Top 10 players in women’s college basketball: Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, more

With the women’s college hoops season less than a week away, it’s time for a quick refresher on the best talent who will dominate the main stage this season.

Yesterday we counted down from spots 20 to 11, and today, we reveal the top 10, with a No. 1 spot that is sure to prompt arguments and debate all season. Presenting The Athletic’s top 10 players for the 2024-25 season, along with a scout from a coach who faced each player last season.

Kansas State, 6-6 fifth-year senior center

Key stats: 19.7 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 2.8 BPG, 62% FG

With her height and length, Lee, who holds the NCAA Division I single-game scoring record (61 points), is dominant in the paint even without the ball in her hands. She plays her game within three feet of the basket and given how efficient and imposing she is on offense and defense, there’s no reason for her to branch out too far. Last season, Lee shot 62 percent from the floor and 73 percent on putbacks, but what makes her unique (especially as a 6-foot-6 big) is that she doesn’t make costly errors. In 2023-24, with a 31 percent usage rate, Lee ranked among the top 1 percent of players in turnover percentage.

🏀 @AP All-American Honorable Mention 🏀@Yokie50 pic.twitter.com/j5VPeFWxeH

— K-State Women’s Basketball (@KStateWBB) October 26, 2024

Coach’s scout: “Ayoka is strong. You cannot move her. And it’s not just that. She is so efficient in her movement that she commands so much attention. If you haven’t played her before, you underestimate her. Not only does she have good footwork, but she can hold her ground. You will not move her. The other thing is that the rest of the players are long, too. Kansas State’s perimeter players are long. If you’re a small guard, you can’t pressure the pass enough. That gives her more space almost because they have such long passers.”

South Carolina, 5-9 fifth-year senior guard

Key stats: 11.0 PPG, 3.7 APG, 47% 3pt FG

One of the best 3-point shooters in the country last season, Paopao is back for her COVID-19 bonus year in Columbia and ready to lead South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ paint presence will look a lot different without Kamilla Cardoso, but assuming that just puts more pressure on Paopao, South Carolina should feel confident. As good of an offensive threat and defensive stalwart as she was a season ago, perhaps her best quality comes in how few self-inflicted wounds she causes. Paopao distributes without turning over the ball, organizes the Gamecocks defense, and last season, directed a group that coach Dawn Staley referred to as a “daycare” into a streamlined undefeated national champ.

Coach’s scout: “On that team of all those terrific players, you can get lulled into thinking that she’s just there to knock down a couple 3s, but she’s a complete basketball player. She knows how to play. She finds the players she is supposed to find. She knocks down big shots when she has to. She runs the team when she has to. She’s just a complete basketball player who is the kind of player who makes championship teams, championship teams. Without her, you’d be missing a big piece.”

LSU, 5-10 junior wing

Key stats: 14.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.1 SPG

Flau’jae Johnson has shown a little bit of everything in her first two seasons — the dynamism in transition, point of attack defense and a steady (if infrequent) 3-point jumper. Most importantly, she has a knack for being exactly what the Tigers need. As a junior, she’ll need to put all of that together. No longer is Angel Reese around to singlehandedly win possessions for LSU. Johnson will have to be an efficient and high-volume scorer who is also their best perimeter defender. There’s no reason to believe she can’t. She has the speed, the elevation and the IQ to read the floor and pick her spots. She also has the star power to believe that she can assert herself more often.

Coach’s scout: “She’s smooth. She’s smart. And it can kill you. Especially when she had Reese around her. She had a lot around her and I’m sure Kim (Mulkey) has a lot around her again. But she makes it look like everything is easy for her. It looks effortless. And you watch her on film, and it’s like, ‘But how did you do that?’”

UCLA, 6-7 junior center

Key stats: 14.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 2.0 BPG, 64% FG

Fifteen points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks a game is an impressive stat line for any player. Now consider that Betts played just around 25 minutes a game last season. With another year in UCLA’s system under her belt, expect her to assert herself even more and in longer spurts. The addition of Oregon State transfer Timea Gardiner will make Betts even more dangerous. Gardiner, a 6-3 junior, is talented enough to draw some attention away from Betts, putting her in single coverage more often, which should help her exploit those mismatches even better than last season.

Coach’s scout: “She’s a unique talent, and she’s one of the most skilled bigs in the country. You just can’t teach 6-7. She changes the trajectory of the game with her presence. She scores with either hand, and so you can’t not account for her at any time. UCLA largely will go as she goes — her foul trouble, her health, her everything. They’re a different team without her. There are some things: How well will she handle double teams, pace and physicality? But for me, her presence puts UCLA at an echelon that I don’t know if they’d be at if they didn’t have her.”

LSU, 6-1 senior guard

Key stats: 16.4 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 1.1 BPG

Morrow has one of the best midrange games in women’s college hoops and she’s excellent with defensive positioning and execution. Even though she’s only 6-1, she can out-rebound almost anyone in the SEC. As a freshman at DePaul, she was the country’s leading rebounder. With Reese gone to the WNBA, she has an opportunity to be an even larger presence on the floor, and it’s fair to expect Morrow to happily take up that space, given the scoring role she assumed before transferring.

Coach’s scout: “She’s unorthodox — is explosive, can drive on you, rebound like crazy, just a nightmare matchup. She’s not going to hit you from the 3, but if she touches the ball, it’s going to be a bucket or something positive for their team. And she has this will behind her play. There are a lot of players that rely on their natural gifts, but she has this will to pull her team. It’s those intangibles that you can’t game plan against.”

5. Maddie Booker

Texas, 6-1 sophomore wing

Key stats: 16.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.5 SPG

Booker had a baptism by fire as a freshman as she was thrown into the point guard position for Texas after Rori Harmon’s ACL injury 12 games into last season. Despite never playing the position before, Booker thrived (and so did the Longhorns). Now, back in her natural position as a wing/big guard, Booker will have an opportunity to create her shot — one of the smoothest in college hoops — while also having one of the best point guards in the nation create for her. Offensively, her midrange game has always thrived, and with an offseason under her belt (read: another full year in Texas’ strength and conditioning program), her relentless motor should be that much more unstoppable this season.

Coach’s scout: “Her pull-up jumper is untouchable. And that’s tough. You see the photos and videos of her from SEC media day this season, and her body looks even better. I think this year, there won’t be as much on her, and with that, she’ll flourish even more. From a defensive standpoint, it helps her that Rori is back, too, because I think last year people kind of went at her as a defender. They have a great team defense, but they didn’t have a Rori.”

Notre Dame, 5-6 sophomore guard

Key stats: 22.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 5.5 APG, 4.6 SPG

In the absence of point guard Olivia Miles last season, Hannah Hidalgo stepped into the fold as a freshman and became one of the most feared backcourt players in America. Despite giving up three to four inches to her defenders (and six-plus inches to anyone in the paint), Hidalgo still managed to shoot 65 percent at the rim last season as she sliced and diced defenses with her speed and change of direction. That same ability made her the best pocket-picker in the game, leading the nation in steals last season. The biggest question mark in South Bend this season is what might make Hidalgo even more dangerous: the return of Miles. With those two anchoring the Irish backcourt, and Hidalgo not needing to do as much on both ends with a healthier and more talented team around her, she might just have a greater impact on the game.

Coach’s scout: “She impacts the game in both ways – her quickness and speed and tenaciousness. I’ll be interested to see if that’s still as on display with Olivia Miles back. The fact that she’s smaller — it has no impact whatsoever. It’s probably an advantage for her. She plays so hard. She’s so smart and she puts herself out there. She hunts down the steals. A lot of kids, they’re content to run back on defense and play defense because the coach told them to. She plays defense like she loves it.”

GO DEEPER

Women’s college basketball preseason All-Americans: Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo

3. Kiki Iriafen

USC, 6-3 graduate transfer forward

Key stats (Stanford): 19.4 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 2.3 APG

Last season, Iriafen worked in tandem with Cameron Brink at Stanford to create a two-headed monster that opponents couldn’t quite figure out. It’s pretty hard to upgrade from playing with the No. 2 pick in the WNBA Draft, but Iriafen somehow managed to do it. Now, at USC, she gets to play off Watkins, Talia von Oelhoffen and Rayah Marshall. She’ll be the best rebounder in college hoops this season, finding extra possessions for herself and her teammates on the offensive glass and asserting herself with second-chance points. With defenders being forced to pick their poison with this USC starting five, Iriafen could find herself with more spacing and opportunity than last season.

Coach’s scout: “She always knows how to get the ball and where to get the ball. She’s athletic, and I love her demeanor. She’s not going to be the Player of the Year, but if USC makes the Final Four, USC will thank God she is there. She’s crazy athletic, skilled, great hands. She’s amazingly good when she takes a step off the block. That sounds silly, but when she posts and gets off the block to give herself some space and distance, she makes the shot or creates fouls. She was also 10 times better live than on tape. That’s rare. The last time that happened for me was Maya Moore. She was really good on video. But during the game, I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ she was even better.”

USC, 6-2 sophomore wing

Key stats: 27.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.3 SPG, 1.6 BPG

Despite the highlight-reel plays she made last season, perhaps the most veteran-like aspect of Watkins’ game was her cool demeanor. She never seemed to get overwhelmed or fazed. Whether her shot was going in, whether she was drawing fouls or getting hacked without calls, whether the Trojans were leading — Watkins was calm and collected. Now, just imagine what she’ll do with an extra year of experience, especially as she’s now surrounded with more starting talent. The key to unlocking USC’s potential and Watkins’ upside could be von Oelhoffen from Oregon State taking some ballhandling pressure off Watkins and allowing her to operate more freely in space. Von Oelhoffen and Iriafen will boost the Trojans’ defensive pressure, allowing Watkins to get out in transition, which was arguably the best part of her game.

Coach’s scout: “She has size and athletic ability and can score in a lot of different ways, different places. I don’t know if there’s another player in college like her at that size that does those things. There are other good players, but none like her. She just finds a way to get the ball in the basket.”

UConn, 6-0 fifth-year senior guard

Key stats: 22.2 PPG, 59% FG, 42% 3pt FG, 5.2 RPG, 3.8 APG, 2.2 SPG, 1.4 BPG

The debate over the nation’s top player will be argued all season: Is it Paige or JuJu? Valid arguments can be made on either side, and ultimately, the real winner is everyone who gets to enjoy their play and the debate.

Ultimately, this is why the scales tilted ever so slightly to Bueckers: She showed an almost unreal sense of urgency last season when she carried the Huskies to the Final Four. Watkins’ likely freshman-to-sophomore bump will be significant, but do not underestimate how Bueckers, who said this will be her final season of college hoops, will raise her game once again. Bueckers, who bulked up in the offseason, benefits mightily from the chance to return to the perimeter after a season spent playing the four (due to UConn’s health and numbers issues). That should open up her game even more. Gone are Nika Mühl and Aaliyah Edwards, but Bueckers will have plenty of solid scoring options around her, which could help get her assists return to her freshman season numbers (5.8 per game).

Coach’s scout: “Paige is really hard to prepare for. She’s so complete. It’s hard to do a scouting report. She moves well off the ball. She is a danger with the ball in her hands. She can go get the bucket or she can create. I know there’s talk that she needs to be more aggressive, she needs to shoot more. I think what makes her really dangerous though is this idea that it makes it hard to do a game plan on UConn because it’s like, take away this, even if it’s hard, and we can win. Because she is so dynamic. Her defense improved so much last year. There’s just not a lot of holes there.”

(Top photos of Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins:  Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images, Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images))