Analyst suggests "little bit of bias" as JuJu Watkins wins coveted honor unanimously while Hannah Hidalgo gets no votes

USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins was recently named unanimous National Player of the Year by The Athletic. The spitfire scorer is enjoying a stellar sophomore season, leading the No. 1-ranked Trojans to their first Big Ten conference regular season championship with a 17-1 record (26-2 overall).

At the same time, Notre Dame Fighting Irish star Hannah Hidalgo has carved out an outstanding second-year campaign herself. Hidalgo helped Notre Dame become the 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season co-champions with a 16-2 conference record, 25-4 overall, but received no votes.

Analyst Rachel DeMita said there could have been some bias when it came to voting. In Tuesday's video on her YouTube channel, DeMita said (1:50):

"Now, JuJu is having an outstanding season. ... I think the reason that this story was so highly talked about is because she won National Player of the Year unanimously.

"A lot of people were wondering why Hannah Hidalgo didn't receive any of the votes. It seems like maybe there was a little bit of bias or maybe there was a storyline that The Athletic was trying to follow and this is no knock to JuJu at all."

DeMita went on to compare how JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo finished the regular season with their respective teams.

"I do actually think JuJu has ended the season very strong, better than Hannah has," DeMita explained. "Her team has also ended the season better than Notre Dame. But, that's not to say that Hannah doesn't deserve any votes in that.

"I think there is a case to be made for each of these women as to who actually deserves National Player of the Year. Both of them have had outstanding seasons, but you just have to take into account the recency bias of unanimously awarding."

Hannah Hidalgo dominates the ACC with back-to-back accolades

Despite JuJu Watkins being considered by many as the consensus National Player of the Year, Hannah Hidalgo is still proving the kind of unparalleled talent she possesses. She was recently named the ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year with her remarkable play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this season.

In her second stint under the tutelage of coach Niele Ivey, Hidalgo is averaging a team-high 24.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.7 steals per contest.