USC’s JuJu Watkins is poised to step in as the following large star of ladies’s faculty basketball
LOS ANGELES — Caitlin Clark – the present Associated Press nationwide participant of the yr – is in what could also be her remaining season at Iowa. She may keep another yr as the results of the COVID-19 pandemic, as may Angel Reese of nationwide champion LSU.
Regardless of their futures, JuJu Watkins is poised to step in as the following large star of the ladies’s sport.
The Southern California freshman guard is the nation’s second-leading scorer at 26.8 factors per sport, proper behind Clark, who leads with 30.5.
Watkins earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors in every of her first 5 weeks. She broke Lisa Leslie’s faculty document for many 30-point video games by a freshman, with 5 in her first seven video games.
She’s led the Trojans to a No. 6 rating within the AP Top 25 ballot and a 10-0 document.
Watkins sat out a win at Long Beach State on Dec. 21, with USC solely saying she was day-to-day and never explaining additional.
She wasn’t feeling nicely in a win over Cal State Fullerton three days earlier, leaving the court docket twice in the course of the sport however nonetheless ending with 23 factors, six rebounds and 6 assists.
The Trojans subsequent play on Saturday at No. 2 UCLA within the groups’ Pac-12 opener. The Bruins are also undefeated at 11-0 and the sport is predicted to be a uncommon sellout for ladies’s basketball in Los Angeles.
Among the celebrities who’ve come out to observe Watkins are LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Candace Parker, 2 Chainz, Vanessa Bryant and actor Storm Reid, a fellow USC scholar.
Watkin’s presence helped entice 4,712 to the Trojans’ house opener, their largest crowd since 2010.
“This is why I’m here,” stated Watkins, who has greater than 340,000 Instagram followers. “Just to feel this energy in LA.”
As the Watkins phenomenon grows, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb has thought-about reaching out to Iowa coach Lisa Bluder to see how they handle Clark’s stardom.
“I think we’re headed for some unprecedented things,” Gottlieb stated. “She handles all of this with such grace. We try to do a good job of allowing her to be her, which is different and special, but also shielding her from some extra stuff. We’re constantly kind of updating that plan as we go.”
Watkins has a catchy nickname (her actual title is Judea Skies Watkins) to go together with her sport. The resident DJ at Galen Center responds to each Watkins basket with “Yeah, JuJu.”
Despite the hype that has enveloped her for years, Watkins sounds completely convincing when she says, “I didn’t really have that many expectations for myself, just to come in and contribute as much as I can to the team.”
Watkins grew up within the Watts part of South Los Angeles and in selecting USC she’s about 10 miles from house. Her group comes out for her, carrying her No. 12 jersey and cheering her each transfer.
“She understands her importance in the community,” Gottlieb stated. “As good of a player as she is, she’s really even a better human. I know it sounds cliché but it’s the truth. Her village and her circle is really adept at putting her in the best possible situation to be happy and to succeed.”
Once the ultimate buzzer sounds, the workforce traces up on court docket whereas the band strikes up “Fight On” and USC gamers maintain up two fingers on their proper palms in a V for victory signal.
They make their means alongside the courtside seats to greet household and followers.
After her teammates head off to the locker room, Watkins strikes to the primary row of stands, stopping often to speak, maintain a child for a photograph or assist an older girl work her digital camera cellphone. She dashes up the aisle or clambers over seats to satisfy individuals the place they’re at.
Men, girls and children – of all ages and races – need a second with Watkins.
“I’m starting basketball and I’m going to try to play like her,” stated Jenesis Clark, a 9-year-old from close by Chatsworth, the place Watkins starred at Sierra Canyon High.
A smiling Watkins high-fives squealing women, indicators jerseys and circles again to pockets of followers she might have missed as she wends her means round half the court docket by herself. There’s no minder urging her to curtail the infectious spontanaity. She’s at all times the final participant to move into the tunnel.
“It’s very heartwarming just to feel the energy here, feel all the love,” she stated. “It’s amazing, especially that it’s in my hometown. I’m able to see people that I don’t really get to see as often, see family and little kids, it’s really cool.”
When the Trojans had an autograph signing after a current sport, Watkins crowded subsequent to her teammates at a protracted desk and signed posters and memento drink cups.
“She always doesn’t say thank you and that’s it. She always has a couple of words to add,” stated Deborah Houston, a 61-year-old season ticketholder for 16 years. “She does it with kindness and sincerity.”
Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller received back-to-back nationwide championships at USC in 1983 and ’84. She likes what she sees in Watkins on and off the court docket.
“Extremely poised, very smooth, very little wasted motion. The sky’s the limit,” Miller stated. “I really, really like her temperament and how she’s handled everything. The game isn’t too big for her. She’s very comfortable in her skin.”
Watkins made a splash within the prep ranks, turning into the Gatorade nationwide participant of the yr as a senior at Sierra Canyon, the place she led the Trailblazers to a 31-1 document and the CIF-Southern Section Open Division title whereas being an honor scholar. She was MVP on the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Americas Under-16 championship, profitable gold medals each occasions.
Watkins dedicated to USC in November 2022 when the Trojans had been coming off a 12-16 document in Gottlieb’s first season. As the No. 1 recruit within the nationwide class of 2023, she may have gone to a longtime powerhouse.
“Definitely one of the best choices of my life and I’ve only been here a couple months,” Watkins stated.
Gottlieb is in her third yr of rebuilding this system at a college finest recognized for its soccer nationwide championships.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been that seamless,” Watkins stated of transitioning to varsity. “I think it’s due to all the hard work in the gym this past summer. I had to make a lot of adjustments approaching this season and I still am adjusting. It’s a testament to how hard my teammates push me and how hard coach pushes me.”
Gottlieb recalled a summer season exercise that measured the Trojans’ conditioning ranges.
“She dove across the line to get her time,” the coach stated. “There’s a high care factor. She reps extremely hard. When you see it every day, that’s the standard.”
Watkins is, in fact, recognized for her scoring. But she’s additionally a superb rebounder and passer who can provoke with the ball or play off the ball and movement into the offense.
“She’s very poised, you can’t get her too high or too low,” teammate Taylor Bigby stated. “She can have 20 points and the way she’s playing you’d think she has two.”
After being launched at her first house sport, Watkins made the rookie mistake of retreating to the sideline. Her teammates urged her again on the court docket.
“I think they all want to be good for her just like she wants to be good for them and that doesn’t always happen with a player that’s a star player,” Gottlieb stated. “That’s maybe her best gift, that people like playing with her. She’s a teammate that brings a lot of excitement and joy to the team.”
USC introduced in a media guide earlier than the season for particular person periods with the gamers, figuring out they might continuously be requested about Watkins. The guide relayed her findings to Gottlieb.
“She told me privately she was so impressed that they all very authentically gushed about JuJu as a person, as a teammate, as a player,” the coach stated.
Watkins’ teammates embrace three Ivy League graduates who lend maturity, together with junior Rayah Marshall, the Trojans’ second-leading scorer and high rebounder. None appear in awe of Watkins.
“Even though she’s a freshman, when you see her going hard, when you see her setting that standard, it’s contagious,” Harvard switch McKenzie Forbes stated. “I feel like that’s just a testament to her character. She’s a great person, a great teammate. Everyone loves her.”
Before tipoff, the 6-foot-2 Watkins is simple to pick, styling her hair in a excessive bun. The style aficionado needs to have her personal clothes line sometime.
But for now, there’s faculty to beat and finally the Olympics and professional ranks.
“Just always thinking of what got me here – my family, god,” she stated. “Whenever I step out on the court I try to give my all.”
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AP girls’s faculty basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
