Caitlin Clark and the No. 1 seed Iowa Hawkeyes are set to battle No. 5 Colorado Buffaloes in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. They are inching closer toward a historic national championship in what has already been an iconic campaign for arguably the greatest female college basketball player the game has ever seen.
Clark and the Hawkeyes have a tough path to the title, though, and they might need to go through one of Clark’s biggest adversaries in the USC Trojans and freshman JuJu Watkins.
JuJu Watkins Would Dominate Iowa Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark, per Gilbert Arenas
The Indiana Fever are the owners of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, which they are fully expected to use on Clark. In a recent episode of the Nightcap podcast, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas made a sweeping declaration about the Fever regretting their decision to pass up on Watkins if she were allowed to enter the draft.
According to Arenas, Clark would have a nightmare matchup against Watkins if they ever crossed paths:
“Caitlin is great, but she’s not JuJu,” Arenas said. “If they match up in the tournament, 1,000% JuJu gone pick her up full court. … She is super athletic. She will pick her up full court… And if she ever tries to guard JuJu, it’s lunch meat.”
Gil says Caitlin Clark is lunch meat for JuJu Watkins 😮💨 @ShannonSharpe @ShannonSharpe pic.twitter.com/NuEjnacgmD
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) March 28, 2024
Watkins and the Trojans will be pitted against Baylor in the Sweet 16. A win will take them to the Elite Eight to battle either UConn or Duke. If they make it to the Final Four, USC could potentially face Clark and the Hawkeyes if they win against Colorado on Saturday, and then against either LSU or UCLA in the Elite Eight.
Would fate have its way for these two NCAA superstars? At this point, only time will tell.
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