Women's Fastbreak On SI

USC Star JuJu Watkins' Apparent Clone Has Fans Befuddled

It seems like the USC Trojans made a clone of their best player over the offseason.

Grant Young

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

USC Trojans women's basketball guard JuJu Watkins burst onto the college basketball scene last season and instantly became one of the country's top prospects.

Watkins won the 2024 Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award after finishing second in NCAA Division 1 in points per game, as her 27.1 ppg average was only behind former Iowa Hawkeyes and current Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark, who averaged 31.6 points per game. This is made even more impressive when one remembers that Watkins was just a freshman last year.

For this reason, it would make sense for USC to want a clone of Watkins on the court. And a recent photo from one of USC's practices makes it seem like they received one.

X user @j2timez_w posted a photo of Watkins and her teammate Kennedy Smith next to each other during a practice with the caption, "this photo is absolutely insane cuz which one is juju ? 😭😭".

The two women look strikingly similar in the photo. And while Watkins is on the right, her hair not being in her signature bun (while Smith's is) makes it even tougher to differentiate between them.

One X user reposted the photo with the iconic meme of two Spiderman characters pointing at each other.

"atp someone need a temporary tattoo or SOMETHING," added another fan.

"when I first saw it i thought they did photoshop of juju 👋 herself lol, she needs to keep the bun for juju though," added another.

USC fans are hoping that Smith (who is a freshman this season after winning the Gatorade California State Player of the Year last season) can mirror more about Watkins than just her appearance this season.

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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.

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