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Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins are the two biggest stars in women's college basketball at the moment -- and after locking horns in an enthralling NCAA Tournament showdown last season, Bueckers and Watkins will go at each other again when Bueckers' fourth-ranked Connecticut Huskies host Watkins' seventh-ranked Southern California Trojans on Saturday night.
The top-10 battle between players tipped to be future stars in the WNBA comes against the backdrop of a huge decision that Bueckers will have to make in the months ahead. Bueckers can enter the WNBA in 2025, where the Dallas Wings will select her #1 overall...or she can stay at UConn for one more year and enter the league in 2026, when a new collective bargaining agreement will go into effect and raise player salaries significantly.
Bueckers hands UConn icon a rare "L"
Either way, Bueckers is already ruffling feathers with her charismatic personality and willingness to speak her mind about practically anything -- including UConn luminaries like Diana Taurasi and Renee Montgomery, who is now a part-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.
Montgomery took to social media in response to a recent interview that Bueckers did in which she was asked to choose her favorite UConn players. Bueckers chose Sue Bird -- to whom she has been compared -- over Montgomery when presented with two point guard options for her ideal Huskies team, and Montgomery (humorously) let Bueckers have it online.
Bueckers this season is shooting a career-best 58 percent from the field, averaging 20.6 points per game -- both marks lead the Big East Conference. Watkins, herself likely to be an early selection in the 2027 WNBA Draft, has adjusted brilliantly to USC's move to the Big 10 Conference -- she is averaging nearly 25 points per game on improved 45 percent shooting from the floor.
After UConn defeated USC to advance to the Final Four last season, Watkins and the Trojans have revenge in mind...but Bueckers is out to prove once again why she is the best college basketball player in the country. All will be revealed at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday night.