Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins: How UConn and USC stars will keep women's basketball in the spotlight

USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb noticed a stranger approaching. She thought maybe she had spilled something and he would point it out to her. Instead, he stopped near their table and paused.

“Hey, Coach,” he said. “I thought it was you. I have to ask…”

She waited.

“Is JuJu really 1.90 meters tall?” he asked.

Gottlieb laughed. She replied — yes, JuJu Watkins is listed at 6-foot-2 — and then joked that it depends on how much of Watkins' iconic bun counts. A big guard in the even bigger Big Ten was an enticing prospect for this LA sports fan. Even over the summer, he eagerly looked forward to the season where USC – a team that appeared on national networks just three times last season before advancing to the Elite Eight after the season – appeared nine times on ESPN, FOX, FS1 and NBC will be watching the Big Ten Tournament.

He thanked Gottlieb, wished her luck and set off.

The exchange felt oddly familiar to Gottlieb, just not as the head coach of USC, a program she took over in 2021 when it was still a basement dweller in the Pac-12. Instead, it reminded her of experiences during two seasons as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, when voracious NBA fans wanted to break down every possible match and every possible moment.

“For those of us who have really been following this game for a long time, we knew there were great players before, we knew the great stories before, but now we have to see the rest of the world understand it and take notice really cool,” Gottlieb said. “Then you add this type of position that I was thrust into, where we're one of the programs where one of these star players gets a ton of attention. It's a big responsibility. It's a great opportunity.

“It’s not lost on me that we’re at the peak of this moment, so to speak.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma can trace more than 2,500 miles across the country. For nearly four decades, some of the biggest stars to play the game have come through the Huskies' gym. But the fanfare didn't match what he saw on the men's side.

Until now.

In early October, UConn announced that season ticket packages had sold out for the first time since the 2004-05 season after Diana Taurasi won a national championship as a senior.

This didn't happen during the Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart years, or after 111 straight wins or four straight national titles. Not until now – Paige Buecker’s last season in Storrs.

“There are people who have never had an opinion who now have an opinion or who want to know things they never wanted to know, but now they are familiar with names and events that they never thought twice about in the past. said Auriemma. “The die-hard fans can’t wait for the season to start. But the casual fan tuned in, took a sip and is now curious.”

The increasing attention on women's basketball is undeniable. Every number confirms it. Last season's NCAA Tournament set viewership records, including a title game that drew 18.9 million viewers (beating the men's title game by nearly 4 million, something most fans assumed would never happen). Iowa star Caitlin Clark's uncanny knack for the big moment and ability to hit logo three-pointers drew millions, but those fans also found other players, teams and games they enjoyed. Even excluding Iowa's NCAA Tournament games, ESPN viewership increased 43 percent during March Madness last year.

Clark's draw, as well as that of Angel Reese at LSU, continued in the WNBA. Attendance and viewership for “Indiana Fever” skyrocketed; The same was true for Reese's Chicago Sky. Again, these new WNBA fans stayed for the other great talents.

Paige Bueckers' Huskies defeated JuJu Watkins' Trojans in the Elite Eight, but both players recorded 20-point double-doubles. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Stars drive sports and leagues forward. They attract casual observers and turn them into die-hard observers. With Clark and Reese leaving for the WNBA, there's no disappointment for the college basketball stars who help carry the sport's meaning, but the attention will be focused on two.

Two coasts, two conferences and two national title contenders feature Watkins of USC and Bueckers of UConn. They play in programs that are iconic in their own way and recognized worldwide. They are both elite – potentially generational – and have the ball in their hands more than almost anyone else.

Watkins is the reigning Freshman of the Year and is trying to revitalize a Trojans that didn't matter during her lifetime. She's the hometown kid who produced stars like Kevin Hart, Saweetie, LeBron James and John Wall at last season's home games. The smoothness of her game and her effortless quality make it seem like she's never rushed the floor before, whether she's pulling up from three or attacking the basket (or hitting a shot somewhere in between).

Kevin Hart was in attendance to watch JuJu Watkins and the USC Women's Basketball team ✌️#ncaaw #fighton pic.twitter.com/31PLjQDknN

– WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) December 20, 2023

Bueckers, who was named national player of the year as a freshman four years ago, is in her final season at UConn. Despite her lauded legacy, few high school players were more celebrated than her upon entering Storrs. And yet, in her fifth year, a national championship — of which UConn has won 11 — has eluded Bueckers. She's a slender guard with so much skill inside that even when she played at the Four last season, she was still named an All-American. A player so confident that she trademarked her nickname “Paige Buckets” before her sophomore season.

The game, the storyline and the fame of Watkins and Bueckers, as well as the meeting between USC and UConn in December (a rematch of last season's Elite Eight) are reasons why people, including new fans, are tuning in to women's basketball this season will be.

But unlike the players before them with the same characteristics, they are competing in a time of unprecedented change.

The NCAA was forced to invest more in the women's NCAA Tournament due to an investigation that revealed serious disparities in men's and women's NCAA basketball. Because of the growing attention, ESPN – the media partner of the women's NCAA Tournament – paid big last year for the media rights to broadcast the event. Because of NIL, players like Bueckers and Watkins are recognizable outside women's basketball circles and work with major companies like Nike and Gatorade. Watkins was spotted at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, threw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in June and won the ESPY for best breakout athlete. Bueckers attended the US Open, where she was wowed by Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff, sat front row at New York Fashion Week and appeared on the JumboTron at a Los Angeles Rams game.

“We have no boundaries, and that's why you see talent, you see coaching, you see fan support, you see spectators – you see all those things,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “This is probably the biggest move in our game in its history, and it couldn't happen at a more perfect time. … There are so many people tuned in; We met at that moment.”

To continue to fulfill this moment, women's basketball needs the next wave of stars. It takes teams with compelling storylines (Staley's Gamecocks are a perfect example of reigning champions coming back after an undefeated season to repeat), but it also takes individuals like Watkins and Bueckers, whose stories and journeys will be just as compelling this season like their game the floor.

“It's great that we have them because it would be a shame to build on last year's star strength and then not be able to build on it this season,” said Auriemma. “We have to present these guys and these teams and play well. We need to give all these new people who are going to be watching something to look forward to so they will want to come back.”

If Bueckers and Watkins do what their coaches believe, new fans will certainly have reasons to move on and find their next favorite players once Bueckers and Watkins head to the pros.

Auriemma and Gottlieb, who have been involved in this game for decades, know that this moment is not just different; it is long overdue. What comes next (or who comes next, really) will move the sport forward.

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic One; Top photos of Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins: G Fiume / Getty Images, Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)