Athletics Debate series contains two writers who break down a specific topic. In this edition, Channings Jennings and Ben Pickman Debate, that women’s basketball player must win from the ladies of the year.
CHANTER JENNINGS: As we start the last week of the season, this year there seems to be one compelling theme in Women’s College Hoops: Parity at the highest level of the game. We have already seen four no. 1 teams, and a handful of others are serious contenders for the national title. This is much busier at the top than we have ever seen (at least in the modern era of NCAA ladies’ basketball).
With that there is also a significant level of parity in the national player of the annual race, and for example I have the feeling that – just like the AP – survey between a few top teams – I went between a few players all year round.
Ben Pickman: I totally agree. Last season it was a foregone conclusion that Caitlin Clark would win the player of the year, but it feels like an open question this season. However, there seems to be a top three, in no order: Hannah Hidalgo from Notre Dame, USC’s Juju Watkins and UCLAs Lauren Betts.
Where do you tend?
Jennings: I have to admit, I often see far too many sides of an argument (it is my destiny as the center), so this choice is a challenge. In all those years I have considered this debate internally (and publicly, on the internet), I have made my decision with a more unique final factor.
That said, I lean heavily to Betts.
Every time I look at UCLA, I am taken with her gravity in terms of the focus of opponents and what that means for the skills of her teammates. Set aside that she is a Double-Double machine and consider how much her vision and passing have been factors this year. She has an average of almost three assists a match and had 11 against Minnesota. She blocks three shots per game while on average she is less than two errors per game, and this is all while playing just 30 minutes per game.
Pickman: She’s not my choice, but it’s hard not to be impressed. She draws mistakes like never before (7.6 per 40 minutes, an increase of 5.5 last year, according to CBB Analytics). She remains effectively around the edge and the rest of her scoring in the paint has been improved. She shoots 62.2 percent from four to six feet within the basket, well above the DI average of 52.2 percent.
LB last night etched her name in the record books @Laurenbetts12 Keep the record of the single-season blocks for UCLA ladies’ basketball, congratulations!#Gobruins pic.twitter.com/o1kpqueedb
– UCLA Ladies Basketball (@uccclawbb) February 21, 2025
Jennings: To be honest, it was a turning point to personally see South Carolina personally. I know it is strange that a game that did not include Betts or Ucla would be why I started to feel stronger about Betts such as my Poy choice.
Pickman: Because you were even more impressed by how she played when UCLA South Carolina defeated earlier this year?
Jennings: That game was really impressive. Betts is still one of only two players this season to compete a 10-plus point, more than 10 rebound and four-plus assist match against the GameCocks (the other player was UCONN first-year student Sarah Strong). But that was not the ultimate decisive factor.
South Carolina looks largely identical to last year’s team, except for losing Kamilla Cardoso. And yet the GameCocks do not play as efficiently, consistently or completely as impressive as last season. Shooting their outskirts has not been so solid and their defense is not that firm. Why is that? Well, they no longer have a 6-foot-7 center that holds everything down in the middle of the floor.
Seeing South Carolina with Cardoso and without Cardoso has strengthened me the value of a player who can clean up the glass, can create opportunities for the second chance and an absolute scouting nightmare, while she also makes each of her teammates better. It is a well -known argument for point guards, but it also applies to Betts.
I had three compelling thoughts after South Carolina-Uconn:
1. UConn can win the national title if it compiles six games in March and April.
2. I still feel good about the opportunities of South Carolina to make the last four.
3. Betts is the player of the year.
Pickman: I don’t think there is a lot of debate that Betts has been the best center in the country. To be honest, she is perhaps also the most improved player in the country. And yet I tend to another Big Ten player: Watkins.
She has an average of 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and two blocks per game. It is a flashy statine, but it is sometimes obviously considered because of the success of Watkins as a first -year student. But consider this: she has been more efficient as a second -year student. Her user percentage is falling, 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 further than her years. Her basketball -IQ translates into her ability to force timely stealing and to prevent pollution from becoming early in a game.
Plus, in the largest match of USC of the season – against the Bruins – Watkins became the first division I with at least 35 points, five blocks and five assists in the last 20 years. It is difficult to overlook that master class in this discussion.
Jennings: Watkins certainly does everything for the Trojan horses, but I don’t like to compare players with total statistics, because it does not take Watkins into account that plays 4 1/2 minutes more per game than Betts. When you split up the win shares every 40 minutes, Betts Watkins runs out (if only because of a hair).
Watkins has been excellent this season while navigating a similar cross -country schedule as Betts, and she did it with a largely renewed schedule around her (in contrast to Betts). The Trojans said goodbye to a couple of Ivy League -Grad transfers and welcomed one of the best recruitment classes in the nation and one of the best transfer portal classes. For the second year in a row, a largely new harvest of players turned around Watkins, and just like last season she flourished. That is not an easy task.
Absolute magic of Juju
Fs1
USC Game Day App pic.twitter.com/KNLNOCEOPL– USC Ladies Basketball (@uscwbb) February 23, 2025
Pickman: Right. For the second year in a row she has produced more points than every player in her conference. In my thoughts – and I am not alone – she is the most talented player in the country. Can you introduce your USC without Watkins? She is a big reason that it can still be a number 1 seed for the second consecutive year, an achievement that the Trojan horses have not achieved since the 1980s.
Jennings: Hidalgo must also be in this conversation. Even with the ball in her hands a little less this season because the Irish welcomed a healthy Olivia -Mijlen, she has succeeded in increasing her contribution to their success. It is wild to think that six months ago many of us wondered: “Is there really enough basketball to go around for two elite defense court players such as Miles and Hidalgo?” And the answer, emphatically supplied by both, is: oh, yes!
Hidalgo has become even more unenistent with her improved 3-point shooting. Her ability to finish on the rim has remained elite, but she shoots her in free throws has also increased by 10 percentage points, which would make the decision fulfill an even more difficult gamble. Defensively, she steals less this year on average, but ask every coach who has confronted the Irish this season and they will certainly say that Hidalgo is causing even more headaches this season in defense.
But in the end I still think that Betts has a big impact on her team and influence the outcome of games for UCLA, so for that reason she has my voice.
Pickman: Notre Dame is well positioned to also get a number 1 seed. All three players we mentioned are ditches 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 arranged. They cling to a slender lead in the accelerance race of the regular season. UCLA and USC will play on Saturday in a matchup that will determine the Big Ten title. Large impressions of Betts, Hidalgo and Watkins will influence their teams and also their award candidates.
(Photo by Lauren Betts, Links, and Juju Watkins: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)