Welcome to the first Star Watch of the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season. It will be a weekly fixture with some of the biggest names in sport, on and off the field.

The stars have shined throughout the first week of the season, from JuJu Watkins’ historic game in the City of Lights to kick-off the season for fellow All-American Madison Booker as Texas is became the last ranked team to go.

Here’s what the stars did and what’s happening next (in alphabetical order):

Meet the biggest stars of women’s college basketball

Raegan Beers, Oklahoma

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 23.5 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks per game, 70.4% FG

Games this week: Marry. 11/13 vs. West Carolina

What they say: ‘Everyone on the team loves him’: Raegan Beers records first-half double-double, OU overtakes Virginia

The former Oregon State AP All-American and preseason first-team All-SEC selection scored at least 21 points in each of her first two games as a Sooner while grabbing exactly 14 rebounds and blocking exactly two shots in each. She is 14th among players who have played at least two games with an average of 23.5 points per game, sixth best among major conference players.

Madison Booker, Texas

Last week’s stats (1 match): 18 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

Games this week: Marry. 11/13 against Lamar, Sunday. 11/17 at DePaul

Watch this: Booker’s lone block against Southeast Missouri was phenomenal

Booker’s Longhorns were the last Top 25 team to start Sunday, but the second-year star notched a double-double and the highlight-worthy block linked above in an opening laugh. It will likely be a quiet first month for Booker and UT with only four games and no ranked opponents before heading to the Gulf Coast Showcase which begins on November 29. The light, early schedule should give Booker and senior star Rori Harmon time to build chemistry after their arrival. only played 12 games together last season due to Harmon’s injury.

Paige Bueckers, UConn

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 17.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.5 steals per game, 73.7% FG, 50.0% 3-PT

Games this week: Fri. 11/15 vs. North Carolina (in Greensboro, North Carolina)

It’s all in the kicks: Paige Bueckers set to become first college basketball player to get Nike release

Paige “Buckets” lived up to her nickname with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field in UConn’s second win of the season on Sunday. Bueckers was the first UConn player to hit at least 90% from the field on at least 10 attempts since December 2022 and it was the first such performance in Bueckers’ storied career. She is the eighth UConn player to do so in the past decade, joining some of the most notable names in UConn and women’s basketball.

Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

Statistics from last week: 23.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 6.0 steals per game, 50.0% FG

Games this week: Marry. 13/11 against James Madison, Sunday. 11/17 in Lafayette

In his own words: ‘Basketball is supposed to be fun – I don’t want to play it like it’s a chore. It’s something I love doing.

Hidalgo certainly seems to be delivering on his promise to have fun early in the season, leading Notre Dame to two 40-point wins with at least 19 points and exactly six steals in each game. Hidalgo led Division I with 4.6 steals per game as a freshman and a run at the Division I single-season record of 6.37 steals per game set by FAMU’s Natalie White in 1994-95 and matched by Chastadie Lamar Barrs in 2017-18. out of the question.

Kiki Iriafen, USC

Stats last week (2 matches): 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.5 offensive rebounds per game, 44.4% FG

Games this week: Tue. 11/12 vs. CSUN, Friday. 11/15 vs. Santa Clara

What they say: Kiki Iriafen is wasting no time in making a big impact for Women of Troy (247Sports)

The Stanford transfer immediately fit in alongside JuJu Watkins and the many other stars on USC’s loaded roster, totaling 22 points and 13 rebounds in his Troy debut against a top-20 Ole Miss team in Paris. Kiki didn’t have quite the same numbers in the second game against Cal Poly (12 pts, 7 rebounds), but USC won by 55 to two. Her domination of the paint against Ole Miss was exactly why head coach Lindsay Gottlieb brought her to a USC team with its eyes on a deep March Madness run.

Flau’jae Johnson, LSU

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals per game, 64.5% FG, 50.0% 3-PT

Games this week: Tue. 11/12 vs. Charleston Southern, Friday. 11/15 vs. Murray State

The football match did not go as planned: Flau’jae Johnson makes his LSU-Alabama prediction on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’

Although his “LSU by 30” prediction before a humiliating football loss to Alabama hasn’t aged well, Johnson certainly seems to. She’s on pace to increase her scoring average by just under 10 points per game from last year (14.9) after 50-point wins over Eastern Kentucky and Charleston Southern. With no ranked opponents on the schedule heading into the South Carolina game in late January, there’s every reason to believe Flau’jae will bring gaudy numbers to this game in Colombia.

Deja Kelly, Oregon

Stats last week (3 matches): 17.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.0 steals per game, 47.5% FG

Game this week: Mar. 11/12 vs. North Texas

Preparing for life after basketball: Oregon’s Deja Kelly records triple-double before making reporting debut

Kelly went from making waves in the Atlantic at North Carolina to doing the same in the Pacific as she helped lead Oregon to an upset of preseason No. 12 Baylor on Sunday night. Kelly led the Ducks with 20 points, making the Bears the highest-ranked team to lose to an unranked team in the first week of the season. Earlier in the week, Kelly went straight from his Ducks debut on the field to his television debut as a sideline reporter during the men’s team’s season opener.

Olivia Miles, Notre Dame

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 18.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals per game, 55.6% FG

Games this week: Marry. 13/11 against James Madison, Sunday. 11/17 in Lafayette

Feast your eyes: Miles drained a half-court buzzer-beater late in Sunday’s third quarter

Notre Dame’s 2022-23 star needed no time to remind the basketball world what she’s capable of after missing all of last season due to injury. Miles returned to the court with a 20-point triple-double in Game 1 (her first game alongside fellow superstar Hannah Hidalgo), then followed up with 17 points and the half-court highlight linked above during the second match. Notre Dame’s backcourt duo may already be the best in the country, even if they’re just starting to develop their chemistry on the court.

Aneesah Morrow, LSU

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals per game, 59.1% FG

Games this week: Tue. 11/12 vs. Charleston Southern, Friday. 11/15 vs. Murray State

On coach Kim Mulkey asking him to be a vocal leader: “She knows I lead by example and my teammates will follow, but she wants me to be more verbal.”

Morrow started the season with a 20-point double-double in LSU’s rout of Eastern Kentucky before posting 11 points and five rebounds in the second game against Northwestern State. She’ll need to raise the score if she wants to return to the 21-plus point averages she posted while earning back-to-back All-American honors at DePaul, but preseason co-SEC Player of the Year (along with Flau ‘jae Johnson and Madison Booker) has plenty of time to figure out how she and the other Tigers fit in without missing star Angel Reese thanks to LSU’s soft schedule.

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JuJu Watkins, USC

Last week’s stats (2 matches): 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals, 4.5 blocks per game

Games this week: Tue. 11/12 vs. CSUN, Friday. 11/15 vs. Santa Clara

Drawing praise: Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier called Watkins and Paige Bueckers “generational talents” on Paul George’s podcast

Last on the list solely because of her last name and averaging 5.6 points less than last season solely because of the incredibly high bar she set, Watkins has picked up right where she left off stopped in the opening game against Ole Miss. His stat line in Paris (27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 5 blocks) has only been accomplished two other times in Division I since at least 2002-03 and is unmatched in that span against an opponent class.