BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — She’s not taking part in within the Candy 16 and Elite Eight video games this weekend, however so lots of the folks round ladies’s faculty basketball are nonetheless speaking about USC’s JuJu Watkins.
The famous person sophomore guard, who was second within the nation in scoring and can doubtless be the consensus Nationwide Participant of the Yr, tore her ACL early within the Trojan’s second-round win final Monday towards Mississippi State. Over the past week, Watkins has been on the minds of quite a lot of gamers and coaches nonetheless competing within the event.
South Carolina coach Daybreak Staley has maintained a relationship with Watkins after recruiting her. She despatched her a textual content this week providing her assist and sending her effectively needs.
“JuJu is liked by all of us,” Staley mentioned. “JuJu is elevating and lifting our sport up with how she performs, with cornering the market in terms of NIL offers. I imply, she’s a enterprise herself, and to see a part of that not part of our NCAA Match, one thing is lacking. There’s an enormous void.”
Certainly, Watkins has been in commercials this season for State Farm, Gatorade and Nike. For Staley, what stands out about Watkins is her star-power and the way she’s introduced extra eyeballs to the sport of girls’s faculty basketball. In December, an everyday season assembly between USC and UConn drew 2.23 million viewers to FOX, making it the second-most-watched ladies’s basketball sport ever proven on the community.
When UConn coach Geno Auriemma noticed Watkins’ damage, he instantly reached out to USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb and supplied her recommendation on how he’s handled gamers of his personal who’ve had these form of devastating accidents.
“I really feel horrible for JuJu personally, figuring out the gamers that I’ve had which have needed to undergo that, how a lot it means to them, what they’re lacking for the entire 12 months that they’re out, and for Lindsay, for her teammates,” Auriemma mentioned. “And I feel the impact that it has on the event, I feel is big from a aggressive standpoint, star energy, and I feel the USC youngsters will most likely rise to the event and play wonderful like they did the opposite evening.”
USC and UConn each play on Saturday within the Candy 16. The Trojans face Kansas State and the Huskies tackle Oklahoma. Ought to each win, they’ll meet within the Elite Eight.
Had Watkins not gotten injured, it will’ve set-up a must-watch rematch between USC and UConn, a sport that might have pierced the monoculture as the game’s greatest stars — Watkins and Paige Buckers — went head-to-head.
The hope — from the NCAA Choice Committee and ESPN — was that the matchup might have brushed the hype and viewership generated by final season’s Elite Eight matchup between Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese. That sport drew a then-record 12.3 million viewers.
Bueckers was pressured to grapple together with her personal knee damage a couple of years in the past, lacking the entire 2022-23 season after tearing her ACL in a summer season pickup sport. She bounced again and has made the All-American First Group in every of the previous two seasons and is anticipated to be the No. 1 decide within the upcoming WNBA Draft.
After seeing Watkins go down, Bueckers despatched her a textual content providing assist and recommendation.
“Your coronary heart breaks for her, simply the devastation that — particularly throughout proper now, in the course of the event, of not with the ability to be on the market together with your group throughout an important a part of the 12 months,” Bueckers mentioned. “We empathize for her, we’ve been there, and we all know how a lot it sucks, however you don’t get to be pretty much as good as JuJu should you don’t have an excellent motor, an excellent work ethic, and she or he’s going to assault this course of simply as she’s attacked basketball, and simply as she’s nice at basketball, she’s going to be nice at this restoration course of.”
Likewise, Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles — who can be anticipated to be drafted extremely by a WNBA group subsequent month — missed the entire 2023-24 season with a knee damage. Miles got here again even higher this season, growing her 3-point capturing proportion by 18 factors whereas additionally averaging 15.5 factors and 5.9 assists per sport.
Miles was watching the USC versus Mississippi State sport in actual time when Watkins fell to the ground throughout a quick break.
“My coronary heart breaks for anybody that goes via that. I wouldn’t want that damage on my worst enemy. So it’s only a powerful one,” Miles mentioned. “I feel the recommendation that I’d give to her is to take her time. There are quite a lot of exterior elements, lots of people who want to see you again sooner than you might be able to, and chances are you’ll rush your restoration, however on the finish of the day this damage takes time, and it actually takes you listening to your physique and what it wants.”
It may very well be some time earlier than ladies’s basketball followers see Watkins again on the court docket once more.
