That much was accumulated from the start on Juju Watkins – from the moment she set foot on the USC campus, she was the one who would bring the program back to the mountain top. This season she was the player who would wear the star power in the women’s basketball in the afterlap of Caitlin Clark.
It was a lot of weight on someone’s shoulders, but she used it well. She flourished under that responsibility and flourished in the spotlight.
But last weekend the biggest star in basketball for women’s college was dragged after he collapsed to the court with a seasonal ACL-Traan. Her absence has surprised USC fans and the women’s basketball world restless.
Some friendly words for Juju Watkins 🥹 pic.twitter.com/8symkuoucu
– ESPNW (@ESPNW) March 25, 2025
Salt in the wound? Commercials with Watkins will continue to play during the NCAA tournament. She is now the largest individual star in women’s college hoops and draws red carpet -like rise of celebrities during her games in the Galen Center. That reception would have come with a last four trip or National Championship as an unmistakable Hollywood story line.
While praying on Los Angeles rained for the recovery of Watkins, asking: what now? WHO now?
It is a fair question. And it reflects the basketball for women who were repeatedly asked after last season, when Clark left for the WNBA. Would her legions of fans and millions of viewers set up records that would play her for Iowa will be stuck for the College season 2024-25?
Nobody expected this season’s tournament that the record viewers of last season would match, but progress can not only be measured in profits from year to year. And although no one expected the figures to reach Clark Mania’s fever a season ago, the trend continues in one direction: up.
The first two rounds of the tournament do not contain any assemas, no large disturbances, no clark. They were light on the drama that some people think to attract viewers. And yet the figures are non-reviews of the first two rounds on the second best in the tournament history, with 43 percent higher than in 2023, which is now the third best year in the number of viewers of the Tournament Staal.
How generation as a Clark was, the game still shown momentum in her wake. With Watkins absent about the rest of this tournament, as large as it will loom, there is no reason to think that the sport is not strong enough to continue.
Because this question is not new.
Many forget that Paige Bueckers, before Clark fascinated the country, did the same. An UConn star as a first -year student won the national player of the year in 2021 and became an early favorite of the name, image and parable era. Then she tore her ACL and missed a whole season, leaving questions about how the sport would endure without his new prodigy that arenas filled.
It was in the absence of Bueckers that Clark and Angel Reese came forward, who overflowed that emptiness to bring the game even more interest and push the sport to higher horizon, culminating in one of the most epic confrontations of a tournament. Last season, the undefeated campaign by South Carolina was led by coach Dawn Staley, who belongs to one of the most influential figures of sport. The GameCocks were tested by Clark’s dazzling displays, in which viewers reviews were drawn that even overshadowed the high standards of 2023.
When Bueckers was out, Clark and Reese answered. Bueckers had done the same after the Sabrina Ionescu from Oregon went to the WNBA. And fans were skeptical in the same way about a lack of star power when Maya Moore graduated from Uconn.
The women’s game has been proven time and time again – especially in these last few seasons – that it will produce. Walking unions will be created and basketball fans fascinate.
Perhaps the answer is not as clear as a week ago, when the best player of the nation led a revival program with a national supporters and immediate recognition on a must-see trip.
Just like the reactions that Clark, Moore and others inspired before them, coaches were at the same time annoyed to stop them, but appreciate what they did for the game. Sometimes it is easier to see the growth from the inside.
If there is a coach who can confirm the value of players such as Watkins and their impact on the sport, the Geno Auriemma of UConn is. He has seen more phenomena up close than anyone else, many who have become so loved that they could only be referred by their first names (or initials): Sue, Dee, Maya, Stewie.
When the ESPN broadcast came on Monday his reporting from the second round of UConn after Bueckers scored 34 points, Auriemma was the court in Storrs for an interview. He was asked to answer quickly, so that the broadcast could turn to the USC-Mississippi State Game from the west coast.
“Oh man, now get rid of me, let’s go to her. I want to see her play,” Auriemma said with a smile. “Here comes juju. Give me what Juju! … For you, Juju, take it over!”
Geno counts the broadcast and then throws it to Juju and tells her that she must “take over” >>>> https://t.co/ermnjnrp5d pic.twitter.com/a2sto3eh2a
– Tyler Deluca (@Tylerdeluca) March 25, 2025
Coaches respect great players; Game respects the game. (As long as the last one had some grace for knees.)
So what now? Who now?
That is what will decide in the next two weeks. But if the past tells us something, it is that the women’s tournament will deliver. The most elite talent is still in the game. Every number 1 seed (UCLA, South Carolina, USC and Texas), 2 seed (UConn, NC State, Duke and TCU) and 3 seed (Notre Dame, LSU, North Carolina and Oklahoma) remains standing. The spotlights are back on Bueckers, and as previous tournaments have taught us, even casual viewers will become new fans of the best players of the game. Hannah Hidalgo from Notre Dame, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and Ucla’s Lauren Betts have been exemplary all season and new young players are ready to surprise us.
The show continues in Spokane and Birmingham. Nets are cut. New stars will be made and crowned, and more well -known stars will wear a heavier load.
A USC without Watkins is not the same as ever, nor a tournament without Watkins. But the greatest proof of the greatness and star power of Watkins is that even in her absence the sport that helps them build will continue to grow.
(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty images)