The Athletic’s debate series features two writers breaking down a specific topic. In this edition, Chantel Jennings and Ben Pickman debate which women’s college basketball player should win Player of the Year.
Chantel Jennings: As we head into the final week of the season, there seems to be one overriding theme in women’s college hoops this year: parity at the top level of the game. We’ve already seen four No. 1 teams, and a handful of others are serious contenders for the national title. This is far more crowded at the top than we’ve ever seen (at least in the modern era of NCAA women’s basketball).
With that, there’s also a significant level of parity in the national Player of the Year race, and I, for one, feel like — just as the AP poll has jostled between a few top teams — I’ve gone between a few players throughout the year.
Ben Pickman: I totally agree. Last season, it was a foregone conclusion that Caitlin Clark would win Player of the Year honors, but it feels like an open question this season. However, there appears to be a top three, in no order: Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, USC’s JuJu Watkins and UCLA’s Lauren Betts.
Where are you leaning?
Jennings: I must admit, I often see way too many sides of an argument (it is my lot as a middle child), so this choice is challenging. In all the years I’ve considered this debate internally (and publicly, on the internet), I reached my decision with a more unique final factor.
With that said, I’m leaning heavily toward Betts.
Every time I watch UCLA, I’m taken with her gravitational pull in terms of opponents’ focus and what that means for her teammates’ abilities. Put aside that she’s a double-double machine, and consider how much her vision and passing have been factors this year. She’s averaging nearly three assists a game and had 11 against Minnesota. She blocks three shots a game while averaging fewer than two fouls per game, and this is all while playing only 30 minutes a game.
Pickman: She’s not my pick, but it’s hard to be unimpressed. She is drawing fouls like never before (7.6 per 40 minutes, up from 5.5 last year, according to CBB Analytics). She remains effective around the rim, and the rest of her scoring within the paint has improved. She shoots 62.2 percent from within four to six feet of the basket, well above the DI average of 52.2 percent.
LB etched her name in the record books last night @laurenbetts12 now holds the single-season blocks record for UCLA Women’s Basketball, congrats Lo!#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/O1kpQueeDB
— UCLA Women’s Basketball (@UCLAWBB) February 21, 2025
Jennings: Honestly, seeing South Carolina in person recently was a tipping point. I know, it’s weird that a game that didn’t include Betts or UCLA would be why I started feeling more strongly about Betts as my POY pick.
Pickman: Because you came away even more impressed with how she played when UCLA beat South Carolina earlier this year?
Jennings: That game was really impressive. Betts is still one of just two players this season to record a 10-plus point, 10-plus rebound and four-plus assist game against the Gamecocks (the other player was UConn freshman Sarah Strong). But that wasn’t the ultimate deciding factor.
South Carolina looks largely identical to last year’s team except for losing Kamilla Cardoso. And yet, the Gamecocks aren’t playing nearly as efficiently, consistently or quite as impressively as last season. Their outside shooting hasn’t been as solid and their defense isn’t quite as stout. Why is that? Well, they no longer have a 6-foot-7 center holding down everything in the middle of the floor.
Seeing South Carolina with Cardoso and without Cardoso has reinforced to me the value of a player who can clean up the glass, create second-chance opportunities and be an absolute scouting nightmare, while also making each of her teammates better. It’s a familiar argument for point guards, but it also applies to Betts.
I had three overriding thoughts after South Carolina-UConn:
1. UConn can win the national title if it puts six games together like that in March and April.
2. I still feel fine about South Carolina’s chances of making the Final Four.
3. Betts is the Player of the Year.
Pickman: I don’t think there’s much debate that Betts has been the country’s best center. Frankly, she might also be the nation’s most improved player. And yet, I’m leaning toward another Big Ten player: Watkins.
She’s averaging 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and two blocks per game. It’s a gaudy stat line, but it’s sometimes taken for granted because of Watkins’ success as a freshman. But consider this: She has been more efficient as a sophomore. Her usage rate is down, and yet she still leads the conference with 7.9 win shares, per Sports Reference. She controls every aspect of the game and plays with wisdom beyond her years. Her basketball IQ translates into her ability to force timely steals and to avoid fouling if she gets whistled early in a game.
Plus, in USC’s biggest game of the season — against the Bruins — Watkins became the first Division I player with at least 35 points, five blocks and five assists in the last 20 years. It’s hard to overlook that masterclass in this discussion.
Jennings: Watkins certainly does everything for the Trojans, but I don’t love comparing players with total stats because it doesn’t account for Watkins playing 4 1/2 minutes more per game than Betts. When you break down win shares per 40 minutes, Betts edges out Watkins (if only by a hair).
Watkins has been excellent this season while navigating a similar cross-country schedule as Betts, and she has done it with a largely revamped roster around her (unlike Betts). The Trojans said goodbye to a bunch of Ivy League grad transfers and welcomed one of the nation’s top high school recruiting classes and one of the best transfer portal classes. For the second year in a row, a largely new crop of players revolved around Watkins, and, like last season, she has thrived. That’s no easy task.
Absolute magic from JuJu
FS1
USC Game Day App pic.twitter.com/KnlnOCEoPl— USC Women’s Basketball (@USCWBB) February 23, 2025
Pickman: Right. For the second year in a row, she has produced more points than any player in her conference. In my mind — and I’m not alone — she’s the most talented player in the country. Can you imagine USC without Watkins? She is a big reason it could still be a No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year, a feat the Trojans haven’t achieved since the 1980s.
Jennings: Hidalgo needs to be in this conversation, too. Even with the ball in her hands slightly less this season because the Irish welcomed back a healthy Olivia Miles, she has managed to increase her contribution to their success. It’s wild to think that six months ago many of us were wondering, “Is there really enough basketball to go around for two elite backcourt players like Miles and Hidalgo?” And the answer, emphatically delivered by both, has been: Oh, yes!
Hidalgo has become even more unguardable with her improved 3-point shooting. Her ability to finish at the rim has remained elite, but her free-throw shooting has increased, too, by 10 percentage points, making the decision to foul her an even tougher gamble. Defensively, she’s averaging fewer steals this year, but ask any coach who has faced the Irish this season and they’ll certainly say that Hidalgo causes even more headaches this season on defense.
But ultimately, I still think Betts has a great impact on her team and influence on the outcome of games for UCLA, so for that reason, she has my vote.
Pickman: Notre Dame is well positioned to get a No. 1 seed as well. All three of the players we’ve mentioned are locks for the All-America team, but each still has a lot to play for.
The Irish close their regular season against Florida State and Louisville, both of whom are ranked. They’re clinging to a slim lead in the ACC regular-season title race. UCLA and USC play Saturday in a matchup that will decide the Big Ten title. Big showings from Betts, Hidalgo and Watkins will impact their teams and also their award candidacies.
(Photo of Lauren Betts, left, and JuJu Watkins: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
