The WNBA prohibits people in the United States from entering the document before the year they turn 22 or doctoral first, in contrast to the NBA, which has allowed NCAA sports to keep school first to play for more than 50 years.
Until recently, there was not much debate about whether the WNBA may copy the NBA’s method. It has become more heated in the recent past as a result of the arrival of nationally renowned skills, such as USC’s junior star guard JuJu Watkins. Watkins, who cannot go to the WNBA until 2027 under existing laws, said before facing UConn on Saturday nights that changes must be made.
” I certainly think we should have the option]to leave earlier ]”, Watkins said as a host on the Great Game with Sarah Spain radio. ” There’s merely been such a rise in school sports where it’s like,’ Why would you want to left?’ Because you can gain that knowledge while also developing your product around at school. I would undoubtedly agree that we should have this choice, but I believe that university serves as a way to get us ready for the benefits as well. But, I don’t understand. It’s a delicate subject, but I’m for it”.

Watkins is not the only greatly praised document idea set to play in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday.
When the No. 1 watch, a powerful junior, leads. vs. Paige Bueckers and the No. It will be the rare occasion when the two most well-known women’s college basketball players square off on Fox for the first time in the ordinary time, which is reminiscent of the UConn-Tennessee conflict in the 1990s and 2000s.
Bueckers has the option to return for 2025-26, but he has the option to leave for the WNBA after this season and likely to be the best total pick. She has story against Watkins.
They faced off in last year’s Elite Eight matchup (UConn won 80-73 ), and afterward, both schools quickly scheduled a home-and-home series between each other, with Saturday’s game at Hartford’s XL Center tipping off the arrangement before next season’s tilt at USC.
” There’s something unique and special about a home-and-home series, as it engages not only the national TV audience, but the fan bases of the respective schools”, Trojans head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a statement in May. “UConn vs. USC, on each coastline over the next two months, may concern our gamers in a great environment. What a fantastic television program to be a part of.
The Hartford matchup will provide the nation a glimpse into the WNBA’s future, bringing with it lore that the light duo may carry into the pros.

Bueckers is the presumptuous top overall pick in the WNBA Draft in 2025, presumably destined for the Dallas Wings unless she decides to return to Storrs for a fifth time. ( She also had a redshirt time and additional years due to the COVID-19 crisis after torn her ACL in 2022.) Given how significant her influence has been to the game, Watkins herself might be considered for the top overall pick if not for the W’s need for people to have graduated within at least three years or change 22 years old prior to the document.
The ability to keep top people in place for at least three, or typically four, appears to have helped the children’s college sport to develop stars both on campus and across the nation. Fans are more than ever willing to pay top dollar to watch matches featuring the best of the best now that there are more eyes on the game.
JuJu vs. Paige is as good as it gets.
According to Victory Live, a secondary ticket market tracking company, the average purchase price for the USC/UConn activity is$ 127, the highest ever for a UConn children’s sports home game. The previous record was set in February 2023 when the Huskies hosted South Carolina. Resell costs for UConn children’s sports at the XL Center were already on the increase, averaging$ 57 so far this year, a$ 5 improve versus the same time last year. Yet Saturday’s game is more than double—223 %, to be precise—of the current average.