JuJu Watkins & her Career Points projection (it's gonna be close)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Like the magical four-minute mile.
Maybe so, but there are SO many people acting like its some kind of certainty. Sorry, but its just not that damn easy to play 4 years, NEVER get any type of injury where you miss multiple games, play deep into both the conference tourney and NCAA tourney, AND average almost 29 points a game for those 4 years. Can it happen, sure. But its gonna be quite a feat. On top of that its not just the points that seperate CC. Over 1100 assists. Lets see someone get anywhere near 3900 and 1100, and we''ll talk. Don't hold your breath on that one.
I have a funny feeling she may not be there for 4 years....meaning college. Just a feeling.
If she can clean up on endorsements and play on the West Coast, she may make the jump. Physically she will be able to make it as a "senior to be". Not sure if the WNBA has any restrictions on early entries.
If she can clean up on endorsements and play on the West Coast, she may make the jump. Physically she will be able to make it as a "senior to be". Not sure if the WNBA has any restrictions on early entries.
They absolutely do. There isn't really an early entry to the WNBA unless you are "old" for your class.
Definitely this.
Break the scoring record - congrats.
Break the scoring mark and also record more than 1,000 assists - now we’re talking Caitlin Clark status.
I don’t think that will happen in our life time.
I don't think she will continue scoring a lot after they join the BIG10. Could be wrong.
Juju will be at or near the top in B10 scoring. She is just too talented The question is whether she can keep pace with her freshman season at 27ppg given the influx of new talent at USC.
USC is adding three 5-star guards and two 4-star forwards next year. That’s a lot of talent, they are all prolific scorers, and there is only one basketball.
Did not know that.....I will be surprised by that if it continues long term. Thanks for the info
That will probably continue to be the case as long as there are only 12 teams in the WNBA. Not enough roster spots for all of the players coming through college, although I just looked and they are adding a team in San Fran next year, and it would make sense to add at least one more. Maybe Des Moines could get one?
WNBA announces long-awaited expansion team in Bay Area, beginning play in 2025
The WNBA will expand to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 2025 season, the league announced Thursday. The team will begin play in 2025.
sports.yahoo.com
And why would that be? Pac 12 was a much better and deeper league than the Big Ten this year. And she was dropping 29 a game.
There's not enough interest currently to be adding teams. And if JuJu is making big time NIL money ( pretty sure she is) why would she attempt to go anywhere else before her 4 years are up? Unless someone in Europe decides to drop a million on her down the road.
I posted this in another thread - you give CC her Covid games from her freshman year, and she easily finishes #1/#2 all time in career scoring/career assists in a time-bound (meaning everyone gets the same 3-to-4 year window) sport. Breaks 4000 total points. That is truly beyond insane. Nobody (edit to add women OR men) has ever done anything remotely close and I don’t think anyone else ever will.
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Without covid, she'd have over 4,100 points, almost 1,200 assists and over 1,000 rebounds.
The math:
She lost 6 games her freshman year (covid shortened season) & 2 games her sophomore year (3 games were canceled because of covid but 1 game was added last second).
FR year averages: 26.6 pts, 8.9 FGM, 3.9 three pters, 7.1 assts, 5.9 rebs
SO year averages: 27.0 pts, 8.9 FGM, 2.8 three pters, 8 assts, 8 rebs
The first number below is her current stat. The number under that, in red, would be if she had played those 6 games lost her freshmen year and 2 games lost her sophomore year.
Caitlin's Career Numbers (in just 137 games):
3,900 points (#1 in D-I history)
160 pts lost FR yr
54 pts lost SO yr
............................
4,114 Points without covid
1,276 Field Goals (#1 in D-I history)
54 lost FR yr
18 lost SO yr
............................
1,348 Field Goals without covid
540 three-pointers (#1 in D-I history)
23 lost FR yr
6 lost SO yr
............................
569 three-pointers without covid
1,132 assists (#3 in D-I history; Suzie McConnell of Penn State is #1 at 1,307)
43 lost FR yr
16 lost SO yr
............................
1,191 assists without covid
973 rebounds
35 lost FR yr
16 lost SO yr
............................
1,024 rebounds without covid
Maybe. Injuries.
Pro enticements. Who knows what's in the future. The pressure of comparison with Caitlin.
The college game may change. Maybe a 4 point fg? who knows?
She seems like a good kid. I’ll be rooting for her when she isn’t playing the Hawks. Yea USC has some huge history in WBB, 4 decades ago. But she didn’t go to UConn, Stanford, or LSU. She is trying to pave her own path and build a champion. I give her props for that.
Records are meant to be broken. CC will have had her “day in the sun” in college finish by the end of this weekend. It is ok for someone else to get the attention when she moves on. CC will still have the Pros and Olympics to build her legend.
Records are meant to be broken. CC will have had her “day in the sun” in college finish by the end of this weekend. It is ok for someone else to get the attention when she moves on. CC will still have the Pros and Olympics to build her legend.
When is this ever said about WNBA? If Caitlin didn’t go after last year whey would Watkins?
They should just give CC the expansion team in Des Moines so she could be the first player/owner and have a permanent no-trade clause.That will probably continue to be the case as long as there are only 12 teams in the WNBA. Not enough roster spots for all of the players coming through college, although I just looked and they are adding a team in San Fran next year, and it would make sense to add at least one more. Maybe Des Moines could get one?
WNBA announces long-awaited expansion team in Bay Area, beginning play in 2025
The WNBA will expand to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 2025 season, the league announced Thursday. The team will begin play in 2025.
Not to divert the conversation, but I have an hard time imagining CC being a coach. She’s seemingly matured a lot this season, but stills miles away from the patience and maturity to 1) coach players that don’t meet your own expectations or 2) diplomatically deal with incompetent referees.
That said, I’m one of her absolute biggest fans. Mulling over whether I should get tickets to see her at the USBWA awards in St. Louis on the 17th. Gonna be pretty amazing line up: Roy Williams, CC, JuJu, Dawn Staley, kelvin sampson, Zach Edey, Reed Sheppard.
I would say that most of the supremely driven athletes would struggle to be a coach. Jordan, Kobe, etc. Bird was a successful HC for a few years in the NBA, but I think his assistants did a lot of the coaching. Regardless, I would imagine it is very difficult for this personality type to relate to players that don't have that personality type. It would have to be monumentally frustrating to see a player with all the physical gifts without having the work ethic or the killer mentality.
I was really joking about the whole expansion thing btw.
JuJu will be a great player, hell, she already is. She will never be able to do what Caitlin has though IMO. Passing and shooting will always be in favor of Caitlin. Athleticism and maybe ball control, I'll give to JuJu from the limited I've seen. Also, her numbers will still be outstanding but what will she look like in the B1G? It's been a better league recently IMO so it'll be interesting to find out.
There's plenty of better ball-handlers than Clark (no pun intended). Beuckers and JuJu among them. The way they can dribble the ball puts their athleticism on display.
Clark has been compared to other players besides Curry with the way she dribbles. It's smoother, and less wasted motion/improvisation.
The more they let people pause dribble , carry and take 3 steps offensive numbers will sly rocket.
This. USC played in front of 3000 (small crowds) in California, Washington or Arizona. The thrill ain't there.
Maybe the B1G will ignite, but it takes more than talent. It takes personality. Caitlin has it. Shawn had it. Biles has it.
Caitlin was not eligible to go to the WNBA last year. Currently JuJu will not be eligible until after her senior year.
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USC just got Kiki Iriafen (Stanford star) out of the portal. Gotta think Juju's scoring will dip a little since she's going to be surrounded by so much talent.
One thing Caitlin's record has going for it is Caitlin, even with missing 8 games her first 2 seasons due to covid, managed to play in 139 career games (35 games/yr average).
JuJu played in 34 games last season. It will be interesting to see if JuJu can eventually get her 4 year average over 28 ppg (like CC did) and if she can get to a 35 games/season average.
3,951 points for CC.......139 games x 28.4 ppg
920 points for JuJu........34 games x 27.1 ppg
JuJu could do it, but three had previously averaged more as a freshman than Clark, and they didn’t finish with more than her for their careers. One came into this season at 9th, one at 15th, and the previous freshmen ppg leader was injured her sophomore year and left school. A lot can happen in four years.
Have been saying this all along. Its stupid to sit here 3 years away and the number of people acting like its a given that she's going to break the record. This is media hype trying to keep the current momentum going, and nothing more. Lets see where she is 2 years from now, and we'll actually have something to look at to make a more reasoned assumption.
Yep I’ll give credit where it’s due. The record is going to be very, very difficult to break and if Juju does it that’s amazing.
Caitlin doesn’t have to be THE GOAT but I have a feeling she’ll always be OUR GOAT. But, hey, if some phenom wants to come to Iowa and challenge her for that title I’ll be grabbing me some🍿.
Again, she CAN't leave early unless she's already 22. Don't know why people keep bringing this up.....
See What? She doesn't even have the option to enter the WNBA unless she's is 4 years out of high school, or 22 in January of that year, which she will be neither. We've been talking about this all through Clarks last season. They CAN'T leave early unless they go to Europe......
Remember, Iowa had a special group that had played together and had great chemistry. Not always the case when you have a superstar. A lot of things can go wrong when you factor in, stardom, expectations, off the court obligations. Iowa set the bar pretty high with all of that and a lot of individuals found success. Can it be duplicated for 4 years somewhere else? I don't think you set that kind of record by yourself, without a supporting cast that buys in and ignores the distractions of playing in huge market.
Remaining injury free for 4 years is a wide, deep moat for challengers in the career point total record chase. Even a relatively brief setback can be critical given cc’s remarkable consistency over 4 years.
