As the curtains closes on the 2024-25 NCAA women’s basketball campaign, Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins were the sport’s two brightest stars: Bueckers for her starring role in yet another great UConn season and Watkins for doing in year two what she was always expected to do. Who has the inside track for NPOY?
The excitement reached its peak when sports media giant The Athletic broke the news that would crush Bueckers’ dreams for a storybook ending to her college career. The Athletic announced JuJu Watkins as its National Player of the Year, with her sophomore year campaign being extraordinary.
Watkins’ averages stand among the best in the country. According to The Athletic, she was averaging 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in her freshman year. While in fact Watkins averaged 24.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game this year. The numbers are low compared to her freshman year, still stand to show how dominant she really was all year.
The Athletic named JuJu Watkins its unanimous NPOY citing her sophomore year campaign of 27.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, and 3.3 apg.
These are stats from her freshman season.
This year: 24.4 ppg / 6.7 rpg / 3.6 apg.
Ta’Niya Latson leads D1 in ppg at 25.4. pic.twitter.com/bkNwLhX5ND
— Katie Lipton (@katielipton) March 3, 2025
This is a developing story…
The post No Fairytale Ending for Paige Bueckers as $7.85 Billion Giant Drops Major Bombshell on Her Biggest Rival appeared first on EssentiallySports.
