Dawn Staley Admits 'Big Void' Left in NCAA Tournament After JuJu Watkins ACL Injury
While there's a lot of excitement for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds of the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament to begin this weekend, there's now a cloud hanging over the entire tournament after USC Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL during her team's second-round game against Mississippi State.
Numerous big names in women's basketball have spoken out in support of Watkins. And the most recent person to do so is South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley, who addressed the ACL tear when speaking with the media on March 27.
"Really tough," Staley said of seeing Watkins suffer the ACL injury, per the March Madness YouTube account. "I mean, JuJu is loved by all of us. JuJu is raising and lifting our game up in how she plays, with cornering the market when it comes to NIL deals.
"She's a business herself, and to see a part of that not be a part of our NCAA Tournament, something is missing. There's a big void.
She later added, "I've kept in touch with [JuJu], her support system. I sent her a text out the night of the injury, but it went green, so that means I don't have the right number. But her person sent me the right number last night, so I shot her a text last night."
Staley's Gamecocks squad is slated to face the USC Trojans for a regular season game on November 15, 2025, and again on the same day in 2026.
While it's tough to believe that Watkins will be recovered for that first South Carolina vs. USC contest, her extraordinary work ethic makes it so her return could come quicker than anybody might imagine.
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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.