The Naismith Awards unveiled their 2024/25 National Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) semifinalists on Tuesday, with the 10-player lineup highlighting some of NCAA basketball’s biggest stars.
Each athlete represents a different team, all of whom finished the regular season in the Top 25 AP Poll. Six hail from the nation's Top 10 teams.
No. 1 UCLA junior Lauren Betts and fellow center Sedona Prince out of No. 6 TCU lead the list's frontcourt players, which also includes a pair of senior forwards in No. 15 Ohio State's Taylor Thierry and No. 23 Florida State's Makayla Timpson.
Holding down the backcourt are six guards, highlighted by a trio of sophomore stars in No. 4 USC's JuJu Watkins, No. 8 Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and No. 20 Tennessee's Talaysia Cooper. Senior veteran experience rounds out the group in No. 5 Texas's Rori Harmon, No. 10 LSU's Aneesah Morrow, and No. 16 West Virginia's JJ Quinerly.
With three semifinalists each, the SEC and Big Ten lead the field, while the ACC and Big 12 each claim two of the list's standouts.
Naismith semifinalists lead the nation in defensive stats
On the Division I stat sheet, Hidalgo tops all other Power Four players in steals per game with 3.7, while Morrow leads the country in rebounds with an average of 13.6 per game.
Morrow's rate is unquestionably impressive, eclipsing the next Power Four athlete on the list, Timpson, by a full three rebounds per game.
Speaking of Timpson, she joins Betts and Prince in Division I's Top 5 players for blocks per game.
Three semifinalists have already claimed some DPOY hardware for their 2024/25 performances, with Hidalgo, Quinerly, and Betts earning the honor for the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten, respectively.
Many of the season’s best defenders are also in the mix for National Player of the Year (POY), with Betts, Hidalgo, and Watkins leading the charge for the season's top individual award.
The most noteworthy POY candidate missing from Tuesday’s DPOY group is No. 3 UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers, who averages 4.5 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game.
Of the 10 semifinalists, only four will make the award's final cut on March 18th. The 2024/25 Naismith DPOY will be crowned on April 2nd, just days before the NCAA tournament's Final Four tips off.
The NCAA is turning up the heat on the next two seasons of non-conference basketball competition, with powerhouse programs from the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California set to determine which team is "The Real SC" via a special two-game series.
The acronymic rivals will first meet at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 15th, 2025, before heading to Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, on the same date the following year.
In anticipation of high ticket demand, series host Complete Sports Management shifted both games to the aforementioned higher-capacity venues, rather than utilizing the teams’ usual on-campus arenas.
"I will always choose elevating women's basketball, and that's especially true in scheduling," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said in a team statement. "I know Complete Sports Management has the same mission, and I like their creativity in bringing not just two great programs together, but engaging their fan bases on both coasts in a debate they love to have."
Series to showcase the best of NCAA basketball
The newly created series won't just decide "The Real SC," it also pits two of the sport's historic programs against each other in an SEC vs. Big Ten and East Coast vs. West Coast battle for bragging rights.
The defending champion Gamecocks are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation as they gear up for the 2025 March Madness tournament, in which they'll seek a fifth straight Final Four berth and an overall fourth NCAA title.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are chasing South Carolina up the AP Poll in the No. 4 spot, with a goal to equalize with Gamecocks by claiming a third national championship this season. If they're successful, it will be USC's first NCAA trophy since 1984.
Regardless of the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's outcome, both teams will likely still roster multiple future WNBA stars for the foreseeable future, with fans banking on seeing current sophomore stars like South Carolina's MiLaysia Fulwiley and USC's JuJu Watkins featuring in both games of "The Real SC" series.
How to buy tickets to USC vs. South Carolina in "The Real SC"
Tipping off in LA on November 15th, 2025, tickets for the first meeting between the Gamecocks and Trojans in "The Real SC" series will be available for purchase online this Friday at 1 PM ET.
Blockbuster viewership isn’t the only booming women’s sports statistic, with women's sports ads making serious inroads as more brands buy into the growing market.
Per a study released by TV outcomes company EDO on Tuesday, women’s sports saw an overall 56% year-over-year increase in ad effectiveness in 2024, with 40% more ad impact than an average primetime ad.
Based on consumer behavior metrics like brand searches and site visits, some of the most effective advertisers last year were apparel brands like Athleta, Fabletics, and Skims.
Even more, efficacy measures skyrocketed when brands put sports and women athletes in their content. CarMax ads spotlighting women's basketball stars, for example, exceeded other WNBA advertisers' effectiveness by 185%.
"Women’s sports are officially a business imperative," said EDO SVP and head of client solutions Laura Grover. "It’s not just about reaching this fast-growing audience — it’s about inspiring action, building brand affinity, and driving real business impact."
Basketball leads women's sports ad impact numbers
The spike in ad revenue coincides with the surging popularity of both college sports and women’s basketball, with ads during WNBA and NCAA games boosting viewer engagement and brand loyalty.
The 2024 WNBA Playoffs, for instance, saw an 11% increase in ad impact over the 2023 edition.
Meanwhile, both the 2024 WNBA Playoffs and 2024 NCAA women's basketball tournament ads proved 24% and 18% more effective, respectively, than the primetime average.
With March Madness taking over the airwaves in the coming weeks, expect even more brand involvement, as companies buy into both the NCAA sport and its stars.
One athlete leading that charge is USC sophomore phenom JuJu Watkins, whose numerous NIL endorsements have the 19-year-old starring in a commercials for NYX Professional Makeup, Degree, and State Farm.
Gymnastics, volleyball draw advertisers to NCAA women's sports
The NCAA also boasts significant brand boosts in rising women's sports like lacrosse and gymnastics, which saw respective ad impact growths of 26% and 15%.
That said, college volleyball boasts the sporting event with the biggest brand impact. With a 51% ad efficacy rate over the primetime average, Penn State's 2024 NCAA championship win over Louisville was last year's most effective women's sports TV program.
All in all, the market is seizing onto the fact that women’s sports are good business and, with a seemingly limitless ceiling, 2025 could see the highest rate of return yet.
In the brief moment between Sunday's NCAA basketball regular-season finale and Wednesday's tip off of major conference tournaments, Division I (DI) leagues doled out their individual 2024/25 season awards to top performers on Tuesday — raising the temperature of the National Player of the Year debate.
No. 6 Notre Dame sophomore Hannah Hidalgo topped the ACC, with the conference naming her both Player of the Year (POY) and, for the second straight year, Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY).
Top-ranked Texas's Madison Booker took SEC POY honors just one year after becoming the first freshman to book POY in the Longhorns' previous conference, the Big 12.
Meanwhile, No. 12 Kentucky sophomore center Clara Strack snagged DPOY, rising to the top of a stacked SEC field that includes No. 9 LSU’s Aneesah Morrow, No. 5 South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards, and fellow Wildcat standout Georgia Amoore.
Taking over the Big 12 is No. 8 TCU transfer guard Hailey Van Lith, who became the first Horned Frog to earn POY alongside the conference's Newcomer of the Year award. Earning the league's DPOY nod is No. 16 West Virginia senior JJ Quinerly, who booked the honor for the second season in a row.
After leading the No. 2 USC to a regular-season title, sophomore star JuJu Watkins booked Big Ten POY, while fellow conference debutant No. 4 UCLA saw their standout center Lauren Betts take home DPOY honors.
Leaders emerge in National Player of the Year race
An NCAA basketball season defined by surging parity and momentum swings denied the emergence of any clear-cut National Player of the Year (NPOY) favorite, but three headliners managed to separate themselves from the pack entering postseason play.
Thanks to her late-season heroics, Big Ten leader Watkins is the second most prolific DI scorer at 24.4 points per game (PPG), only trailing No. 22 Florida State guard Ta'Niya Latson, who boasts 25.4 PPG.
Fellow NPOY frontrunner Morrow is just the second player to record 100 career double-doubles in NCAA DI history, though LSU’s recent skid could impact her individual award standing.
After becoming the first-ever freshman to win NPOY in 2021, No. 3 UConn star Paige Bueckers’s 53.3 season field goal percentage has the senior guard back in contention for the 2025 title.
With award-worthy performances across the NCAA bringing unprecedented parity to the sport's end-of-season honors, this year's NPOY race is vastly different from last season's back-to-back no-brainer win by Iowa legend Caitlin Clark, as multiple stars make the case for DI's top individual 2024/25 honor.
No. 4 USC is taking over the Big Ten, claiming both the regular-season conference title and the Big Ten tournament’s No. 1 seed after Saturday's dominant 80-67 win over No. 2 UCLA.
To book their first conference title since 1994, the Trojans looked to star sophomore JuJu Watkins, who posted 30 points against the Bruins — 23 of them in the first half alone.
Meanwhile, the Trojan defense stifled UCLA standouts like guard Kiki Rice and center Lauren Betts, limiting them to just 16 and 11 points, respectively.
For most of the 2024/25 NCAA basketball campaign, UCLA has outranked USC. However, the Trojans have comfortably owned the pair's head-to-head competition, handing the Bruins their only two losses on the season.
USC's four-game winning streak against UCLA dates back to last season. Subsequently, Watkins has scored at least 30 points in each of those Trojan victories. She finishes the 2024/25 regular season with an impressive 68 points in USC's two wins over the Bruins.
"I think I would be remiss to say playing UCLA doesn't motivate me extra," a smiling Watkins said after Saturday's regular-season finale.
"She's 19 years old. Her talent is off the charts," USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb said about the likely National Player of the Year frontrunner. "But it's her humility and the stuff you can't teach, the inner drive."
Watkins helps USC book Big Ten tournament bye
The Trojans are riding high into this week's Big Ten basketball tournament, which tips off in Indianapolis on Wednesday and will ultimately determine the team who'll book the conference's lone automatic bid into March Madness.
As the conference's top seeds, both USC and UCLA earned byes through the 15-team competition's first two rounds, meaning they will begin their tournament campaigns in Friday's quarterfinals.
Should both live up to their seedings, the duo will meet again in Sunday's championship game, where both Big Ten hardware and the NCAA tournament's top seeds will be on the line.
How to watch USC in the Big Ten basketball tournament
The Big Ten basketball tournament's 14 games will air across three broadcasters, with Peacock covering Wednesday's opening round.
Rounds will air live on BTN Thursday through Saturday, before CBS hosts Sunday's 4:30 PM ET Big Ten championship game.
The last perfect DI basketball season has officially fallen, as USC phenom JuJu Watkins put up a historic performance to lead the No. 6 Trojans to a 71-60 win over then-undefeated No. 1 UCLA on Thursday.
Watkins finished the night with 38 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and eight blocks, becoming the first DI player to register an overall stat-line so robust in 20 years.
"It took everything. It's been a rough couple weeks for me," Watkins said after the game, referencing uncharacteristic performances leading up to Thursday's rivalry matchup. "To be able to kind of snap back into it and get into my rhythm here at Galen versus UCLA, it's really all I could ask for."
"I'm really just like a kid out there and living out my dream."
Throughout the back-and-forth battle, Watkins's consistency made all the difference. She scored every one of USC's 14 second-quarter points, and helped lead a monster fourth quarter in which the Trojans slammed the door by outscoring the Bruins 24-8.
"I didn't teach JuJu any of that," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb after the game. "[I] just try to put her in situations to be her best self, and she does most of that work. What I was so impressed with tonight, obviously, was just the mentality she came out with."
With the marquee win, USC now sits firmly atop the Big Ten. That said, UCLA will have a chance to avenge the loss in the pair's March 1st rematch, when that final regular-season game could decide the conference title.
Until then, the Trojans will be riding high on their Thursday night dominance.
"We'll never forget this night," Gottlieb said. "It's as good as anything I've ever seen."
How to watch Top 10 NCAA basketball this weekend
With no undefeated teams left in DI basketball, Watkins's performance has put the field on notice to not make any assumptions about who might end up on top.
While Sunday will see USC roll against unranked Washington and UCLA try to bounce back against No. 22 Michigan State, the NCAA slate will also serve up two huge Top 10 matchups.
First, No. 7 UConn will take their final major regular-season test when they visit No. 4 South Carolina at 1 PM ET, when Paige Bueckers and the Huskies will aim to pull off a similarly impressive USC-inspired upset.
Then at 3 PM ET, No. 5 LSU heads to No. 3 Texas, where the Tigers will hunt their first win over the Longhorns in more than 22 years.
Both elite meetings are set to air live on ABC.
With less than three weeks left in NCAA basketball regular-season play, the final games will determine the winner of the Big Ten — a title that's increasingly likely to land in Los Angeles.
Already sitting atop their conference compatriots by at least two wins, No. 1 UCLA and No. 6 USC will meet for the first of two season clashes on Thursday, before closing out NCAA play against each other on March 1st.
The crosstown rivals are vying for a first-ever Big Ten regular-season title after joining the historically Midwest conference in 2024.
The games will feature two of the sport's biggest stars, as USC sophomore JuJu Watkins and UCLA junior Lauren Betts square off for the first time since their 2024 Pac-12 Tournament semifinal, when the eventual champion Trojans needed two overtime periods to outlast the Bruins.
This season, however, UCLA has an slight advantage over the Trojans. While the Bruins remain the only unbeaten Division I team left standing, USC has two defeats on their 2024/25 record, including a lone conference loss to unranked Iowa in early February.
That said, a Thursday home win would pull the Trojans even with UCLA at 11-1 on the Big Ten table, setting up a photo finish with the coveted No. 1 seed in March's conference tournament on the line.
"[UCLA is] a team that clearly has it clicking right now," USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb told ESPN. "We know there'll be a lot of pride on the line."
NCAA National Player of the Year race heats up
Watkins and Betts aren't just making moves on the court this week. Both stars also made the John R. Wooden Award's 20-player late midseason watch list, which spotlights the athletes on track to vie for this season's overall best college basketball player honor.
Along with the SoCal standouts, Tuesday's list included Notre Dame guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, Texas sophomore Madison Booker, LSU stars Aneesah Morrow and Flau'jae Johnson, and UConn senior Paige Bueckers, who became the award's first-ever freshman winner back in 2021.
Notably, a pair of true freshmen could follow in Bueckers' footsteps, with both fellow Husky Sarah Strong and Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes earning nods.
Though unlisted players remain eligible for the eventual 15-athlete ballot, these 20 represent the likeliest to follow in back-to-back Wooden winner Caitlin Clark's footsteps.
On the other hand, the Naismith Awards — the other leading NCAA honor — dropped its official positional shortlists last week, with 10 nominees in the running for each of the five awards. The 10-player lists will shrink to five finalists for each honor in March, and fans are currently eligible to vote on who makes that final cut.
Nearly all of the athletes on the Wooden Award's radar are also in the running for their respective Naismith honor.
How to watch Thursday's Top-10 NCAA basketball matchups
Players on both the Wooden and Naismith lists will feature in Thursday's top NCAA basketball matchups.
With Big Ten dominance on the line, Lauren Betts and No. 1 UCLA will visit JuJu Watkins and No. 6 USC at 10 PM ET, streaming exclusively on Peacock.
Meanwhile in the SEC, Madison Booker's No. 3 Texas squad will take on a No. 8 Kentucky team reeling from an upset loss to Ole Miss on Monday. Fellow Wooden watch list and Naismith nominee Georgia Amoore will try to lead the Wildcats past the Longhorns at 7 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN2.
With all eyes on the stacked midweek NCAA basketball slate, No. 4 USC eked out a gritty road win over No. 8 Maryland on Wednesday, shattering the Terrapins' undefeated season in the process.
Despite guard Shyanne Sellers's game-leading 26 points and forward Christina Dalce posting the contest’s only double-double, the Terps fell 79-74 in their first meeting with the Trojans since 1995.
USC rallies the troops
New Big Ten team USC had to band together to overcome Maryland's defense, which stifled star JuJu Watkins's firepower by holding her to 7-for-19 from the field and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc with eight turnovers. That said, Watkins still managed to match forward Kiki Iriafen's team-leading 21 points before fouling out in the final minute.
With star guard Talia von Oelhoffen unavailable due to injury, USC’s No. 1-ranked freshman class stepped up. Guards Kennedy Smith, Avery Howell, and Kayleigh Heckel each added double-digit points to push the Trojans over the line.
"We just kind of have this unwavering confidence in ourselves," Watkins said after the game. "It was just a matter of coming together and closing the game out."
Big Ten ruled Wednesday's NCAA court
Unlike Maryland’s unbeaten record, No. 9 Ohio State’s undefeated season narrowly survived arch-rival No. 25 Michigan on Wednesday night. After falling behind 44-31 at the half, the Buckeyes put together a second-half surge to snag the 84-77 win. Freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State's charge with 29 points.
Elsewhere, unranked Nebraska handed No. 20 Michigan State a second conference loss on Wednesday. Buoyed by senior Alexis Markowski’s 28 points, the Huskers channeled a second-quarter lead to down the Spartans 85-80.
LSU to test perfect NCAA season against tough Tennessee side
The top-ranked midweek NCAA basketball action continues on Thursday, headlined by a tightly matched high-octane showdown between two historic SEC heavy-hitters.
No. 6 LSU faces their toughest test so far when they visit No. 16 Tennessee, a team that leads the nation in offensive scoring and rebounding, three-pointers, and forced turnovers.
"[Tennessee's] style of play is like nothing I’ve ever seen," LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said ahead of the game.
"They score a lot of points and they make you play fast with their press. It’s going to be quite a challenge to keep them from scoring in the '90s. We score a lot of points, too, [but] I’ve got to stress defense. At some point we’ve got to try to stop them from scoring as much as they’d like to score."
Despite the numbers, the Vols suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday — a one-point stumble against No. 10 Oklahoma. They'll look to avenge their loss by halting the 17-0 Tigers' unbeaten streak.
More ranked college clashes take center court on Thursday
Shortly after LSU takes on Tennessee, longtime ACC rivals No. 19 UNC and No. 14 Duke will meet for the 109th time. The host Tar Heels hold a narrow edge with a 55-53 all-time record against the Blue Devils, and will enter the clash with a redemption plan after falling 76-66 to No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday.
With a significantly shorter history on the line, one-loss teams No. 5 Texas and No. 18 Alabama will face-off in Thursday's SEC nightcap, with the Tide rolling into Austin to seek a program-first win over their newest conference foes.
Last season’s Sweet Sixteen showdown was the pair’s first meeting since 1984, and Alabama has never beaten or even scored more than 56 points against the Longhorns throughout their three all-time meetings.
How to watch NCAA women's basketball on Thursday
LSU and Tennessee will tip off Thursday's ranked matchups at 6:30 PM ET, with live coverage on SECN+.
Duke and UNC will follow at 7 PM ET, airing live on ACCN, before Texas hosts Alabama at 8 PM ET on SECN+.
No. 7 USC took down No. 4 UConn on Saturday, winning 72-70 in a battle between two bonafide NCAA basketball championship contenders still figuring out a consistent flow of play.
USC led by as many as 18 in the first half. However UConn came storming back, briefly pulling ahead in the fourth quarter before the Trojans outlasted the Huskies to secure the narrow victory.
JuJu holds on to secure USC win
With UConn superstar Paige Bueckers tight on her heels, USC standout JuJu Watkins registered a game-leading 25 points, alongside six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
Bueckers and Huskies freshman Sarah Strong split scoring duties for UConn, notching 22 points each with Strong adding 11 rebounds.
After opening the season at No. 2, this highly touted UConn squad has dropped pivotal games against Notre Dame and now USC to go 0-2 in Top 10 matchups. It's a pattern legendary coach Auriemma will hope to correct before the Huskies face their next ranked opponent in early February.
"I thought the execution part in the first half was just as bad as I've seen in a few years here in Connecticut," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said after the loss.
"This is a really significant win, and it's a really significant win because of the stature of UConn's program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
Weekend upsets shake top-ranked NCAA basketball teams
Elsewhere, upsets dominated the NCAA basketball conversation this weekend, with Top 25 contenders falling short as this season's undefeated list continues to shrink.
No. 15 Michigan State saw their first loss on Friday, falling to unranked Alabama 82-67 in a low scoring matchup. Afterwards, No. 9 Duke suffered their own unranked loss on Saturday, ceding a tough defensive battle to USF 65-56.
Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech remains undefeated with Saturday's ranked win over No. 23 Nebraska, while No. 14 West Virginia lost to unranked Colorado later that day.
Parity is the name of the game this season, with conference realignment, the transfer portal, and other recent shifts impacting a number of programs across the NCAA. And with conference play looming, teams will rely on regional rivalries and schedule strength to prepare them for heightened competition in the new year.
Last week's blockbuster Top-10 matchup between No. 2 UConn and No. 8 Notre Dame scored ESPN their highest ratings of the young NCAA women's basketball season, averaging 847,000 viewers while peaking at 915,000 during the Thursday evening broadcast.
Notre Dame's big 79-68 win also marked the largest viewing audience for a pre-January NCAA women's basketball game on ESPN since 2011.
College basketball's record-breaking growth continues
Breaking viewership records is nothing new on the college basketball court. Later rounds of the NCAA tournament draw millions, with last year's national championship game scoring 18.9 million viewers to become ESPN's most-watched college basketball game ever, men's or women's.
That said, recent years have seen significant growth in regular-season play, too. The 2022-23 campaign averaged audiences of almost 200,000 across ESPN's platforms, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Last season upped the ante, averaging 272,000 viewers in regular-season play for a 37% increase over 2022-23. That bump made the 2023-24 season ESPN's most-watched in 15 years.
Even more, 2023-24 regular-season play on ESPN and ABC garnered 476,000 viewers per game, with 13 games drawing over 500,000 — the most to ever surpass that mark in a single season.
With Thursday's tilt between the Irish and the Huskies drawing 78% more viewers than last season's ESPN and ABC average, college basketball isn't slowing down — it's ramping up.
Top stars fuel NCAA basketball viewership records
The NCAA's Caitlin Clark era is over, but stars like Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and UConn's Paige Bueckers are fueling the demand for college basketball. These individual players' talent and skills, combined with massive recognition birthed by the NIL era across college sports, have allowed top athletes to build brands and fan followings that rival the pros.
Considering Bueckers and other college stars like USC's JuJu Watkins feature in national ad campaigns for huge companies like Nike and State Farm nearly as often as they top the NCAA's stat sheet, it's no wonder they've become household names that hundreds of thousands want to watch in action.