink are no longer at their respective schools and instead playing in the WNBA, there are still plenty of household names gracing the college game.
None more so than USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins and UConn Huskies icon Paige Bueckers. Not only are these two women — who matched up in the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament — arguably the most famous players in women's college basketball right now, but they're also arguably the two best.
And in an October 31 article that ranked the top women's college basketball players for this upcoming season, ESPN declared that Watkins deserved the top spot over Bueckers.
The article wrote, "Great cases can be made for both guards, who met in an Elite Eight game last season the Huskies won 80-73. Bueckers had 28 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists then; Watkins -- who starts in the top spot after getting two first-place votes (Bueckers had the other) -- had 29 points and 10 rebounds."
Is JuJu Watkins or Paige Bueckers No. 1 in our annual ranking of the top 25 players in women’s college basketball? LSU, NC State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and USC each put multiple players on our list. https://t.co/e4wjhLi6BD
— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) October 31, 2024
Social media doesn't seem convinced that ESPN got their ranking of the two superstars correct.
"THIS IS BS, PAIGE IS THE BEST PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY 😑😑😑😑," X user @justin_1522 wrote in a reply to ESPN's X post.
Another fan added, "Paige is the best player in the country. Also why is Betts so high?"
Paige is the best player in the country. Also why is Betts so high? https://t.co/PtnL05kOc8
— KD’S BURNER (@Montrey___) October 31, 2024
"ESPN hates Paige but it’s alright," noted a third.
Watkins and Bueckers will face off once again on December 21. Perhaps Bueckers can stake her claim as women's college basketball's best player during that contest.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.