Tag: Juju Watkins

Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo named AP First Team All-American

What a season she’s had.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] has had a special freshman season at Notre Dame, and now, we know exactly how special. She has joined USC’s JuJu Watkins as the fourth and fifth freshmen to be named to the AP All-American First Team since it began during the 1994-95 season. They join Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley and Texas’ Madison Booker.

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Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb obviously has seen Watkins up close and personal throughout this season, but she reserved praise for Hidalgo, too:

“We’ve had a front row seat to JuJu, but what Hannah’s done is unbelievable Coach Niele (Ivey) has done an incredible job.”

Ivey also was quoted in the AP story and said this about Hidalgo, the nation’s steals leader at 4.6 a game and its third-leading scorer at 23.3 points a game:

“She deserves to be listed amongst the best in women’s basketball. Hannah is a fierce competitor and an elite performer who rises to the occasion and has been extremely consistent and dominant this season.”

What has to be scary to opponents is that Hidalgo only is getting started. She likely will hold many Irish records by the time she’s done with the program. Irish fans will be anxious to find out how many of those records she holds in the end.

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USC’s JuJu Watkins named finalist for 2024 Dawn Staley Award

JuJu Watkins has a very long list of awards and semifinalist nominations, with more to come.

The leading lady for the Women of Troy is Juju Watkins. The USC superstar has been named a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award. The winner will be announced the weekend of the Final Four (April 5-7). A virtual award ceremony will be held on the evening of Thursday, April 11.

Watkins has been insane this season, averaging 27.8 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, 2.6 steals per game, and 1.6 blocks per game.

JuJu Watkins 2023-2024 Honors include:

• The Athletic National Freshman of the Year
• The Athletic First Team All-America
• Ann Meyers Drysdale Award finalist
• Dawn Staley Award finalist
• Sullivan Award semifinalist
• Dawn Staley Award late season watch list
• Naismith Midseason watch list
• Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Top 10
• Wade watch list
• Wooden Award late season Top 20
• Wooden Award Midseason Top 25
• Wooden Award Preseason Top 50
• Jersey Mike’s Naismith Award watch list
• Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
• All-Pac-12 Team
• Pac-12 All-Defensive Honorable Mention
• Pac-12 All-Freshman Team
• Pac-12 All-Tournament Team
• Preseason All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention
• Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas Player of the Game (11/6)
• Pac-12 Player of the Week (3x)
• Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (14)

Watkins and the Women of Troy are now awaiting the reveal of the 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket, with the Selection Show set for 5 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, March 17. USC is likely to get a No. 1 seed and serve as a host school for the first and second rounds.

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Iowa, USC battle in women’s basketball rankings as Caitlin Clark, JuJu Watkins prepare for March Madness

Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes and JuJu Watkins’ Trojans are both viewed as top-four teams. We hope that’s true in April.

The Iowa Hawkeyes and USC Trojans are expected to be No. 1 seeds when the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed on Sunday evening. The show is at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. in Los Angeles. Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins are getting ready for March Madness. With the Big Dance almost here, Iowa and USC are very close in the national rankings.

Hawkeyes Wire has more on this story:

“According to the polls, Iowa comes in at No. 2 in the nation. According to CBS Sports and their final regular season power rankings, the Hawkeyes are slotted down just one row to No. 3 in America with an upstart team jumping them at No. 2.”

(snip)

“Iowa can’t move down. They did their job winning the Big Ten Tournament and locking up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament thanks to efforts from all over the place. Ahead of Iowa at No. 2 in the rankings are the young, confident, and dangerous USC Trojans.”

Is USC better than Iowa? Hawkeyes Wire joins us in saying we would absolutely love to see these two teams meet at the Final Four in Cleveland in April. Then we would get to find out.

Both teams have a lot of work to do until then. Winning four games against quality competition will not be easy.

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USC’s JuJu Watkins named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, leads all-freshman team

There was never a doubt about this.

USC women’s basketball superstar JuJu Watkins was recently named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was also named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team for the 2023-24 season.

The No. 2 scorer in the nation with 27.8 points per game set another USC record with a 51-point outing in a road upset of Stanford several weeks ago.

She is also second on the Trojans in rebounding with 7.2 per game, and she’s averaging 2.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.

The Women of Troy travel to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament and will play Arizona after their first round bye.

USC teammates McKenzie Forbes and Rayah Marshall were also named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and Defensive Honorable Mention this season. The Trojans are competing for a potential No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament this week in Las Vegas. If they reach the Pac-12 Tournament final, they have a chance to land a No. 1 seed. If they win the Pac-12 Tournament, they are very likely to get a No. 1 seed.

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Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of March 3 (and steals)

History was made again this past weekend.

Caitlin Clark has reached the scoring mountaintop in college basketball. She passed Pete Maravich’s college scoring total and now is the all-time leader for either men or women. Here’s how far she ranks ahead of the other top 10 scorers in women’s basketball as well as their steals numbers in comparison to national leader [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag]:

JuJu Watkins is a top contender to win WBB National Freshman of the Year Award

JuJu Watkins is the favorite for National Freshman of the Year, with Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo in the hunt.

USC’s freshman phenom came into Thursday’s game at Arizona averaging 28.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 34 minutes a game this season. She has shot 41.6 percent from the field, 34.8 percent from behind the arc and 86.1 percent from the free throw line.

Watkins is the No.2 scorer in the nation behind Iowa’s senior guard Caitlin Clark, who is averaging 32.1 points per game.

She has been named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week 13 times and named the Pac-12 Player of the Week three times this season. She set the conference record with her ninth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor. She also set the conference record for winning both awards simultaneously with her second player of the week honor.

Other nominees include Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, Texas’s Madison Booker, Iowa State’s Addy Brown, and LSU’s Mikaylah Williams.

Watkins — at least when measured by her own lofty standards — has struggled in her last two games. Expect a big performance from her on Saturday as USC faces Arizona State in the final game of the Pac-12 women’s basketball regular season.

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USC women’s basketball learned a lesson, turning one tough loss into a huge win

USC was caught without JuJu Watkins on January 21. The Trojans applied that game’s lessons on February 29.

USC women’s basketball ended the month of February with the kind of galvanizing moment which should increase this team’s belief heading into March Madness. Not having JuJu Watkins in crunch-time minutes due to a foul-out is something which had happened to USC before Thursday’s game at Arizona.

It is important to note that USC was caught shorthanded in a high-stress situation nearly 40 days before Thursday’s double-overtime victory in Tucson. A previous game in January planted the seeds which grew in the desert on the final night of February. The Trojans can convincingly tell themselves they are much more prepared for March.

Let’s go through this progression in the Women of Troy, who just grew up in a big way against Arizona:

USC women’s basketball delivers epic comeback 2-OT win at Arizona without JuJu Watkins

JuJu Watkins fouled out. USC trailed by 5 with 35 seconds left. Game over, right? Wrong. USC fought on and won.

Some victories for a sports team are simply inspiring. Some victories mean a lot within the course of the season and the stakes involved on a specific night. The USC women’s basketball team achieved a win which was both inspiring and important on Thursday night against the Arizona Wildcats. The Trojans scored a come-from-behind, double-overtime, 95-93 win against a hungry and determined opponent with JuJu Watkins having fouled out late in regulation time. USC then lost Kaitlyn Davis, another centrally important player, in the first overtime.

USC kept losing players. It never lost faith. Down by 10 with five minutes left in regulation, down five with 35 seconds remaining in regulation, the Trojans didn’t quit. The win is huge. The way they scored the win is remarkably impressive.

Let’s look at the highlights of a remarkable night for a special team:

JuJu Watkins threw a USC touchdown pass … and Lincoln Riley noticed

JuJu Watkins can do it all. Watch her throw the ball like a born quarterback.

JuJu Watkins can obviously do it all. She can score 42 points against No. 11 Colorado. She can score 51 against No. 4 Stanford. She can shoot, pass, dribble, make tons of free throws (18 of 18 versus CU on Friday night), defend, rebound, block shots. She’s a well-rounded player for USC. She did something else which got the attention of her coach, Lindsay Gottlieb, who playfully made sure football coach Lincoln Riley was aware of what happened.

What exactly was it that JuJu Watkins did, and which Gottlieb tweeted about, and which Riley learned about? We’ll show you below in this clip, which has a very Steph Curry-like flavor:

JuJu Watkins’ uniform got bloodied vs Colorado, creating a Magic Johnson moment

JuJu Watkins’ No. 12 USC jersey got bloodied, so she had to wear another number. Laker fans loved it.

There are three iconic No. 32s in Los Angeles sports. One is Sandy Koufax. One is Orenthal James Simpson, otherwise known as O.J. The other one belongs to arguably the greatest point guard in the history of basketball, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the Los Angeles Laker legend whose imprint on basketball is unmistakable. Through an accident and a completely unexpected twist of fate, USC’s JuJu Watkins joined Magic Johnson as a famous basketball player to wear No. 32 for a Los Angeles-based team.

We’ll tell you how it happened, given that JuJu’s normal jersey number is 32. This was part of the drama on an emotional night in the Galen Center, where USC handled Colorado, 87-81, to move within one game of first place in the Pac-12 and took another step toward a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Here are some of the details from JuJu’s “Magic” moment: