JuJu Watkins has lived up to the hype during her freshman year at USC. Now she will command a national stage during the NCAA tournament.
Star freshman JuJu Watkins has guided Southern California to a top-five ranking in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 1994. Her next act will come in the NCAA tournament. LAS VEGAS — Prodigies tend to make a mockery of age, appearing far older, wiser and more talented than their birth dates would suggest.
Indeed, USC’s downtown arena is just seven miles from Ted Watkins Memorial Park, where Watkins honed her craft during childhood. Ted Watkins, JuJu’s great-grandfather, was a Watts community leader who sought to provide affordable housing, medical facilities and employment opportunities in the predominantly Black neighborhood, which experienced civil unrest in response to police mistreatment in 1965..
Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, the winningest women’s coach in NCAA history, went to even more extreme measures, shadowing Watkins with extra defensive attention throughout the Pac-12 tournament title game in hopes of preventing another 51-point explosion. VanDerveer won the battle but lost the war, holding Watkins, who was battling an ankle injury, to a season-low nine points in USC’s 74-61 victory.
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