Why USC's JuJu Watkins is the next big thing in college hoops

LOS ANGELES -- Lindsay Gottlieb was crammed in the corner of a small back kitchen, standing in a cluster near Caitlin Clark and Zach Edey. The USC women's basketball coach and her star freshman, JuJu Watkins, were in a holding area at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, where finalists for the men's and women's Wooden Award were being honored a week after the 2024 Final Four.

With Watkins at her side, Gottlieb faced Clark, the award's back-to-back winner, and the two began chatting. "Amazing season," Clark said to Gottlieb about USC's Elite Eight run. "We were rooting for you guys. ... You guys will be back. JuJu's so good."

Gottlieb had never previously met Clark. But she threw out a request: "If there's anything you could offer me to help [JuJu] ..."

Clark didn't hesitate.

"Absolutely, I'd be happy to," Gottlieb said Clark replied. "I had that kind of attention for a year and a half. She's going to have it for three years."

At 19 years old, Watkins is already a basketball and cultural sensation. In one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history, she delivered USC its best record in 40 years and helped it reach the Elite Eight, elevating a program that missed every NCAA tournament from 2015 to 2022 and went three decades without appearing in the Sweet 16. That's just how transformative Watkins -- who grew up seven miles away from Galen Center in the South Central neighborhood of Watts -- has been.

"We knew how good she was and we knew how good this could be," Gottlieb said, "but no one predicted what it would exactly look like."

Off the court, she has been just as resonant. Watkins boasts NIL deals with Gatorade and Nike, the latter giving her one of the richest shoe endorsement deals in women's basketball. She has had photo ops with MLB star Shohei Ohtani, presented hip-hop artist Travis Scott her jersey and starred in commercials with NBA star Joel Embiid in which he dons her trademark bun. She's even the subject and co-producer of an upcoming docuseries with NBC/Peacock.

A-listers such as the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James -- who calls himself her "proud big brother" -- flocked to Galen last season. And now with Clark off to the WNBA and women's basketball's popularity exploding, Watkins has snatched the torch, shifting the center of the college basketball universe from Iowa City to Los Angeles.

"She's already a star," James told ESPN. "The way she plays the game, how fierce of a competitor she is, what she represents. ... It's everybody's dream to be able to play with that passion, to be able to shoot the ball, rebound the ball, push the ball, handle the ball. And she wants to win. Everybody can gravitate toward that."

The spotlight will remain fixed on Galen this season. Watkins is a front-runner for national player of the year. USC has surrounded her with more talent, attracting top players from the transfer portal and the nation's No. 1 recruiting class. The program opened its most anticipated year in decades ranked No. 3, its highest preseason ranking since the Trojans' national championship runs in 1983 and 1984.

The expectations for Watkins over the next three years at USC -- she won't be age-eligible to leave early for the WNBA -- are high. The expectations for what she can do as a pro? Even higher.

"You could be looking at a multiple MVP winner," one WNBA talent evaluator told ESPN. "She's going to carry a franchise. Besides Caitlin, she's definitely the next most exciting prospect. ... That's the one you're waiting for."

She has the potential to be one of the greatest to play the game. But right now, that's not even Watkins' main driving force.

"Every day we see the two [national championship] banners in the gym and hope to add more," Watkins told ESPN. "That's definitely something I take pride in. Being able to bring more hardware here and bringing L.A. and USC basketball to what it used to be."

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A YEAR AND a half before Clark and Gottlieb's interaction at the Wooden Awards, Gottlieb and Watkins sat in the coach's backyard during Watkins' official visit. It was two months before Watkins would ultimately commit to USC, and Gottlieb asked Watkins what it was like to be her.

Watkins had been in the spotlight since high school. She was the Sports Illustrated SportsKid of the Year at 15. Alicia Komaki, Watkins' high school coach at Sierra Canyon, remembers when the team traveled to Alaska and a kid had Watkins sign his forehead with a marker. Tournament directors would take pictures with her. Lines for postgame autographs became so large that her family had someone step in as security.

All of that was before women's basketball became what it is now. Before Watkins took college by storm. Before she became a face, maybe the face, of the women's game. "Being JuJu is probably a hundredfold what it was when she was in high school," Komaki told ESPN.

Watkins doesn't take any of that for granted.

"Coming from an under-resourced community, you learn to appreciate," Watkins said of growing up in Watts. "Every little thing I'm grateful for.

"I just always think positive, knowing that perspective of where I came from and how my story developed. I'm always just blessed and in awe of how far I've come."

Her story, and that of her family, is inextricable from Los Angeles, from Watts. In 1965, Watkins' great-grandfather, Ted, founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, dedicated to providing housing, jobs and anti-poverty services for its residents. Tom Bradley, Los Angeles' longest-serving mayor, once praised Watkins for running "the best community action program in the nation."

Watkins spent her childhood hanging around the WLCAC, now run by her grandfather, Tim. Ted died before she was born, but she heard stories about his impact and worked as a receptionist at the organization for two summers. She honed her craft every day on the basketball court in Ted Watkins Memorial Park.

Everyone around L.A. soon knew of JuJu. "I remember when she was in about fifth grade in a little GBL [Girls Basketball League] uniform that was seven sizes too big," USC associate head coach Beth Burns told ESPN. "She was that good then."

Gottlieb, then coaching at Cal, first heard about Watkins as an eighth grader who was deemed "the next one." Gottlieb left the college ranks in 2019 to join the Cleveland Cavaliers staff, but when USC called two years later, her mind gravitated to that special prospect in the Trojans' backyard.

"I tapped back in on, 'What's up with JuJu,'" Gottlieb said, "'and does she know where she wants to go to school?'"

Watkins was the No. 1 recruit of the 2023 class and a USA Basketball standout. She had trained with pro players, including James Harden, Kevin Durant and Chelsea Gray. She became the first high school athlete to sign with Klutch Sports, the same agency that represents James, and signed with Nike as one of its first NIL athletes.

Her recruitment came down to South Carolina, Stanford and USC. The Cardinal were led by one of the sport's all-time winningest coaches in Tara VanDerveer, the Gamecocks a surging powerhouse under Dawn Staley. They'd won the 2021 and 2022 national titles, respectively.

USC, meanwhile, was a storied program that produced Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson, but had largely been an afterthought since the 1990s. At the time of Watkins' decision, the Trojans hadn't played in the NCAA tournament in nearly a decade.

Ted had a slogan encapsulating his life's work: "Don't move, improve." Watkins took those words to heart, choosing to stay home. She saw the opportunity to build the next great chapter of USC women's basketball -- in front of friends and family, for her city -- as a "no-brainer." Watkins became the program's first Gatorade National Player of the Year since Leslie.

"There's a lot of kids who choose the easy path because they want to win a championship," Komaki said. "And I think JuJu went the opposite of that path on purpose. It was like, 'If I really am as good as I think I am, I'm going to bring glory back to USC and I'm going to do it because I'm good enough to carry a program in a year. ... I believe in myself, and screw what everybody else says.'"

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ONE SUNDAY EVENING in late January, Gottlieb got a call from a security guard at USC. Watkins was getting shots up, and the guard wanted to know whether to kick her out.

Earlier that day, unranked Washington had upset the Trojans at home. Watkins shot an uncharacteristic 8-of-27, and it was the team's third loss in four games to close the month.

"No," Gottlieb told the guard. "Let Ju be Ju."

Watkins entered the next matchup at No. 4 Stanford with a clear objective: We can't lose. I am not willing to let that happen. The result was a spellbinding 51-point double-double as Watkins willed the Trojans to a 67-58 victory.

She devastated the Cardinal with a litany of midrange jumpers and 3-pointers while also plowing downhill and drawing 16 fouls. All on jaw-dropping efficiency: 14-of-26 from the field, 6-of-11 from 3 and 17-of-19 on free throws. The 51 points were the most in a single game in men's and women's college basketball last season, and the most by any Division I player against a top-10 opponent in the past 25 seasons.

A 6-foot-2 guard, Watkins is a three-level scorer with a rare combination of size, skill, power and explosiveness. With the smoothness of her game, the versatility of her skill set and her L.A. swagger, Gottlieb likes to call Watkins "your favorite basketball player's favorite basketball player."

"By the way she moves and how she operates," former Sparks champion and WNBA legend Candace Parker told ESPN, "you can tell she's a hooper."

DeMar DeRozan, another L.A. native who similarly chose to stay home in hopes of bringing the USC men's program back to prominence, knew Watkins was special when he first saw her effortlessly put up 30-something points as an eight grader.

"I think she has a superstar aura," DeRozan told ESPN. "The way she carries herself, her swag off the court, personality, how humble she is, how personable she is. And when she gets on that court, she's an extreme killer. She goes out there to compete at the highest level, to win."

For Parker, Watkins' ability to get to her spots with ease, as well as her midrange pull-up game, stand out. For DeRozan, it's her poise. One WNBA scout said Watkins reminds them of Maya Moore and Dwyane Wade with her fluid movements and ability to get to the rim and free throw line. Another talent evaluator pointed to her advanced deceleration ability, "which we haven't seen a ton of in the W."

"You've just got to force her to do what she doesn't want to do," said USC teammate Talia von Oelhoffen, a transfer from Oregon State, about guarding Watkins. "And then hope she misses -- and pray at that point."

Watkins' numbers last season told the same story of almost unprecedented talent. Watkins ranked second in scoring (27.1 points per game) behind only Clark. Her 920 points set a Division I freshman record and were USC's single-season high. She led the Trojans in assists (3.3 per game) and steals (2.3); ranked second in rebounds (7.3) and blocks (1.7); and became the fifth player to earn first-team All-America honors as a freshman.

All while making Galen Center the place to be. Barely 1,000 fans attended USC's second home game, a blowout of Le Moyne. By mid-January, nearly 10,700 -- a Galen Center attendance record -- watched Watkins pour in 32 points as the Trojans knocked off crosstown rival UCLA in a top-10 showdown. Stars from Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell to Vanessa Bryant and 2 Chainz witnessed as she catapulted a preseason No. 21 team to a 29-6 record, Pac-12 tournament title and the program's first NCAA tournament 1-seed since 1986.

"She's not just putting [Watts] on the map, it's putting all of L.A. on the map, especially for women's basketball," DeRozan said. "It's very incredible to see the things that she's doing, and she hasn't even reached, in my opinion, the heights of where she could really get to."

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USC'S RETURNERS DON'T need to be reminded how their season ended. It was a one-point game with 4:36 left in the Elite Eight, the Trojans within reach of their first Final Four berth since 1986. But the UConn Huskies scored 11 unanswered points to put the game away and end USC's magical year.

After the buzzer sounded, Watkins buried her face in her jersey, wiping away the tears streaming down her face. Huskies coach Geno Auriemma and star Paige Bueckers came up to her to pay their respects.

"You don't want moments like that to end," Watkins said of the team's NCAA tournament run. "I feel like when you get so close to something, it hurts even more honestly, because you know you could have gone further."

It didn't matter that she had 29 points and 10 rebounds. Or that, as teammate McKenzie Forbes declared in the postgame news conference, "She's f---ing 18 years old." Or that she would get three more shots at winning it all.

"I think losing hurts her in her soul," Gottlieb said.

"You could be looking at a multiple MVP winner. She's going to carry a franchise. Besides Caitlin, she's definitely the next most exciting prospect. ... That's the one you're waiting for." WNBA talent evaluator on JuJu Watkins

"I'm a big believer that the passion and the care is really what separates the good from the great, and the great from the really great," Parker said. "When they lost to go to the Final Four, she was devastated. That kind of stuck out to me more so than even the success that she had."

Watkins' year was everything she thought it could be. Probably more. But the Trojans had suddenly become a program for which an Elite Eight run wasn't good enough.

The only option was to level up -- individually and collectively. Watkins said she worked on her pace and efficiency, "being smarter" and reading defenses. Last season, teams zeroed in on preventing her from going right; after an offseason hand procedure, she had ample opportunity to work on going left, ensuring she'd be a threat both ways. On a team with seven freshmen, her leadership and voice became more paramount than ever.

"JuJu respects the game. She doesn't want to have a flaw in her game," Burns said. "She holds herself to a standard that no coach could."

Watkins' high offensive load last season was what USC needed to win. Moving forward, the Trojans needed to surround her with more help.

"Ju never wanted to be a one-man band," Burns said. "The beauty of basketball is played right, it's like a symphony, and the symphony has more than one instrument. Ju's like an old soul. She appreciates that."

So the Trojans went out and signed the nation's top recruiting class, headlined by top-10 recruit Kennedy Smith. Then the team snagged Kiki Iriafen, ESPN's No. 1 transfer and a future lottery pick, and Von Oelhoffen out of the portal.

"This is like the Avengers," Watkins quipped. "I would definitely call this a super team."

Von Oelhoffen was a former Pac-12 foe. Watkins had also competed against Stanford transfer and L.A. product Iriafen in high school. Smith and Watkins, too, dueled in a crosstown rivalry between Etiwanda and Sierra Canyon, taking turns defeating each other in the postseason.

Familiar with their play, Watkins saw the potential for what they could do together. In conversations with the three before their commitments, her message was consistent: If you come to USC, we can do something special.

"We were both down to do whatever it takes for us to win a national championship," Iriafen said.

Watkins' gravity comes from more than just her sheer talent, but also her disposition.

"She's such a humble superstar," Iriafen said. "She's very giving and caring to her teammates. She'll be the first one to uplift you."

There's still a learning curve for this season's USC team, which features nine newcomers, as players get accustomed to one another. Having to come together amid adversity -- like being pushed to the brink by No. 20 Ole Miss in the Trojans' season opener -- should only speed up that chemistry, Gottlieb has said.

Sure enough, USC responded to that first scare with routs over three nonconference opponents. The true tests lie ahead in Notre Dame, UCLA and UConn. And the Trojans know they're no longer the hunters. They're the hunted.

"[Last year] we knew, but not the world," Watkins said. "Now, the tables have turned."

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THE SPOTLIGHT IS only intensifying on Watkins and Los Angeles. But that's something she has learned to embrace, even if she's not actively seeking it out.

Watkins isn't one to crave attention. She's reserved and a natural introvert, those close to her say -- "demure," describes Watkins' best friend India Otto, a former teammate and current USC staffer. It's that even-keeled nature that helps her manage the expectations and pressures of being the new biggest star in women's college basketball.

"I don't think there's many other people who could handle all this as well as she does," Otto added. "She's just really built for this."

All this might become a lot more this season. The basketball world knows a game-changing talent is surging in L.A. All eyes will be on the championship-minded Trojans, and on how Watkins builds toward a highly anticipated professional career. Watkins turns 22 in 2027 and won't be age-eligible to leave USC for the WNBA any earlier -- but scouts say she could play in the league right now.

"She's that good," a WNBA executive said. "And it's so rare to be able to say that about young people, NBA or WNBA. But she has that feel of an NBA one and-done."

And once she gets there? "The sky's the limit for her at 19," the executive said. "It's crazy."

Watkins doesn't shy away from such sky-high expectations. Because they're the same ones she has for herself. "I would like to be one of the greatest," she said, "and I think I will continue to put in that work so one day I can be considered that."

"A lot of people, they're about other stuff first," Parker said. "You can tell that she loves basketball, and basketball is first. I think that's what I love about watching her. You can tell that she's trying to get better."

Parker, a former young prodigy herself, cautioned against trying to define Watkins' career at the beginning. Let everything speak for itself when all's said and done, she said. Watkins can continue to seek greatness, but she should get lost in the everyday process.

That's how Watkins has operated since her early years training at Ted Watkins Memorial Park. And now dazzling underneath the banners at Galen Center, hoping to raise more, that's exactly how she'll continue to be.

"Just watch out," Otto said. "She's coming. She's ready."

ESPN's Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.