Tag: Juju Watkins

Juju Watkins, Isaiah Collier had amazingly similar weeks for USC basketball

Juju Watkins and Isaiah Collier made parallel journeys in their national showcase games. The news is great for #USC.

Juju Watkins and Isaiah Collier have a lot in common. They are both No. 1-ranked recruits. They’re both entering the USC basketball program this year. They are both in a position to significantly increase and elevate the national profile of USC hoops.

They created more similarities and parallels at the McDonalds All-American Game on Tuesday.

Collier showed why he is the No. 1 men’s basketball recruit in the nation, scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting and knocking down two of his four attempts from 3-point range, a main weakness in his game. He drew lots of fouls, collected three rebounds, had two assists, and showed his two-way prowess with two steals and a blocked shot.

Juju Watkins was presented with the Naismith Player of the Year Award at Sierra Canyon High School in Brentwood (Calif.). She also won state and national Gatorade Player of The Year honors.

Watkins, just like Collier, delivered a 25-point performance in the women’s version of the McDonald’s All-American Game in Houston on Tuesday night. Like Collier, Watkins was a co-MVP of the game.

It’s such an exciting time to be a fan of USC basketball. If these two players continue to live — and play — up to the hype they have generated, the Trojans will have highly-seeded teams at next year’s NCAA Tournaments, men and women alike.

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Juju Watkins named Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year

Sierra Canyon star Juju Watkins was named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year after a dominant season.

Juju Watkins capped her illustrious high school career with one of the most prestigious awards at of the HS sports level. On Monday, it was announced that the Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) star was named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Watkins had a stellar senior year, averaging 27.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game as she led Sierra Canyon to a 31-1 record. She had a 45-point, 16-rebound performance on Jan. 26 and then broke her points record five nights later with a 60-point, 21-rebound performance on Jan. 31.

Listed at 6-foot-2, Watkins has entered legendary ranks among girls high school levels. She was the MVP of the FIBA World Cup championship, a McDonald’s All-American, the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year, and named the Los Angeles Times Girls Basketball Player of the Year in both her sophomore and junior years (this season’s LA Times award has yet to be announced). Watkins was also Klutch Sports Group’s first female athlete client.

Gatorade also takes community service and education into consideration when choosing awards. Watkins is very involved in the neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles, working with the Watts Labor Community Action Committee established by her great-grandfather Ted Watkins.

She has said she wants to help the community gain financial literacy and education opportunities, inspire young girls to persevere through adversity, and bring Fortune 500 companies into the area.

“My angle is to inspire my community and become a frontier for women’s basketball,” Watkins said around the she signed with Klutch. “We don’t have as many resources as others, so just speaking up and being a part of that story of women’s basketball.”

She also volunteered locally for Hands of Hope and Shoes for Souls, according to Gatorade. Watkins had a 3.72 GPA.

The No. 1 player in the class of 2023, Watkins has signed with USC, where she will attend this fall.

3 finalists named for Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year

Gatorade has named three finalists for their 2022-2023 National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award.

Gatorade has named three finalists for their 2022-2023 National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award.

The three contenders for the honor are as follows:

Sierra Canyon (Calif.) G Judea “Juju” Watkins

The No. 1 ranked girls hoops player in the nation, Watkins has helped lead her team to a 31-0 record this season and is averaging just under 30 points per game. She was named the Maxpreps National Player of the Year last year. Watkins has committed to playing her college ball at USC.

Sidwell Friends (D.C.) G Jadyn Donovan

Last season Donovan also led her team to an undefeated record (30-0), while averaging 15.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game, according to MaxPreps. Donovan is ranked third overall in the recruiting class of 2023 and has committed to Duke.

Paul VI (N.J.) PG Hannah Hidalgo

Few players around the country have enjoyed a more fruitful high school career than Hidalgo. From 2019-2022 she averaged 21.5 points, 4.7 rebonds, 3.8 assists and a remarkable 5.4 steals per game. During that time her team went 61-9. Hidalgo has committed to playing for Notre Dame at the next level.

More basketball stories

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NFHS Network’s Weekly top 10 basketball highlights

Notre Dame commit among finalists for national player of the year

Quite the honor for the future Irish star.

The Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year has ended up at Notre Dame a few times. [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag] won it in 2014 and [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag] in 2009. Two other winners, Erin Boley in 2016 and Michelle Marciniak in 1991, began their collegiate careers at Notre Dame but transferred elsewhere after one season. Another player could soon be joining those ranks.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] of Paul VI in Haddonfield, New Jersey, committed to the Irish on Nov. 15. This came a few months after winning gold with the U.S. in the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup. Now, she is one of three finalists for the Gatorade National Girls Player of the Year.

When Hidalgo announced her decision to commit to the Irish, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] said the following:

“Irish eyes are smiling! We are ecstatic to welcome five-star point guard Hannah Hidalgo to the ND family!  Hannah brings swag, competitiveness, and a relentless drive that will instantly elevate our program. She is-multi dimensional, lightning fast and tenacious defensively with a scorer’s mentality and a high basketball IQ.  Hannah does a great job of pushing pace and making everyone around her better.  The Joyce Center will be electric to watch one of the fastest backcourts in the country with the additions of Hannah, Cass Prosper and Emma Risch.”

Here are some profiles of Hidalgo and the other two finalists for this award:

USC signee Juju Watkins goes off for 60 points on senior night

Juju Watkins broke the Sierra Canyon record with 60 points while adding 21 rebounds and five steals on senior night.

On Jan. 26, Juju Watkins set a Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) record of 45 points. That school record lasted all of one weekend.

The five-star senior and USC signee blew away her previous record on Tuesday, racking up 60 points in the undefeated Trailblazers’ win over Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.). Watkins led the way on the team’s senior night, also recording 21 and five steals in the 88-39 win.

Watkins was shooting from Caitlin Clark range, drilling 3s from near half court and somehow outdoing her 45-point, 16-rebound, eight-assist game from five days prior.

Los Angeles Times reporter Luca Evans tweeted some clips of Watkins’ otherworldly performance.

Watkins is ESPN’s top-rated player in the class of 2023. She is a gold medalist, the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year, a two-time Los Angeles Times Girls Basketball Player of the Year and an All-American.

In February 2022, she signed with Klutch Sports Group as the agency’s first female athlete client.

“Her ability to be someone that young women and young men look up to as a player … She just has that it,” said Klutch Sports Group CEO and Founder Rich Paul in an interview at the time with USA TODAY High School Sports.

“She approaches things the right way, she’s very astute and very understanding of her surroundings at a very young age. I’ve been around that before, so I know what that looks like. I’m excited for what’s up ahead.”

The Trailblazers, who play their final game of the regular season on Thursday night, enter with a 25-0 record and the No. 1 spot in the MaxPreps rankings.

USC fan brings up a fascinating point about Trojan revenue sports in a simple tweet

A Trojan fan made a bold claim about USC football and basketball for the 2023-2024 college sports cycle. Is he getting carried away, or is he 100% right?

Football season might be over at USC, and Trojan fans who invested a lot into the 2022 season might still be stung by the way that season ended in the Cotton Bowl versus Tulane. However, one tweet from a USC fan should pick everyone up in the land of Troy.

It was impossible to avoid noticing how much better USC men’s basketball looked on Saturday against Arizona State. A team that frankly looked like an NIT team for much of the season suddenly looked not only like an NCAA Tournament team, but also a really good NCAA Tournament team — a No. 4 or No. 3 seed — in a blowout of ASU.

The final score was 77-69, but USC led 77-53 with under five minutes left before basically turning in early and allowing the Sun Devils to score the final 16 points. The contest was a rout. USC overwhelmed an ASU team that had been very strong to that point.

The difference was Vince Iwuchukwu, who played just 14 minutes but scored 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in that short period of time. The 14 minutes were still modest as a total sum, but a lot more than the six minutes he played the previous week against Utah and the five minutes he played against Colorado.

The main point: We got to see what Iwuchukwu is capable of.

That leads us to this USC fan tweet which is worth a larger conversation:

Let’s dive into this discussion, shall we?

The top 25 girls basketball recruits in the class of 2023

Here are the top 25 girls high school basketball players in the country according to ESPN’s rankings.

Basketball season is now in full swing for both boys and girls teams. Let’s take a look at the top players in girls hoops.

Here are the top 25 girls high school basketball players in the country, according to ESPN’s rankings, and which college programs they have committed to.

More girls hoops stories

Top prospect JuJu Watkins commits to USC

Toby Fournier adds another dunk to highlight reel

Watch: this girl’s trick shot dropped defenders’ jaws

Nation’s top girl’s basketball prospect Juju Watkins commits to USC

Sierra Canyon (Calif.) Juju Watkins: No. 1 girls basketball player in the nation picks USC

It’s been a great recruiting week for USC, which has gotten commitments from the country’s top girl’s and boy’s basketball recruits.

On Tuesday, Sierra Canyon (Calif.) Senior Judea “Juju” Watkins announced on ESPN that she’ll be playing collegiate hoops for USC.

She reportedly picked USC over South Carolina and Stanford. And her new teammates at USC were thrilled at the news:

Watkins is a five-star guard with great size (6-foot-2) and athleticism who can score at all three levels and fill up the stat sheet in every way imaginable. She averaged 24.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.0 blocks per game last season, leading her team to a 30-2 record. For her efforts, she was named the top player in California.

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USC men’s basketball lands Isaiah Collier, nation’s No. 1 recruit

Nov. 15: @USCWBB lands nation’s No. 1 recruit, Juju Watkins.
Nov. 16: @USC_Hoops lands nation’s No. 1 recruit, Isaiah Collier.

What an amazing 30 hours for USC basketball — not men’s basketball, not women’s basketball, but both hoops programs at USC.

On Tuesday, the women’s basketball program and head coach Lindsay Gottlieb secured the commitment of Juju Watkins, the nation’s top-ranked recruit, who grew up just a few miles from the USC campus.

On Wednesday, the men’s basketball program and head coach Andy Enfield secured the commitment of Isaiah Collier, the nation’s top-ranked recruit.

What an amazing double achievement for the Women and Men of Troy. Game-changing basketball players choosing USC on consecutive days rates as a memorable occasion … and if these programs significantly grow as a result of what we have just seen, these two days will become far more memorable in the course of time.

Here is national reaction to the successful Collier recruitment by Andy Enfield and his staff:

Social media reaction to USC women’s basketball landing Juju Watkins, USA’s No. 1 recruit

Shotgun Spratling, the excellent #USC reporter-analyst for @247Sports, notes that Watkins is @USCWBB’s highest-rated recruit since 2006.

USC women’s basketball under coach Lindsay Gottlieb was not a quick fix. Sure, there was an expectation that a coach with Gottlieb’s credentials and track record would eventually get this ship turned around. There’s no question that Gottlieb’s expertise and credibility would be attractive to recruits and would eventually build a much better, more robust product at USC.

However, with Stanford, Arizona, Oregon and UCLA all residing in a stacked Pac-12 Conference — where women’s basketball has been extremely good without USC in the mix — USC wasn’t instantly going to muscle its way to the top.

It was going to take time. The program did, however, need that big moment when the landscape changed and a transformative new player altered the equation.

Enter Juju Watkins, the nation’s top-ranked recruit, who committed to USC on Tuesday. We have reactions and notes: