Top 10 semifinalists of Naismith Women’s Player of the Year award feat. Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo and more

The semifinalists for the Naismith Women’s Player of the Year award were announced on Thursday, and the list is a competitive one, headlined by UConn’s Paige Bueckers, USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.

The list includes 10 names, with Notre Dame being the only program with two, as Olivia Miles joined Hidalgo. Other programs represented include USC, TCU, UCLA, Kentucky, Texas, Florida State, UConn and LSU.

Naismith Player of the Year semifinalists:

Georgia Amoore (Kentucky)

Lauren Betts (UCLA)

Madison Booker (Texas)

Paige Bueckers (UConn)

Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame)

Ta'Niya Latson (Vanderbilt)

Olivia Miles (Notre Dame)

Aneesah Morrow (LSU)

Hailey Van Lith (TCU)

JuJu Watkins (USC)

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This list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club national voting academy, which includes a group of top journalists, current and former coaches, past award winners and conference commissioners.

The list will be narrowed down to four finalists between March 24 and March 28, and the winner will be announced during the Final Four weekend.

Bueckers is the only semifinalist who has won a Naismith Women's College Player of the Year Award before, but it was for the freshman category in 2021.

Last year, Watkins and Bueckers were finalists but finished behind Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. She won the award the past two seasons, but after getting drafted to the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, a new winner will be crowned this year.

Naismith Women’s Player of the Year award favorites

Notre Dame's Hidalgo and USC's Watkins were ranked as favorites to win the award by ESPN even before the list emerged. UCLA’s Lauren Betts and UConn’s Bueckers are also outside favorites, according to industry experts.

Both Hidalgo and Watkins are sophomores.

Watkins is the second-highest scorer in the country, averaging 24.6 points per game. She also records 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.2 steals, 2.0 3-pointers and 1.9 blocks per game.

Hidalgo averages 24.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.7 apg, 3.7 spg and 2.0 3-pointers. However, she has been more accurate than Watkins, shooting 46.6% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range, compared to Watkins' 42.6% field-goal percentage and 33.0% 3-point shooting.

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