Juju Watkins is a 19 year old, 6’2 guard for the Southern California women’s basketball team. Watkins was born on July 15th, 2005, in Los Angeles, California. She attended Windward High School and Sierra Canyon High School, both in her hometown. When being recruited by ESPN in 2022, she was ranked as the number one recruit in her class and earned national high school player of the year as a senior at Sierra Canyon. She had multiple division 1 offers, but finally chose the USC Trojans on November 15, 2022, over powerful schools like Stanford and South Carolina. Before her career at USC, Watkins had won two youth gold medals and MVP awards in the U17 women’s basketball World Cup.
As a freshman at USC, she not only dominated on the court but became a star player, starring in all 34 games, averaging 27.1 points per game, and setting a national record for all NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball history. She became the leading scorer amongst all freshmen, breaking a record of 920 points that had stood for four decades. She earned multiple awards, including Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 First Team honors, ending her freshman year. She was also the first women’s college athlete to sign an exclusive deal with Fanatics.
Starting her sophomore year, she built on her high standards from her freshman year. Watkins continued to evolve, showing even greater versatility and leadership on the court. While leading USC to success in both their conference and in national games, her diversity on the court like scoring, defense, and teamwork, made her a standout player in the Pac-12. Unfortunately, her season was cut short when she suffered a torn ACL in a game against UCLA in the second quarter, keeping her off the court for the rest of the season. Going for a fastbreak after getting a steal from UCLA changed her basketball career.
Reporters started questioning how the USC women’s basketball team will handle the difference on the court without JuJu. Now in March Madness, reporters and experts question if the USC women’s team will keep up without Watkins.
Although this injury is temporary, it takes a lot of courage, discipline, and hard work to get back into the rhythm of an all time basketball player. Fans were so disappointed and empathic to Watkins injury because of how much potential she had left, only being a sophomore breaking records. Many experts believe that Juju will not only come back stronger, but will change the game preparing for the WNBA.
