The JuJu Watkins show is headlining the Big Ten conference this year! Watkins and her USC Trojans have been impenetrable, maintaining a perfect 6-0 conference record as of Jan 17th. The tall guard is putting up monstrous performances every night, maintaining an impressive 25, 6, and 4 stat line. Her recent feat was dropping an explosive 35 points against the Lady Lions, in which she also recorded 5 steals and 3 blocks. However, some believe the media has been saturated with Watkins and the Trojans. According to them, other players are not getting the spotlight they deserve.

National reporters Meghan McKeown and Autumn Johnson took matters into their own hands by creating a list of players to watch in the current NCAA season.

The lists that these reporters curated coincided at three points: Saylor Poffenbarger from Maryland, Taylor Thierry from Ohio, and Kendall Bostic from Illinois. These three have been crushing it on their respective teams. Thierry is averaging an effective 10 pts and 6 rebounds while being insanely efficient from the field.

Meanwhile, Bostic goes up a level notch as she averages nearly 16 pts and 11 boards for the Illini. Saylor Poffenbarger from the Terrapins is averaging 9 pts and 9 rebounds. She is a tall guard and makes great use of her height on the court.

Hence, these three women are criminally underrated and showing the league has a lot to offer.

On the other hand, Thierry’s teammate, Chance Gray, makes her way to being one of the top guards on this list. The Buckeyes guard is averaging a staggering 40% from beyond the arc this season while averaging over 15.4 points a game. Other guards on this list include Destini Lombard, averaging 11.8 points for the Purdue Boilermakers, Sydney Affolter from Iowa, Elina Aarnisalo from the Bruins, and Tori McKinney from Minnesota.

However, the wing players and the bigs fill out the lineup. UCLA big Timea Gardiner, Huskies big Dalayah Daniels, and the Badgers center Carter McCray all contribute around 10 points per night for their respective teams.

This shows that star power doesn’t matter if you’re hooping your heart out. These young players have put in the hard yards, and do not deserve to be neglected. Meanwhile, JuJu Watkins deserves her own flowers, as she is playing at an NPOY level. The Big Ten is truly in good hands from now on.

JuJu Watkins makes her case for National Player of the Year

Watkins had thrown her hat into the NPOY ring long ago. She faces tough competition as Hannah Hidalgo, Paige Bueckers, and Lauren Betts are all gunning for the top spot. However, it isn’t as easy as one may think.

Even after putting up insane numbers day in and day-out, Watkins still struggles to earn the NPOY honors. The recent game against Penn State proved Watkins’ hunger to win, and to succeed, as she recorded 35 points against the Lady Lions.

On top of such a breakout game, Watkins has recently been the recipient of quite a few awards. Namely, both Big Ten and Naismith Trophy Player of the Week. These awards go a long way in establishing her presence in the NPOY race, giving her a slight leg up against the competition.

If Watkins keeps up her impressive averages, and USC remains unbeaten atop the Big Ten conference, good things might be on the horizon for the young guard. However, UCLA and Betts are looking to challenge USC’s conference supremacy. The Bruins are right there next to the Trojans at the top of the table with an even better record. It will be interesting to see how the Big Ten conference develops, and the drama that unfolds. USC next plays Indiana on the 18th.

What do you think? Is JuJu Watkins ready to take over the NCAA? Will USC make their title run this year? Only time will tell.