Caitlin Clark captivated a nation with logo threes, daring dimes and a march toward history in the 2023-24 NCAA season. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer headlined a star-studded WNBA Draft class that included LSU’s Angel Reese, Stanford’s Cameron Brink and UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards.
As the alums watch from afar, it’s time for the next generation to step in — or move further up — as the new faces of college basketball. This isn’t a basic run-of-the-mill players to watch list. To become the face of a sport requires a blend of talent, skill, swag and circumstance.
The five players below are in prime positions to win awards, chase records and reach historic milestones in favorable markets ready for a superstar. They’re the faces history will remember about the 2024-25 season.
1. Paige Bueckers, UConn
Surely, you remember Paige Bueckers. A.K.A. Paige Buckets. A bonafide superstar hitting up lavish sporting events while, yes, making it back to Storrs, Connecticut, for Monday morning classes. The first freshman to win the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, Associated Press Player of the Year and USBWA Player of the Year honors. A generational talent who graced magazine covers out of Hopkins High School in Minnesota and was expected to break Connecticut’s title skid.
Bueckers would have been part of the revolutionary 2024 WNBA rookie class, but injuries have marred her collegiate career. After leading UConn to the 2021 Final Four in her home state and the 2022 championship game as a sophomore, she missed all of 2022-23 with an ACL injury. She again put the Huskies on her back, despite a depleted roster, to storm back into the Final Four last March.
An early season Naismith favorite and unanimous AP preseason All-American, Bueckers is chasing a national championship one last time. The Huskies faithful have sold out their games at Gampel Pavilion on campus for the first time since 2004-05, the season after Diana Taurasi departed having won three consecutive national titles.
UConn superstars have always garnered outsized national attention and Bueckers is the projected No. 1 WNBA Draft pick. The senior 6-foot guard is a nightly highlight reel with elite passing ability, though head coach Geno Auriemma wants to see her be more selfish. She came out of high school as the No. 1 recruit in 2021 (Clark was No. 4 in the class) and wants to leave on top as she started.
2. Juju Watkins, USC
Watkins, the No. 1 recruit in 2023, lived up to expectations both individually and as the catalyst for her hometown program’s renewed relevancy. Now, the unanimous AP All-American selection could be coming for Clark’s all-time NCAA scoring record.
The big 6-2 guard set an NCAA Division I freshman record with 920 points last year as a certified walking bucket who effortlessly drops 30. She averaged 27.1 per game, second to Clark, shooting 40.1% overall and 31.9% from 3-point range. Both of those clips (and even a 85.2% mark from the free throw line) should improve as she settles further into the collegiate game. The reigning Freshman of the Year and Ann Meyers Drysdale winner for the nation’s best shooting guard used the offseason to work on her left hand.
The Trojans’ move to the Big Ten could not have come at a better time for the rising star and teammate Kiki Iriafen, a 6-3 senior power forward and projected first-round WNBA pick in April. The conference does a good job elevating its teams’ profiles by working with TV partners for national programming no matter the day of the week. More than half of USC’s schedule is available nationwide (NBC, FOX, FS1 and truTV will all carry at least two contests) whereas last year in the Pac-12 its games were difficult to view. Celebrities already began stopping by USC campus to see the star, further raising Watkins’ platform in ways that were more difficult to Clark in the Midwest.
USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb told NBC Sports she reached out to Clark for advice on how to help Watkins handle the rise in attention. Watkins is already the face of women’s college basketball holding name, image, likeness deals with major companies (Nike, Gatorade, NYX) and will be for years to come.
3. Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
The flash and pizzazz that elevates a player to household name is usually on the offensive end, but Hidalgo isn’t just any player. The 5-6 sophomore guard is at her best picking the pockets of her backcourt brethren. She averaged a nation-best 4.6 steals per game, breaking the program’s record with 160 to become a semifinalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
She also set Notre Dame records in scoring average (22.6 ppg ranked seventh in the nation), a high bar set by some of the program and game’s best in Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, Ruth Riley and Skylar Diggins-Smith. Hidalgo was named one of the five best point guards in the nation as a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman award.
Hidalgo is back on that preseason watch list alongside teammate Olivia Miles, another fun-to-watch player who is climbing up the career triple-double list.
4. Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
Johnson entered LSU as a face of the game largely because of her emerging rap career, an appearance on “America’s Got Talent” at age 14 and a record deal with Jay-Z’s label, Roc Nation. She quickly proved she could indeed do both, winning SEC Freshman of the Year honors en route to the Tigers’ 2023 national championship. Her song played at the celebration. As a sophomore, she earned second-team all-SEC honors.
If the 5-10 guard’s NCAA tournament showing is any indication, Johnson is poised to further take off in her junior year. She averaged 20.5 points (up from 14.7 in the regular season), shooting 64.7% from 2 and 42.9% from 3 as the sparkplug of LSU’s run to the Elite Eight. It nearly tripled her production in the previous tournament and earned her a spot on the Albany 2 All-Region team. LSU returns projected WNBA lottery pick Aneesah Morrow, who should rack up even more double-doubles (her 22 ranked fifth in 2023-24) with Angel Reese in the WNBA.
5. Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
If it’s 3s you’re looking for, it’s Amoore. The 5-6 All-American guard is one of the bounciest playmakers in the nation and known for devastating step-back 3-pointers. She broke the NCAA tournament 3-point record (both men’s and women’s) with 24 of them in five contests to lead Virginia Tech to the 2023 Final Four. As a senior, she averaged 18.8 points at a career-high 41.2% clip and an ACC-best 6.8 assists per game. She’s one of the nation’s best facilitators who head coach Kenny Brooks has compared to Becky Hammon.
The Australian was a projected first-round WNBA pick, but opted to return for a fifth season of eligibility under the COVID-19 guidelines. After an illustrious four-year career in Virginia Tech, she entered the transfer portal and followed Brooks to Kentucky. The Wildcats don’t have the cachet of the aforementioned programs — or even that of Virginia Tech, which Amoore helped build. And they’re competing in a deep SEC of South Carolina, LSU and newcomer Texas.
Honorable mentions: South Carolina sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley crashed into the conversation in her collegiate debut and is the reigning champion’s leading returning scorer. Texas sophomore guard/forward Madison Booker will benefit from All-American point guard Rori Harmon back in the fold. Iowa State sophomore center Audi Crooks is one of the strongest and most efficient scorers in the country, averaging 19.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg. Lauren Betts, a 6-7 junior at UCLA, and Ayoka Lee, a 6-6 graduate student at Kansas State, are two of the best and tallest centers in the nation.
