Ranking the top women's NCAA basketball players for 2024-25 - ESPN

Women's college basketball is about to take the handoff from the most-talked-about WNBA season ever. The star watch is on right away: Who is No. 1 in ESPN's preseason top 25 player rankings?

We debated between dynamic scorer JuJu Watkins of the USC Trojans and former national player of the year Paige Bueckers of the UConn Huskies.

Great cases can be made for both guards, who met in an Elite Eight game last season the Huskies won 80-73. Bueckers had 28 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists then; Watkins — who starts in the top spot after getting two first-place votes (Bueckers had the other) — had 29 points and 10 rebounds.

They will face off this season on Dec. 21 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Bueckers could be the WNBA's No. 1 draft pick next April; Watkins could be in that spot in 2027.

Seven teams — LSU, NC State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and USC — put multiple players in our ranking. Azzi Fudd, Bueckers' UConn teammate, is a notable omission. Fudd, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, is expected back in December and will be considered for subsequent player rankings this season.

Last season's freshman class made headlines, and it is well represented here with six sophomores in the top 25. No current freshmen made the list, which was compiled by voting from ESPN's Charlie Creme, Alexa Philippou and Michael Voepel.

All stats are from 2023-24 unless otherwise noted.

Guard | 6-foot-2 | sophomore
Stats: 27.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.3 APG

As the No. 1 recruit, Watkins was a known commodity entering her freshman season. But she still managed to surpass expectations of just how dominant and transformative she would be in Year 1. She did a little bit of everything but ultimately stood out as a