USC has gotten some good wins this season, beating NC State, the University of Washington, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. At the same time, however, USC hasn’t been on nearly the same level as the top teams in the country. USC suffered one loss each to South Carolina, UConn, and UCLA. The latter two weren’t even close.
Lindsay Gottlieb called her team’s 34-point loss to UCLA “embarrassing,” but also noted that it taught her and her players a valuable lesson. They are, after all, still trying to figure out what it will take to turn this team into a championship team.
“We’ve seen, right now in three games that we’re not as competitive as we want to be with the top five teams in the country,” Gottlieb said in her postgame media availability. “I’m not sorry we have them on our schedule. We’re not trying to be a top 25 or top 15 team. We’re trying to be the national champions. We’re trying to be the best program in the country.”
Playing against the best teams is the only way to know how big the gap is between you and them. It turns out that the gap is sizeable right now, but even after three brutal losses to the best teams in college basketball, the goal for USC is still clear: win a national championship. The key to achieving that goal is already painfully obvious: JuJu Watkins.
USC sorely misses JuJu Watkins
Juju Watkins took the world of college basketball by storm. She scored 32 points in her USC debut and led her team to a win over seventh-ranked Ohio State. She finished the season averaging 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game. USC had officially found its do-it-all superstar.
Watkins continued on her ascent through the college ranks in her second season and was named Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner, USBWA National Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, AP Player of the Year, the Dawn Staley Award winner, and the John R. Wooden Award winner. Unfortunately, her season was cut short by an ACL tear she suffered in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
So, instead of solidifying her standing as the biggest star in college basketball, Watkins has to sit out her junior season. USC misses her desperately. Jazzy Davidson has taken over as the team’s star, but she is still a freshman and has struggled against the top teams in the country. Her three lowest-scoring games and worst shooting performances came against South Carolina, UConn, and UCLA.
If USC wants to win a national championship, it needs a more experienced Jazzy Davidson and a healthy JuJu Watkins. Much of this season is just about developing and improving the rest of the roster until Watkins returns next season.