USC women’s basketball’s JuJu Watkins ready to build a legacy
LOS ANGELES — This moment, the sheer responsibility of what’s fallen into her hands, is not lost on Lindsay Gottlieb.
It’s easy to understand, really, why Gottlieb and USC wanted JuJu Watkins. Why everyone wanted JuJu Watkins. Why Gottlieb was courtside for her recruit’s senior night at Sierra Canyon High in January, filming with her iPhone like a proud mom as Watkins received a framed McDonald’s All-American jersey.
It’s easy to understand, because of what came next. Inhibition uncorked in the second quarter of a not-out-of-hand game, Watkins drained a second-quarter 3-pointer from just inside half court and dribbled coolly up the floor the next possession. A hint of a smile was already spreading on her face. She launched from the same spot beyond the right wing, feet kissing the Sierra Canyon half-court logo, connecting, teammates scattering like ants across the bench as coach Alicia Komaki put her hand to her brow.
When the night ended, Watkins had 60 points, in a senior season where she earned both Gatorade National Player of the Year and the Naismith Prep Player of the Year.
“My game is my game,” Watkins said, smiling. “I don’t think that’s ever going to leave.”
Less easy to understand, maybe, is why Juju Watkins wanted USC. She could’ve gone anywhere. And she picked USC – a program that hasn’t made it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament since 2006.
To understand, then, is to take a tour through Watts in South Los Angeles. A fixture, the Ted Watkins Memorial Park, is named after her great-grandfather, a revered local civil rights leader. It’s a neighborhood where her family grew, where her commitment to staying home at USC, announced last November in front of that family in Sierra Canyon’s gym, was so emotional Watkins broke down in tears.
She wanted USC for the chance to light a long-extinguished torch, once carried by Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie and other Trojan greats. For the chance, the moment within a growing moment in collegiate women’s basketball – hello, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark – to recapture legacy in Los Angeles.
“I would do her a disservice,” Gottlieb said, “if I wasn’t thinking about everything that her time here could bring.”
‘We’re coming. People know it.’
On a Friday in late October, Watkins eases into an empty row of chairs along the sideline in USC’s practice facility at the Galen Center for an interview, ambling with the same lanky 6-foot-2 gait and infectious grin she carried for years at Sierra Canyon. Banners sit high on the walls above, a constant reminder of why she stayed home.
Her hair, still, is pulled to the crown of her head in signature bun. She might switch up the style at USC, she remarks. But Watkins relents after a follow-up.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” she grins. “I’m kinda superstitious with the hair.”
She is built for this, in game and persona. Watkins earned representation from Klutch Sports and signed a deal with Nike all before her senior year at Sierra Canyon, carrying herself with a cool that hinges in the sweet spot between confidence and cockiness. Her first name, a play on her given name of Judea, beckons to be bellowed across Galen Center loudspeakers after buckets.
“All the things that are involved in being a women’s basketball player right now – it’s a really exciting time,” Komaki said. “So, of course, she’s kind of the face of that.”
“But you also have to have that level of charisma,” Komaki added. “People want to be a fan of yours. And she’s that.”
Capitalizing on JuJu Watkins, Gottlieb feels, is the greatest challenge and greatest excitement of her career. And suddenly, three years into Gottlieb’s rebuild at USC, the window to compete has been thrust wide open. Rayah Marshall returns, fresh off averaging a double-double as a sophomore. Ivy League transfers Kayla Padilla, Kaitlyn Davis and McKenzie Forbes add experience and depth. And recruiting momentum hasn’t slowed down, as USC’s making a hard push for Etiwanda High senior Kennedy Smith, currently the top-ranked recruit in California in the class of 2024.
“I think the buzz now is different,” Gottlieb said. “Obviously, the commitment that’s been made to our program – we’re coming. People know it.”
‘There’s not much that’s normal about her’
In the final game of Watkins’ high school career, Stan Delus designed an entire defense specifically targeted to stop the phenom.
In Sierra Canyon’s 55-54 loss to Etiwanda in the state-tournament bracket last year – the only loss of Watkins’ senior year – Delus threw his lankiest defender in Mykelle Richards at the top of a zone, trying to extend pressure and slow Watkins’ lightning drives in transition. It worked, although Komaki would argue she just had a tough shooting night.
“She’s seen anything that anybody can throw at her,” Komaki said.
The college game, though, will bring natural adaptation. Most every team she’ll face will have a defender of Richards’ wingspan guarding her; more intricate schemes than simple man defense will be designed to contain her.
“In high school, I could just shoot the shot, get the rebound, go back up,” Watkins said of adjustments she’s trying to make. “Like, just learning how to be more efficient. Get to my spots efficiently. Make the right pass. Just getting better with IQ.”
Watkins walks a strange limbo for the first time in years: a freshman trying to grow in an unfamiliar environment and a freshman carrying massive expectations for herself and her program. Needing the freedom to make normal mistakes, to get lost, to not know what’s around the next corner – but, as Gottleib said, “with the recognition that there’s not much that’s normal about her.”
Most of the top schools that recruited Watkins had already laid a foundation, an edifice of championship culture. She didn’t want to build; she wanted to cultivate, to bring a legacy to Los Angeles. Home.
“Just bring that energy back, and hopefully after I’m done, that’ll continue to stay,” Watkins said, “so that L.A. will remain.”