Tag: Juju Watkins

Lindsay Gottlieb is doing everything Andy Enfield is failing to do at USC

The two USC basketball programs have No. 1 recruits, but are going in completely different directions. Coaching matters.

There’s a reason why Lindsay Gottlieb was an NBA assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers. There’s a reason why Gottlieb had a chance to potentially become a female NBA head coach, something Becky Hammon might also become in the future.

Lindsay Gottlieb is an elite basketball coach — not an elite women’s basketball coach, just an elite basketball coach, period. She knows ball. When Mike Bohn pulled her away from the Cavs and the NBA to sell her on a vision for USC women’s basketball, the Trojans’ future immediately made a 180-degree turn. USC didn’t just hire a good coach; it hired a rock star coach, one of the best in the game.

Now we are seeing why. USC is 8-0 after a blowout of UC Riverside on Sunday. The Trojans are ranked in the top six in the nation. They will likely be unbeaten heading into the start of the Pac-12 season on December 30. The season is still young, but USC’s odds of getting a top-four seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament are better than 50-50 at this point. The Trojans are going to lose several games in a loaded Pac-12, but as long as they get their share of wins, they will be a high seed in March Madness.

They have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2024. JuJu Watkins, only a freshman, is going to get better. She will have better players around her in future seasons, but this team — right now — is already very good. Gottlieb and lead assistant coach Beth Burns have taken a No. 1-ranked recruit and used that centerpiece — JuJu — to build a high-quality team and a program with a very strong foundation.

On the other side of basketball at Heritage Hall, USC men’s hoops also has a No. 1-ranked recruit, Isaiah Collier. He is surrounded by talented players who have played in the NCAA Touranment. Boogie Ellis has played in multiple NCAA Tournaments. Kobe Johnson has played in multiple NCAA Tournaments. Andy Enfield helped Boogie and Kobe achieve something of note in previous seasons. To Enfield’s credit, USC has become a school which expects to make the NCAA Tournament every year. That expectation didn’t exist when Enfield came aboard a decade ago. Enfield has improved the USC program.

However, Enfield’s ceiling as a coach and program developer might be far lower than we all hoped.

Whereas Gottlieb is so clearly maximizing the talents and capabilities of JuJu Watkins and is transforming a No. 1 recruit into the central presence on a loaded, thriving team at USC, Enfield has utterly failed in his attempt to build a similarly strong team around Isaiah Collier.

Not only is Enfield failing to do what Gottlieb is doing; it’s not even close. It’s not even a situation where one can see progress even while results aren’t emerging. No. There isn’t any sign of progress, which is the ultimate reason for concern in the world of USC men’s basketball.

The problems which existed before Collier came aboard are the problems which still affect USC men’s basketball: too many turnovers, too many 3-point shots (and misses), too many missed free throws, not enough easy baskets, not enough ball movement.

We said for years that if Enfield could simply land an elite point guard — his new version of Jordan McLaughlin — it would all come together for USC. Against Kansas State on November 6, Collier was a beast and USC looked like a team ready to do something special this season.

While injuries certainly slowed this team’s development in November, this past week was marked by the arrival of Bronny James, who played his first game for USC. Vince Iwuchukwu looks better and healthier. The roster was getting healthy. The team had more practice time together. After a tough November plus a December 2 loss to Gonzaga, we were supposed to see this team round into form, become more cohesive, and begin to show what it was capable of heading into Pac-12 play on December 28. No, the results weren’t great for this team in the first month of the season, but now with guys getting healthy, we were supposed to see “the real USC.”

Nope. Instead of improvement, USC remained stuck in familiar territory, with the turnovers, the missed foul shots, and the inability to play consistently good basketball for more than 15-20 minutes in a game. USC blew a 15-point lead at home to Long Beach State, with Collier, Boogie, and Kobe — a hyped backcourt before the season began — struggling throughout the contest. Bronny played well in limited minutes. Iwuchukwu played his best game of the season.

USC still lost. At home. To Long Beach. In front of a packed Galen Center.

There is simply no reason for the men’s basketball product to be this bad with this much talent. USC men’s basketball, like USC women’s basketball, has the No. 1 2023 recruit in the country on its roster. Yet, the process and results for these two teams could not be more different.

Lindsay Gottlieb’s successes magnify Andy Enfield’s failures, and vice-versa. USC has its rock-star coach in the women’s game, and it might soon need to look for a rock-star coach in the men’s game.

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Come for Bronny, stay for JuJu — special USC basketball doubleheader at Galen Center on Sunday

What a great doubleheader for USC basketball fans! It’s a rare chance to watch these teams back-to-back!

The USC basketball programs don’t typically have doubleheaders in the Galen Center. Usually, one team has a homestand while the other team is out of town. Sometimes, the teams will play home games on consecutive nights.

Sunday, however, will be different. The men host Long Beach State at 1 p.m. local time in Los Angeles. The women play at 3:30, or 30 minutes after the end of the men’s game.

Little did anyone know that the men’s game against Long Beach State would involve the USC and college debut of Bronny James. News of this development broke on Thursday. It was not a long-planned event. It just happened to line up this way.

It could be great for USC basketball in general and the women’s program in particular.

Everyone wants to not only see Bronny play at USC home games, but also see LeBron watching his son play. LeBron fully intends to be at this Long Beach State game, since the Los Angeles Lakers have the day off on Sunday. That should help get fans inside the Galen Center even though USC basketball has struggled in recent weeks.

Assuming the crowd for the men’s game is a good one, everyone with a ticket can stay for the nightcap, the women’s game against UC Riverside.

The USC women’s team, led by superstar JuJu Watkins, is 7-0. The Women of Troy are No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports Women’s College Basketball Poll. USC is likely to be unbeaten heading into its December 30 Pac-12 opener versus No. 2 UCLA.

If you go to the Galen Center on Sunday for Bronny James and the USC men, stay for JuJu Watkins and the USC women. Make a full day of it.

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Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Dec. 3

See how much Hannah Hidalgo is scoring among her peers.

Here’s how Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] ranks among the national scoring leaders:

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb can’t stop raving about JuJu Watkins — and she shouldn’t

Lindsay Gottlieb has an incredible player at USC who is transcending the very high expectations she carries.

JuJu Watkins has taken the USC Trojan women’s basketball team — and the country — by storm in just a handful of games. The WNBA buzz is already beginning, and the Isaiah Collier-JuJu Watkins pairing for the men’s and women’s teams is something USC has never seen.

Let’s be clear, though: Collier has had some good moments. Watkins is producing a spectacular and historic season just six games in, doing things very few people have ever done.

USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb recently couldn’t stop raving about Watkins, per Luca Evans of The Orange County Register (subscription required):

“I’m going through all these things I said, but also I said, ‘the best player in the country is here in L.A.’”

JuJu is one of a kind.

After raving about Watkins to no end after one game this season, Gottlieb added, “Should I stop now?”

The room laughed.

This is what Gottlieb envisioned when she took the USC job. Now JuJu Watkins is a massive piece of the puzzle, with other top recruits following suit and coming to USC.

“When the story plays out,” Gottlieb said, “it should always be more beautiful than you imagined.”

So far, it is.

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JuJu Watkins’ statistical output is matched only by LeBron James

JuJu is earning her place.

JuJu Watkins and LeBron James can genuinely be mentioned in the same sentence. That might seem like hyperbole. It might also seem like an attention-getting device. Why compare a young women’s basketball star who is not yet 20 years old to an NBA legend and future Hall of Famer? It might seem hyperbolic or unnecessary to the casual fan, the kind of comparison which seems out of place. However, when you look at the raw numbers and see the statistical output of the two players, you quickly realize that JuJu Watkins is earning her place.

It’s not embellishment to say she belongs in the same sentence with LeBron James. It’s just a plain, numerical fact.

Check this out: In six statistical categories — points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, and victories — JuJu Watkins and LeBron James are the only players to record a specific level of elite production in any six-game span of college or pro basketball, men or women.

The fact that JuJu Watkins’ six games stack up against any six-game span in LeBron’s career is crazy enough in its own right. The fact that this six-game span is comprised of JuJu’s first six games in college at USC is even more remarkable.

What we also need to emphasize here is that while JuJu Watkins is a scoring machine, with four 30-point games in her first six games for USC, she is making substantial contributions in those other categories. She helps out on the boards. She’s a brilliant passer. She plays strong defense.

She wins.

Comparing JuJu to LeBron might seem foolish to the casual observer, but as soon as you look at the stat sheet and also realize how greatly JuJu is transforming her USC team — the way LeBron transformed the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers — it quickly becomes apparent: This comparison is a substantive one.

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It took JuJu Watkins just six games to set a USC freshman record

JuJu Watkins keeps raising the bar and doing incredible things at USC.

JuJu Watkins is calling to mind one of the greatest quotes in the history of golf. Early 20th-century golf icon Bobby Jones, the man who created The Masters golf tournament and is easily one of the five most influential figures in the history of the sport, watched a young man named Jack Nicklaus burst onto the scene in the 1960s. Jones saw Nicklaus dominate golf, taking the baton from Arnold Palmer as the elite golfer of his time.

Jones remarked about Nicklaus, “He plays a game with which I am not familiar.” It remains a memorable and striking quote nearly 60 years after it was first uttered, mostly because the quote forces people to stop and contemplate it.

Jones didn’t directly say, “Jack Nicklaus is a walking god and the best I have ever seen at golf.” The quote is more subtle but carries that same weight and respect. Jones was saying that Nicklaus had completely transformed and reinvented the sport, doing things previous generations had never done or even thought about.

That is basically what JuJu Watkins is doing in women’s college basketball, and what she is doing at USC basketball in particular.

Lisa Leslie — the person who could be compared to Bobby Jones in this story — is an all-time USC basketball legend and a women’s basketball icon. She scored 30 or more points in three games as a USC freshman in the 1990-1991 college basketball season.

JuJu Watkins, in a span of just six games as a USC freshman, has already topped that number with four 30-point (or more) games.

JuJu Watkins really is playing a game with which we are not familiar.

The amazing thing is that this is just the beginning. We could have three more years of this at USC.

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Top high school women’s basketball players want to play with JuJu Watkins at USC

JuJu Watkins is having a magnetic effect on USC WBB recruiting.

JuJu Watkins has become the heart of many discussions surrounding this year’s USC Trojan women’s basketball team. Some commentators are saying she is already ready for the WNBA after just a handful of games at USC.

Kennedy Smith, one of the top players in the Class of 2024, recently committed to USC. Watkins and Smith have known each other since their high school days.

The two faced off at Sierra Canyon (JuJu) and Etiwanda (Kennedy Smith). Watkins’ team knocked off Etiwanda in the CIF playoffs two seasons ago, with Smith getting the victory last year.

Now, Smith is committed to USC. Watkins spoke about what Smith brings to the table, per Luca Evans of the Orange County Register (subscription required):

“Playing against her, you see how competitive she is, the dog that’s in her,” Watkins said. “So, to have that – I had to have her. I had to hit her phone up. I appreciate her heavily, because I know what she’s capable of.”

Coach Lindsay Gottlieb knows the future of her team sure looks bright. We can see it from here. Top high school players want to play with JuJu Watkins, creating more accumulated recruiting wins for the Women of Troy.

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Five games into her USC career, JuJu Watkins is a legitimate college basketball superstar

Star or superstar? It’s not even a close call. JuJu is right up there with Caitlin Clark, and the numbers prove it.

The term “superstar” can be thrown around loosely. Sports have plenty of stars, but “superstar” is reserved for the best of the best, the top one percent, the true elites of the sport.

Patrick Mahomes is an NFL superstar. Tua Tagovailoa and Dak Prescott are not superstars. They’re good players.

LeBron James and Steph Curry are NBA superstars. Anthony Davis and Draymond Green are not. They’re very good players. If you wanted to call them stars, fine. They’re not superstars.

Superstars are a cut above stars. They’re in a more exclusive club. That’s the whole point behind the term. If the word is used interchangeably with “stars,” then when add the “super”?

JuJu Watkins of USC is a legitimate women’s college basketball superstar. You might say she’s only five games into her USC and collegiate career, but in those five games, she already has three games with 30 or more points. She has carried her team statistically. She is the main reason USC is 5-0. She is the main reason the Trojans are a top-seven team in the national polls.

Sounds like a superstar, yes?

Not convinced?

Look at this list below:

If Caitlin Clark and one other player (who plays in a smaller conference against weaker competition) are the only two women’s college basketball players averaging more points per game than JuJu Watkins, and Watkins is responsible for leading USC to the top tier of the sport after decades of relative irrelevance, what else is left to say?

Superstar. USC doesn’t just have “Good JuJu” on its side. JuJu has been greater than great.

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JuJu Watkins carries USC to one-point win over Penn State with late comeback

JuJu Watkins has played just five games at USC and is already doing extraordinary things.

The legend of JuJu Watkins is already growing, but the crazy part is that USC’s basketball superstar has played only five games. Most freshmen — most mere mortals — require at least half of a season to begin to own the stage and settle into the rhythms of the college game after dominating at the high school level. Most freshmen need time to become their fully-realized selves as elite athletes.

Not JuJu. She is not ordinary. She is one of the special ones.

Just five games into her USC career, she has posted three games with at least 30 points. She is already racking up double-doubles with 30-point tallies. She is already dominating fourth quarters of games. She is already creating the kinds of moments only special athletes produce.

She left an indelible mark on Wednesday night’s 71-70 USC win over Penn State in The Bahamas.

Watkins was not at her best in the first 38 minutes of this 40-minute game. She was, however, the dominant force in the final two minutes and the only reason USC won by a point after trailing 70-64 with 2:15 left.

Watkins did cough up seven turnovers against Penn State’s relentless attacking defense. This was the first game in 2023 in which Watkins and USC didn’t handle on-ball pressure particularly well. USC’s defense was not the reason Penn State scored 70 points. USC’s 20 giveaways enabled Penn State to push the ball up the court and score before USC’s halfcourt defense could get set up. Penn State turned defense into offense on a night when USC starter Kaitlyn Davis was out with an injury. Watkins and her USC teammates struggled without Davis, whose value to the team and particularly its halfcourt offense became glaringly apparent.

Watkins, with USC trailing by six points at the 2:15 mark of regulation, was missing a key teammate. She was having a difficult game. No one else was stepping up. Players were naturally thrown off guard by the adjusted lineups. It seemed USC was about to drop its first game of the season.

JuJu Watkins wouldn’t allow that to happen. She scored seven points in the final two minutes on two layups and a 3-pointer. Her go-ahead layup in the final 30 seconds was an amazing step-through move between two defenders, a difficult maneuver Watkins performed with ease. USC’s defense was able to shut out Penn State in the final two minutes while JuJu did her thing. Watkins shrugged off all the struggles of the first 38 minutes and showed not only how skilled she is; she revealed how much mental toughness and competitive brilliance she already owns as a freshman.

The Trojans moved to 5-0 and won on a night when they were missing Kaitlyn Davis.

The legend of JuJu Watkins is growing rapidly, and she has played just five games. How many more of these kinds of moments will she create in her freshman season?

We can’t wait to find out. JuJu is a must-see athlete. If you can get to the Galen Center, do so. You are watching a superstar at USC.

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USC women’s basketball wins easily over Seton Hall despite JuJu Watkins shooting struggles

This is the sign of a very good team.

The USC Trojans played a power conference opponent on Monday night in The Bahamas. The USC women’s basketball team faced Seton Hall, part of a multi-game trip to the Caribbean.

JuJu Watkins, USC’s best player, did not shoot well in this game. She was 6 of 17 from the field, 1 of 5 on 3-pointers, and 2 of 6 at the free throw line. It is hard to imagine a player of Watkins’ caliber shooting any worse than this in any future game this season. She might shoot poorly from the field and from 3-point range in a future game, but not from the foul line. In terms of a full slash line, this was a worst-case scenario or at least something close to it.

If you had been told Watkins would shoot this poorly, you probably would have thought USC would have at least sweated out this game, needing to fight deep into the fourth quarter to fend off Seton Hall.

Nope. It didn’t happen.

USC led by 15 at halftime, by 20 after three quarters, and was still up by 11 points with just over two minutes left. The Trojans were so good on defense, as they typically are under Lindsay Gottlieb and Beth Burns, that Seton Hall never got particularly close at any point in the final three quarters.

USC is extremely good when it successfully plays defense without fouling. On Monday, we got a first-class example of this trait. USC allowed only four free throw attempts to Seton Hall while earning 25 free throws of its own. The 15-point difference USC gained at the foul line (16-1) was the central, essential difference in the Trojans’ 64-54 win.

Rayah Marshall had yet another double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds for USC. Four Trojan starters finished with at least 12 points. USC’s defense, in addition to not fouling much — 10 total fouls for the whole game — forced 16 Seton Hall turnovers.

Imagine if USC football had a defense as good as USC women’s basketball.

The Trojans, now 4-0 for the season, will stay in The Bahamas to play Penn State on Wednesday.

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