Women’s college basketball is now “looking for another face heading into the 2025-26 season” but there is “no obvious successor,” according to Sebreena Merchant of THE ATHLETIC. Finding a player “who can break through into the national consciousness could be essential to maintaining the unprecedented momentum the sport has gained over the past few seasons.” With UConn G Paige Bueckers finishing her college career, USC G JuJu Watkins could be her “theoretical heir,” but she missed most of the NCAA Tournament with an ACL injury and “could miss the bulk, if not all, of next season.” The “most likely successor to Bueckers’ stardom could be on her team.” UConn F Sarah Strong can “already do essentially everything on a basketball court,” but her personality “doesn’t exactly lend itself to national ad campaigns that would keep her in the spotlight” like Caitlin Clark, Bueckers and Watkins. Being the face of women’s basketball “entails being a mouthpiece,” and Strong’s interviews “border on performance art with how little she says.” The “responsibility can fall to her teammate” G Azzi Fudd, though she “hasn’t been an All-American or even the best player on her team.” Notre Dame G Hannah Hidalgo and Texas F Madison Booker are “two other candidates for best player in the country.” But it also is “worth considering whether women’s basketball even needs a singular talismanic presence to lead the way.” Watching the “momentum behind Clark or Bueckers in their final season” suggests the “star-powered way works.” And after a “fairly uncompetitive NCAA Tournament, especially at the Final Four,” it would “help the sport to have a new centerpiece heading into 2025-26” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/7).
READY TO FILL IN: THE ATHLETIC’s Cameron Robinson wrote the sport “could be a little short on star power next season,” but Fudd and Strong “showed they could be ready to fill the void.” Fudd scored 43 points in the Final Four alone, and Strong, the freshman of the year this season, “exceeded even her own expectations in the postseason” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/6).
TAKING THE CROWN: In N.Y., Bridget Reilly writes UConn does not “need to search for a new star during the offseason from the transfer portal” because they “have their next” in Strong. She “came alive on the big stage” on Sunday in Tampa, and it was “evident that Paige Bueckers’ crown would be passed on” to her. Strong will become coach Geno Auriemma’s “new project” and “new face of the program.” Strong should “expect a jump in social media followers and an increase in fans,” as well as the NIL money to be “coming in as the championship celebrations linger.” Fudd will also be back for one more season next year, but the “long-term future of the program lies more in Strong’s hands moving forward,” as UConn is set to have her for three years (N.Y. POST, 4/7).
STRONG ROOTS: In Knoxville, Cora Hall notes that the future of UConn is in “good hands with Strong, and not just on the court.” She is also in line to “take the mantle of the other half of Auriemma’s comedic duo from Bueckers,” as she will “likely grow into becoming more long-winded with her answers” in press conferences (KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL, 4/7). ANDSCAPE’s William Rhoden wrote Strong is “a prodigy,” as she “grew up in and around the game.” Strong’s mother, Allison Feaster, is VP/Team Operations & Organizational Growth for the Celtics. Feaster was a star player for Harvard and played in the WNBA. Strong’s father, Danny Strong, played collegiately at N.C. State and overseas for 15 years (ANDSCAPE, 4/6).
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