They enter as raw prospects with little or no experience in American football. Some have excelled previously in other sports, some have no experience whatsoever as professional athletes. But they all have one thing in common: the dream of making it in the NFL.

Ten weeks of intense training in Bradenton, Florida, for this year’s batch of 13 young hopefuls came to a conclusion on Wednesday as the Class of 2025 from the NFL’s International Player Pathway (IPP) took part in the University of South Florida’s pro day workouts in neighbouring Tampa.

The IPP prospects were put through their paces in front of NFL scouts. They can be picked during the league’s annual player draft taking place from April 24 to 26, or failing that, signed later by any of the 32 NFL teams as free agents. Or the dream ends and other paths must be followed.

Since its inception in 2017, 41 IPP graduates have signed with NFL teams, and there are 23 currently on its teams’ rosters. These include Jordan Mailata, a former rugby league player from Australia who won the Super Bowl in February as an offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Athletic spoke to members of previous IPP classes — and one from the current crop — to find out about their experiences; did they really manage to learn those huge playbooks, and did they ever make it to the NFL?

Alex Gray: The rugby player who became a Gladiator

Gray, a former England Under-20 rugby union captain, was part of the first IPP group eight years ago. He was on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad, a supplement to an NFL team’s 53-strong active roster, as a tight end from 2017 to 2019 but is now a star on the BBC’s Saturday night game show Gladiators.

The now 33-year-old, from County Durham in the north east of England, had never played American football before joining the IPP, only ever experiencing it through the John Madden NFL video games. But he was excited by the challenge, especially after missing out on representing Great Britain in Rugby Sevens — a mini-version of the sport’s traditional 15-a-side union game — at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of injury, causing him to fall a “bit out of love” with the sport.

Having grown up excelling in rugby union, which American football was derived from in the 19th century and remains similar to in certain aspects, in that it involves an oval ball and lots of contact, Gray said the IPP programme helped him step out of his comfort zone.

“I’d always been, ‘Alex Gray, the rugby player’, and probably had an entire identity tied up in that,” he says. “But actually I was, ‘Alex Gray, incredibly dedicated, incredibly hard-working, driven, positive, aspirational — who just happened to be good at rugby’.

“It kind of just opened my eyes to the possibilities of life, that as crazy a dream as you might have, all it takes is one phone call from the right person and you doing the hard work, and crazy things can happen. It was an experience for me that showed that most things are possible.”

While rugby training focused more on endurance and the NFL version on strength, training for Gladiators – where everyday members of the public, the ‘contenders’ challenge 18 ‘Gladiators’ in a series of physically demanding events — encompasses everything due to the varied nature of the games, from one-on-one confrontations, such as a pugilistic duel (Gray’s bread and butter) to climbing challenges.

“Again this is a complete career change, and it’s going into unknown territory,” he says. “But I know the recipe, right? I know the recipe for success. It’s about just working hard, taking all these opportunities, and trying to do the absolute best you can with it.

“Where in the world can you get into a big steel ball and roll around? You can’t, right? But I think being a rugby player and an American football player, aside from boxing or the MMA, that’s as close to being a real-life gladiator as you can be, anyway, so that’s kind of put me in good stead, definitely.”

Eduardo Tansley

Christian Scotland-Williamson: The commentator and barrister

Scotland-Williamson was signed by English top-flight rugby union side Worcester Warriors while studying for a Master’s in international business at Loughborough University in England. In 2017, he made a bone-crunching tackle which came to the attention of NFL scouts.

A member of the same IPP class as his friend Mailata, the 6ft 9in Scotland-Williamson joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as a tight end in 2018.

“I’d had some frustrations with rugby in general: not being understood, not feeling like I was really accepted or understood by certain coaches, which then limited my opportunities on the pitch,” he says.

“As soon as I got on that plane to go out there, it was very much a mentality of burning the ships. Everyone is a good athlete in the NFL. That’s not the difference — it’s the mental side. I had a maniacal focus. I rented an apartment on the same street as the facility. It was nine minutes from my bed to my locker. I was first one in, last one out. I lived that mentality.”

In a new country and learning a new sport, Scotland-Williamson applied his academic acumen to learn the playbook — a vast and often complex collection of all the team’s offensive and defensive plays which features new concepts and verbiage.

“For me, the playbook was a non-negotiable. I had two degrees at that point, and I approached it at that level, I had cue cards every night studying them,” he says. “I started working with a Harvard professor who specializes in hypnosis. I’ve read every book possible on skill development and talent development to break that 10,000 hours. I didn’t have 10,000 hours. I had a year.

“If I made a football error, if I dropped a ball, or my technique was slightly wrong in executing a block, then I would be quite kind to myself because that’s just repetition, that’s just time in the game, that will come. But it was unacceptable for me to have a mental error.”

As a Steelers fan, Scotland-Williamson was familiar with their head coach Mike Tomlin. But his position coach was equally formidable.

“Coach James Daniels was a real hard-nosed, old-school coach from Alabama. He was not scared to cuss you out every single day, so my main goal in the first year was to just shut him up. There were times when I thought he hated me and I thought I was cursed.

“But then in my second year, when he realized I was basically an encyclopedia, he’d go around the room asking people questions and then he’d only ask me last because he’d get me to correct other people if they had made a mistake.

“The Steelers’ defense was elite and Tomlin wasn’t scared to throw me in, even when I was awful. But it meant that I was getting quality work every single day from the best in the league. In terms of preparation, there’s no better practice environment I could have had.

“So when I was finally earning T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree’s respect with my blocking, that’s when I knew that I was doing well. I was seeing what they were doing to people on the weekend, and I was able to stand up to quite a few of their moves when we had pads on.

“In that second year, I finally got my legs under me, and had more confidence, but it took everything, it genuinely did.”

Scotland-Williamson receiving a fist bump from Mike Tomlin. (Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers)

Scotland-Williamson’s time in Pittsburgh was plagued by injuries and cut short after two seasons.

“Unfortunately, my body didn’t really hold up to give me every opportunity that I felt like I deserved and had worked for. I have permanent nerve damage in my ankles and that ultimately ended my time with the Steelers,” he says.

Scotland-Williamson, 31, has since helped commentate on three Super Bowls with the BBC and UK radio station talkSPORT, as well as the annual NFL games played in London. In September, he will be called to the bar and will specialize in commercial sports law.

He says, “I would genuinely say the reason I’ve been able to do the bar and be successful is because of how I had to learn the playbook.”

Peter Carline

Mapalo Mwansa: From watching a YouTube clip to the Class of ’25

Mapalo Mwansa is in the third year of an economics and finance degree (NFL UK & Ireland)

YouTube’s algorithm changed Mwansa’s life. While he was at his parents’ home doing the dishes one day, an interview with sprinter Eugene Amo-Dadzie — known as the world’s fastest accountant — played at random on his computer. He was inspired.

“It was just a regular interview, him just speaking on the track, talking about his journey. I had no idea who he was. I’m a man of faith, and he’s also a man of faith. And he talked about his journey being illogical. It just didn’t make sense. He was 30 years of age, but managed to achieve the fourth-fastest British sprinting time ever at that age,” Mwansa says.

“I feel like if I can pull this off, it can be that same sort of inspiration to younger people, to people who are the underdog, people who just believe that they are someone regular — but there’s a big plan for you out there somewhere.”

A talented sportsman, Mwansa decided to focus on American football while studying at Loughborough University.

“I grew up playing in a multitude of sports — track and field, rugby, soccer, basketball and cricket. I went on to really pursue soccer as my main sport. And then at university, I dropped that and in my first year I started powerlifting and ran a track and field event in front of a couple of guys. And then from there on, I was invited to be part of the Loughborough University American football team. And the journey has been pretty crazy from then on.”

Mwansa, 20, is in the third year of an economics and finance degree. But that is on hold as the linebacker/edge-rusher attempts to earn a place on an NFL practice squad, to follow in the footsteps of Scotland-Williamson and another Loughborough alumnus.

“Adedayo Odeleye is now with the Baltimore Ravens. He was picked up by the Houston Texans (in 2022), and he had the same journey. The broadcasting of The Pathway documentary series (also on YouTube) last year really helped my understanding of what was going on in the IPP, and it made me feel like it’s tangible — ‘I can touch that’.”

“It’s a 10-week process to try and turn dreams into reality” says Mwanza (NFL UK & Ireland)

After flying out to Florida in January, Mwansa and his counterparts have now reached the end of a gruelling stretch, which has featured six-day weeks packed with training and study.

He explains, “We have breakfast at 8am, then positional meetings, where we watch some film (of games or previous training sessions). Then we take ourselves to the field for a little bit of conditioning. It’s called movement, but it’s really conditioning. And then we take ourselves to lift. Then it’s lunchtime at midday and a little bit of free time — if you eat quickly. Then you take yourself to treatment, because we’re going 100 per cent every day, you have got to make sure you take care of your body. Then we have our practice at 2pm.

“After that, it’s film study — looking at what we’ve completed and to practice what we could do better and evaluate our performances. That’s the only way you can get better. And then it’s dinner time. Then chill out in the evening… well, it normally turns into watching more film with our positional group.

“It’s a 10-week process to try and turn dreams into reality, to get ourselves onto an NFL roster. And then see what we can do after that.”

Peter Carline

Darragh Leader: Quitting JP Morgan to help the next generation

Irishman Leader, a professional rugby union player before leaving to successfully study for an MBA on a scholarship at Clemson University in South Carolina, was in last year’s IPP class. Since then, he has played a season in the ELF — a professional American football league with teams in nine countries across Europe — for Austria’s Swarco Raiders Tirol, finishing rated as the league’s top punter and fourth in points as a kicker, and joined an athlete transition programme at financial giant JP Morgan.

Earlier this month, however, he quit JP Morgan to join his brother, Tadhg, at Leader Kicking, a business which aims to help Europeans secure places as punters and kickers in U.S. college football. Tadhg is also an IPP coach who works with kickers and punters.

“The last two weeks since I joined my brother, I’ve been to a competition in Dallas, watched this year’s IPP lads in Florida, and then I am going to New York next week. So it’s a lot more enjoyable than staring at an Excel sheet, copy-and-pasting in some rich fella’s billion-dollar account,” he says.

Darragh (left) and his brother at the NFL Combine (Hugo Pettit)

“I was playing in the ELF last year, but I decided most likely to not do that this year and just go full-time coaching to try and find the next group of lads, getting more lads over for college football in the States. We’ve like seven guys that are doing very well at the moment and have attended all these kicking camps and done like top 20 out of thousands of people over the last three or four years. Hopefully, we will have seven more Irish lads playing college football come next season.

“We think there’s so many Irish guys, European guys, rugby guys around Europe that are walking around with massive legs and probably don’t even realize they could be over in America, playing college football (as kickers or punters), making money, trying out for the NFL.”

While on the IPP, Darragh ripped the quad muscle in his thigh off the bone, making it difficult for him to find an NFL roster spot. However, along with New Orleans Saints kicker Charlie Smyth and two others, he was part of the first group of Irishmen to take part in the NFL scouting combine, a pre-draft player analysis event. His journey was captured in a recent documentary titled Punt on RTE Player, an Irish public service broadcaster.

Eduardo Tansley

Aaron Donkor – Learning ‘the language of football’

Donkor had played American football in the German Football League, his country’s top division, and at college in the States before joining the IPP in 2021. He was with the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad in 2021 and 2022 as a linebacker then dropped down below the NFL’s elite level with the Houston Roughnecks and Arlington Renegades in the U.S.-based XFL and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Last September, the now 30-year-old won the European League of Football (ELF) title with German team Rhein Fire.

“Currently I’m just in the gym grinding. I haven’t signed anything, so I’m waiting, reading and training,” Donkor, who hasn’t ruled out another crack at the NFL, says having seen out his contract with the Fire.

“I’m not asking for a contract at all, I think I would love a workout because I believe if you bring value to a team, I think they’re winning. And let’s find out if I can bring value to a team. I think I can. So I’m grateful for an opportunity if it comes towards me and I’m patiently waiting for it.”

Donkor (No. 43) attempts a tackle playing for Seattle in the 2021 NFL pre-season (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

The German, who also played basketball in Germany’s second tier, comes from a family of athletes — his brother Anton is a left-back for Schalke in 2. Bundesliga, the second division of soccer in his homeland.

His biggest challenge while with the IPP, he says, was changing position from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. His American college experience, at New Mexico Military Institute and Arkansas State University, gave him a head-start, and he says “learning the language” of American football is important for IPP athletes as it helps “put all the skills that you have developed at the right point at the right time on the field.”

The NFL has played at least one regular-season game in Germany each year since 2022, contributing to the growth of the sport in the country. “They really fall in love with the support of football once they see the details and it’s the same way that happened to me,” Donkor says of German fans. “When I first found out about football, I realised, ‘Oh, this is deeper than just running into each other.’ Once you look a little deeper, you find the beauty in it. I hope I can be a part of revealing how beautiful this game is.”

Eduardo Tansley

Ayo Oyelola – The Londoner attempting ‘the impossible’

Oyelola has been with the Jacksonville Jaguars for two NFL pre-seasons (2022 and 2023) and on the Pittsburgh Steelers (2024) roster. He was selected by the IPP twice, in 2021 and 2022, and was one of the first athletes to do so with a soccer background. He is now a free agent and preparing for the NFL’s training camps this summer.

The Londoner, a member of Chelsea and Dagenham & Redbridge academies when younger, quit soccer to study law at the University of Nottingham. For a time, his focus was his education.

“I fully stopped playing football when I went to university, and honestly, I can’t even tell you what I was thinking at that point. I wasn’t playing sports, and that was bad for me. I realized I needed to be playing sports,” says the 26-year-old.

“So when I was a student, I was between going back to soccer, boxing or American football, so I looked at the pathways for American football and I was just like, ‘Yeah, I think I can do this based off my athleticism.’ So from around 2017, early 2018, that’s been my goal — to make the NFL.”

That Oyelola can see a clear pathway to the NFL is a sign of how globalized the game has become. But the road to the NFL hasn’t been plain sailing. In his first stint in the IPP, Oyelola tore his hamstring, but he believes it was a blessing in disguise as he then went to the CFL and won the Grey Cup (its version of the Super Bowl) that year with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

When he returned to the programme in 2022, he was more confident.

“The first time I went on, that feels like the hardest thing I ever did,” Oyelola says. “I played academy football growing up, so I’m used to being in a structured professional environment when it comes to sports, but I think because what the programme is trying to do is basically impossible — trying to get you ready for the NFL in 10 weeks, which just isn’t possible, but they try and get you as close to it as possible.

“As an international, you’re getting told that in 10 weeks you can be in the NFL. That’s mentally just a crazy thing to be dangled in front of your face. So mentally, that is hard for everyone. Obviously, everyone doesn’t make it.”

But those testing 10 weeks, or 20 in Oyelola’s case, changed his life. “Even if I never made it to the NFL, it taught me a lot of life lessons,” he says. “It was such a monumental task; it shows you the value of process and hard work. For me, that’s when my faith (in God) strengthened, because I had to, because I could not do it in my own strength.”

Eduardo Tansley

(Top photo of Mapalo Mwansa: NFL UK & Ireland)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Brian Vu has been a fan of the NBA for 14 years, but he has never experienced a game like the one he attended last week in Portland.

Not only did his hometown Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, but also for the first time in his life, Vu said he felt involved in the game, every bit a part of the 18,491 in attendance at Moda Center.

Vu, who has low vision, didn’t see one play during the Blazers’ 115-99 win. But he felt every score, every turnover, every shot.

The 32-year-old Vu used a haptic device that allowed him to follow the action in real time through vibrations felt through his fingers. The device was unveiled this season by Seattle-based OneCourt. After three pilot trials last spring, the Trail Blazers in January became the first NBA team to offer the service to fans. Since then, Sacramento and Phoenix also have been offering the devices at games.

Using a laptop-sized device that has the outline of the basketball court, visually impaired users feel vibrations that indicate ball movement. An earpiece gives updates on the score, as well as the result of a play, whether it’s a steal, block, 3-pointer or something else.

OneCourt founder Jerred Mace likens the concept to a tactile animator, creating the illusion of movement through pixels.

“We’ve basically built this display that functions similarly to a visual screen, but instead of pixels that you see, these are pixels that you feel,” Mace said.

So while Vu couldn’t see Blazers guard Scoot Henderson, his favorite player, zip through the defense for a layup, he could feel the play through his fingertips, which were spread out over the device that rested on his legs.

Vu said his fan experience had changed exponentially.

“It’s pretty cool. I feel more independent,” Vu said. “I’m usually bugging my friend during the game, asking him, ‘What’s happening?’ So now, I can interpret the game in my head … and I don’t feel excluded.”

Vu attended the Blazers-Grizzlies game with his friend James Kim, the recipient of many of Vu’s elbow jabs and questions during games over the years. As the Blazers pulled away in the third quarter, Kim and Vu were in sync, oohing and aahing when Shaedon Sharpe dunked or Donovan Clingan rejected shots.

“Usually, he’s like, ‘Who shot that? What just happened?’ It was not that big of a deal for me, but this is definitely an upgrade,” Kim said of Vu. “He can enjoy the game without having to stop and get the details from me, so I think it’s great for him.”

Vu’s experience is exactly what Mace hoped for when he brainstormed the idea as a student at the University of Washington. Mace, 24, grew up in Spokane, Wash., with parents with disabilities. He also wore glasses so thick he was called “goggles” by classmates. He had astigmatism in his left eye — what people could see 80 feet away, he would see at only 20 feet — and although his vision improved through surgeries and by wearing a patch over the right eye, he was left with a lasting empathy and understanding for those with disabilities.

“You bundle those experiences together, and I think that just primed my heart for this work,” Mace said. “I think it’s given me a ton of perspective and appreciation for what it’s like to experience the world differently.”

During his junior year at Washington, he was surfing through social media when he discovered a video of a blind person watching a soccer match. A woman in the stands moved his hands across a board to mimic the game action.

The idea of OneCourt was born.

“The physicality of that experience stood out to me, and as someone who struggled with vision, it was such an appealing intersection for me,” Mace said.

The OneCourt staff, led by founder Jerred Mace (far right), has produced an effective way for visually impaired fans to enjoy athletic events. (Courtesy of OneCourt)

He presented his idea at the University of Washington’s 2022 Science and Technology Showcase. The idea was in its infancy, just a research poster with no physical product, but it won first place and a $2,000 prize.

The contest used tennis as the example, but Mace had broader aspirations. The key, he knew, would be linking the idea with readily available data. Beginning with the 2023-24 season, all NBA arenas were equipped with optical tracking technology, which captures player and ball movement in real time. The NBA says up to 20 tracking devices are stationed in the rafters of each arena.

Mace reached out to the Trail Blazers with the idea and, with their help, was introduced to the NBA. The league has seen value in working with Mace.

“We’ve been thrilled to work with Jerred and the team at OneCourt to use technology to help advance their mission of enabling visually impaired fans enjoy NBA games,” said Jason Bieber, the NBA’s vice president of new business ventures. “We’re especially excited to have OneCourt in the current cohort of NBA Launchpad companies so we can continue to partner and explore even more possibilities in the space.”

Within four months, Mace had access to the NBA data and began running pilot tests at the end of last season.

“The NBA is innovative when it comes to technology like this and when it comes to accessibility for their fans,” said Matthew Gardner, the Blazers’ senior director of customer insights. “They saw the good that it could do, and they were like, ‘Hey, no problem. We’ll unlock it for you.’”

Mace added: “I think (the NBA) is always looking for new applications for their data, and this happens to be a very special one. It’s not analytics on the back end. It’s not sports betting on the front end. It’s something that had the potential to change someone’s life and their entire experience and relationship with sports.”

A Blazers fan claps while a OneCourt device rests on his lap. The device creates a focused, yet intimate game-day scene for the visually impaired. (Courtesy of Portland Trail Blazers)

Vu and Kim can attest: When Vu experienced the Blazers game with the OneCourt device, it was a game changer. From their end zone seats, Vu and Kim were as locked in and vocal as anyone in the arena.

Vu couldn’t clap because it would cause his hands to lose track of the action. But his legs were in constant movement, and he joined in with the crowd chanting “DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!”

“There was a steal, and you can feel the vibration go to the other side — really fast — and I got super excited,” Vu said. “I knew why the crowd was cheering. Before, I wouldn’t understand what was happening.”

Vu estimated he used to go to Blazers games once a year. It was exciting to hear the crowd and the sounds, but he always felt detached and behind.

“Now it’s a whole different experience,” he said. “I’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Kim could only smile as he watched Vu’s hands moving quickly across the device, his feet nervously tapping.

“He’s really into the game,” Kim said, nodding toward his friend. “He’s, like, zoning in on it.”

Gardner said several other NBA teams have called and asked him for feedback after the Blazers debuted the device on Jan. 11. He tells the teams that nearly every home game has had at least one device checked out, and offering the device is essential to the fan experience.

“Being a fan should be for everybody,” Gardner said. “This unlocks an entirely new world for our fans who are blind and have low vision. We’ve seen it across all the faces of those who have used it so far.”

Mace said his company of eight employees, five of whom work full time, is bracing for the demand as more teams inquire about the services. Portland and Sacramento have five devices that can be reserved ahead of time or checked out on the concourse, while Phoenix has 10 devices. Fans do not need to pay for the device, thanks to Ticketmaster, an NBA sponsor.

Mace says the impact expands beyond the number of people using the device.

“One might think, ‘Oh, this device just impacts five people in a stadium.’ But really, the ripple effects are incredible,” Mace said. “Now, the circle of who is going to the game — friends and family — has expanded because everyone can share the experience.”

Vu said the device was easy to use after listening to a two-minute tutorial, but he wishes the audio could include specific indications, like which player has the ball and which player is shooting. Those could be updates for the future.

For now, Vu said knowing the Blazers offer the device increases his chances of attending more games.

“Oh, 1,000 percent,” Vu said. “Instead of maybe one game a year, I could see myself going to five a year. It’s just a better experience.”

(Top photo courtesy of Portland Trail Blazers)

So much had been heaped on JuJu Watkins from the start — from the moment she set foot on USC’s campus, she was the one who would bring the program back to the mountaintop. This season, she was the player who would carry the star power in women’s college basketball in the wake of Caitlin Clark.

It was a lot of weight on anyone’s shoulders, but she handled it well. She thrived under that responsibility and blossomed in the spotlight.

But last weekend, the biggest star in women’s college basketball was carried away after collapsing to the court with a season-ending ACL tear. Her absence has left USC fans stunned and the women’s college basketball world restless.

Some kind words for JuJu Watkins 🥹 pic.twitter.com/8syMkUOUCu

— espnW (@espnW) March 25, 2025

Salt in the wound? Commercials featuring Watkins will continue playing during the NCAA Tournament. She’s the biggest individual star in women’s college hoops right now, drawing red-carpet-like turnout from celebrities at her games in the Galen Center. That reception would have boomed with a Final Four trip or national championship as an undeniable Hollywood storyline.

While prayers rained on Los Angeles for Watkins’ recovery, questions bubbled up: What now? Who now?

It’s a fair question. And it echoes the refrain women’s basketball was asked repeatedly after last season, when Clark departed for the WNBA. Would her legions of fans and millions of viewers who set records watching her play for Iowa stick around for the 2024-25 college season?

Nobody expected this season’s tournament to match the record-setting viewership of last season, but progress can’t be measured just in year-to-year gains. And while no one expected the numbers to quite reach the fever pitch of Clark Mania a season ago, the trend continues in one direction: upward.

The first two rounds of the tournament featured no Cinderellas, no major upsets, no Clark. They were light on the dramatics that some believe necessary to attract viewers. And yet, the numbers don’t lie — ratings from the first two rounds ranked second best in tournament history, coming in at 43 percent higher than in 2023, which now stands as the third-best year in tournament history viewership.

As generational as Clark was, the game has still shown momentum in her wake. With Watkins absent over the rest of this tournament, as large as that will loom, there’s no reason to think the sport isn’t strong enough to continue.

Because this question isn’t new.

Many forget that before Clark captivated the country, Paige Bueckers was doing the same. A UConn star as a freshman, she won the national Player of the Year in 2021 and became an early darling of the name, image and likeness era. Then, she tore her ACL and missed an entire season, leaving questions about how the sport would endure without its new prodigy who filled arenas.

It was in Bueckers’ absence that Clark and Angel Reese emerged, overflowing that void to bring even more interest to the game and push the sport to higher horizons, culminating in one of tournament history’s most epic showdowns. Last season, South Carolina’s undefeated campaign was led by coach Dawn Staley, who’s among sports’ most influential figures. The Gamecocks were tested by Clark’s dazzling displays, drawing viewership ratings that dwarfed even 2023’s high standards.

When Bueckers was out, Clark and Reese answered. Bueckers had done the same after Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu went to the WNBA. And fans were similarly skeptical about a lack of star power when Maya Moore graduated from UConn.

The women’s game has proved time and again — especially in these last few seasons — that it will produce. Luminaries will emerge and captivate basketball fans.

Perhaps the answer is not as obvious as it was a week ago, when the nation’s best player was leading a resurgent program with a national following and instant recognition on a must-see journey.

Similar to the reactions Clark, Moore and others before them inspired, coaches were simultaneously vexed trying to stop them but appreciative to what they did for the game. Sometimes, it’s easier to see the growth from within.

If there’s a coach who can attest to the value of players such as Watkins and their impact on the sport, it’s UConn’s Geno Auriemma. He has seen more phenoms up close than anyone else, many who became so beloved they could be referenced by their first names (or initials) alone: Sue, Dee, Maya, Stewie.

When the ESPN broadcast wrapped its coverage Monday from UConn’s second-round win after Bueckers scored 34 points, Auriemma sat courtside in Storrs for an interview. He was asked to answer quickly so the broadcast could flip to the USC-Mississippi State game starting on the West Coast.

“Oh, man, get off me right now, let’s get to her. I want to watch her play,” Auriemma said with a smile. “Here comes JuJu. Give me some JuJu! … Over to you, JuJu, take over!”

Geno counting down the broadcast and then tossing it to JuJu telling her to “takeover” >>>> https://t.co/ErmNJNrp5d pic.twitter.com/A2stO3eH2A

— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 25, 2025

Coaches respect great players; game respects game. (If only the latter had some mercy for knees.)

So what next? Who now?

That’s what the next two weeks will decide. But if the past tells us anything, it’s that the women’s tournament will deliver. The most elite talent is still in the game. Every No. 1 seed (UCLA, South Carolina, USC and Texas), 2 seed (UConn, NC State, Duke and TCU) and 3 seed (Notre Dame, LSU, North Carolina and Oklahoma) is left standing. The spotlight is trained back on Bueckers, and as previous tournaments have taught us, even casual viewers will become new fans of the game’s best players. Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and UCLA’s Lauren Betts have been exemplary all season, and new young players are poised to surprise us.

In Spokane and Birmingham, the show goes on. Nets will be cut. New stars will be made and crowned, and more familiar stars will shoulder a heavier load.

A Watkins-less USC is not the same as it once was, nor is a Watkins-less tournament. But the best testament to Watkins’ greatness and star power is that even in her absence, the sport she’s helping to build will continue to grow.

(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)