Women's Fastbreak On SI

JuJu Watkins Receives On-Court Mentoring From NBA All-Star

JuJu Watkins is in the lab with an NBA icon before her sophomore season at USC begins.

Grant Young

Mar 25, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) gets ready to shoot free-throw during an NCAA Women’s Tournament 2nd round game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) gets ready to shoot free-throw during an NCAA Women’s Tournament 2nd round game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

University of Southern California (USC) Trojans guard JuJu Watkins is looking to become the NCAA's best female college basketball player next season.

Despite being a freshman last year, Watkins' 27.1 points per game was second in the NCAA, trailing only former Iowa Hawkeye and current Indiana Fever icon Caitlin Clark.

Watkins led the Women of Troy to the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, where they met Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies.

Watkins still finished that game with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Yet, UConn still secured a 80-73 victory over USC.

Although USC will get an opportunity to redeem themselves next season, as they face UConn again on December 21.

And Watkins was seen preparing for that game (and the rest of her sophomore season) alongside NBA superstar DeMar DeRozan on Thursday.

DeRozan, who was born and raised in Compton, California (right outside of Los Angeles), posted a video of him and Watkins putting work in at USC's stadium on his Instagram story Thursday.

DeRozan is a six-time NBA All-Star and USC legend. The shooting guard played for the Trojans from 2008-09, won the 2009 Pac-10 Tournament MVP, and had his No. 10 retired by USC in 2020.

Now DeRozan is imparting his wisdom onto another Trojans icon.

Given that USC is keeping its top superstar for at least two more seasons and added former Oregon State player Talia Von Oelhoffen during the offseason, they'll likely be among the favorites to win the Big 10 Conference.

What's for sure is that Watkins will be on a short list of players expected to compete for the 2024-25 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year award.

Published
Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

Home/NCAAW