USC Women’s Basketball: JuJu Watkins Nominated for ESPY

Will Watkins win an ESPY too?

Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

Even during the offseason, JuJu Watkins is still tacking on the award nominations. The USC women's basketball star has been nominated for an ESPY or an Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award. Watkins is one of the nominees for the Best Breakthrough Athlete.

Watkins is one of four total nominees for Best Breakthrough Athlete, along with Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, and LSU gymnast Haleigh Bryant. Both Stroud and Wembanyama were the respective Rookie of the Year in their sport (Offensive Rookie of the Year for Stroud) while Watkins won several Freshman of the Year awards.

Bryant is not a freshman or a rookie, but a senior. This was not necessarily a breakthrough year for her as she was already an NCAA champion and ranked as a top-five college gymnast in the country before her most recent season. However, it was her best season so far as she led LSU to their first national gymnastics championship title, and she became both the NCAA Individual All-Around champion and the No. 1 ranked college gymnast.

While she has stiff competition, Watkins would be well deserving of the award after a record-breaking freshman season. Watkins became the first women's college basketball freshman to score over 900 points, breaking the freshman scoring record. She had a 50-point game, and over 10 more games with over 30 points.

Overall, Watkins finished the year second in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 27.1 points per game along with 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. She was the USBWA, WBCA, and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and a first-team All-American as she led USC to national relevance during their Elite Eight run.

The ESPYs will take place in eleven days on July 11.

More USC: USC Basketball: Isaiah Collier Reacts to Being Drafted by Jazz