With the end-of-season awards soon to be announced, it’s time to reflect on who has made the biggest impact in women’s college basketball.
One award that has been interesting to track is Freshman of the Year. We’ve had many elite freshmen ready to compete immediately and contribute to winning basketball. There have been so many great first-year performances we even started a new series, Freshman Files, to highlight these players.
When it comes to who is most deserving of this award in 2024, all opinions are valid, but only one is right: JuJu Watkins is the Freshman of the Year.
The many ways Watkins has wowed
There are many reasons why Watkins is the best freshman player in all of college basketball. Instead of spewing all the stats at once, I’ll start with this: If she were eligible for the WNBA draft, I’d consider taking her No. 1—even over Caitlin Clark—and the lowest I’d take her is at No. 2.
At 18 years old, she’s that good, and by every metric you can use, she is exceeding all expectations. She averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game this season; only Clark is averaging more points per game at 31.9. Thanks to her being the center of the USC universe, the team has excelled, winning the Pac-12 Tournament title and ending the…
