Iowa and Caitlin Clark trade spots with USC and JuJu Watkins in CBS’ power rankings

In CBS Sports’ Power Rankings, two of the three podium members are headlined by Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and USC’s JuJu Watkins.

We have hit the point of nitpicking the women’s college basketball top teams and moving them around for the sake of moving them around. On the surface, it sounds questionable, but the fact major outlets are debating how good the women’s game has become is the biggest and best takeaway.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are one of those teams that headline debates and conversations on who the top teams in America are. According to the polls, Iowa comes in at No. 2 in the nation.

According to CBS Sports and its final regular-season power rankings, the Hawkeyes are No. 3 with an upstart team jumping them at No. 2.

Iowa kept the No. 3 spot after avoiding an upset against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament championship, as the Hawkeyes pulled out a 94-89 win in overtime. – Isabel Gonzalez, CBS Sports

Iowa can’t move down. It did its job by winning the Big Ten Tournament and locking up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament thanks to efforts from all over the place.

Ahead of Iowa at No. 2 in the rankings are the young, confident and dangerous USC Trojans. Led by star freshman JuJu Watkins, USC went into the Pac-12 Tournament — in its final year of existence — and stole the show by taking home the trophy.

Meanwhile, USC claimed the No. 2 ranking after winning the Pac-12 Tournament with a victory over Stanford in the championship game. In its last season with the classic teams, the Pac-12 was the most competitive conference in the nation, so Stanford, UCLA and Oregon State join USC in our top 10. Gonzalez, CBS Sports

Iowa and USC could trade spots all day and both could be right. What the NCAA Tournament, the women’s game, and all of us fans need is the chance to see Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins go head to head in appointment television.

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