The NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Match was lucky to have all 4 No. 1 seeds advance to the Candy 16, however the occasion misplaced main star energy with Monday’s information that USC standout JuJu Watkins suffered a season-ending torn ACL in her proper knee in the course of the Trojans’ win.
It is a tragic loss for Watkins, a sophomore All-American and the participant who was maybe greatest positioned to construct on a large following in taking former Iowa guard Caitlin Clark’s spot because the star of ladies’s faculty basketball. Watkins averaged 24.6 factors per recreation this previous season after setting an NCAA freshman scoring report a yr in the past.
Watkins’ reputation off the courtroom challenges her dominance on the courtroom. She has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, which is double the mixed following of the group accounts for the match’s prime 4 seeds in USC, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas. She was noticed within the stands speaking with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in the course of the opening weekend’s video games in Los Angeles, giving her a newfound attain with sports activities followers outdoors of ladies’s basketball.
So the match now strikes ahead with out its largest draw, and the query is how the occasion can pull followers in with out her. Can USC get to Tampa, the house of the Remaining 4, with out Watkins? The Trojans are 30-3 and now will look to 6-foot-3 senior ahead Kiki Iriafen, a graduate switch from Stanford, to guide them on the courtroom, averaging 18.6 factors and a team-best 8.5 rebounds this season.
If the Trojans cannot advance to the Remaining 4, it might clear a path for a mainstay of ladies’s faculty basketball, the No. 2-seeded UConn Huskies, who boast one of many recreation’s largest names in senior level guard Paige Bueckers. UConn has gained 11 nationwide titles underneath coach Geno Auriemma, however none since 2016, regardless of making six of the final eight Remaining Fours since their final championship. USC handed UConn one among its three losses this season, so a regional remaining showdown can be a extremely anticipated rematch, even with out Watkins on the courtroom.
Watkins’ absence can shine an even bigger gentle on the remainder of the game’s younger stars, like Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, already a two-time first-team All-American as a sophomore. The third-seeded Preventing Irish face a possible regional remaining in opposition to top-seeded Texas and sophomore ahead Madison Booker, one other All-American. In the meantime, top-seeded UCLA has its personal All-American in 6-foot-7 junior middle Lauren Betts. Do not forget defending nationwide champion South Carolina, which lacks a dominant singular star however has one of many recreation’s most widely known coaches in Daybreak Staley, with two titles within the final three years.
It is attainable, too, that if USC can prevail and advance with out its greatest participant, the Trojans may very well be much more compelling as a group to root for as they attempt to overcome adversity.
“I am feeling plenty of feelings, clearly, however the largest one is delight,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb stated after Monday’s win over Mississippi State, with the lack of Watkins hanging over the thrill of advancing. “What a efficiency by this group. Once you throw a bunch of proficient folks on a group, it would not turn out to be a group till you’re employed by means of some issues. I all the time thought all year long that if we had one thing we needed to work on, (it is) when issues did not work out instantly, we typically wired. One thing did not go proper for us, and also you by no means need anybody to go down, particularly somebody like JuJu that all of us lean on in so some ways, however this group rallied. They rallied for her. They rallied for one another. Our followers had our again. I am simply actually proud.”
USC opens play within the Candy 16 on Saturday in Spokane, Washington, in opposition to fifth-seeded Kansas State, which upset fourth-seeded Kentucky in time beyond regulation, led by eight 3-pointers from ahead Temira Poindexter. If the Trojans win there, they’d possible face UConn on Monday evening for a spot within the Remaining 4, in what’s now maybe probably the most eagerly anticipated matchup of the weekend.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand spent a decade overlaying the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Occasions and The Athletic. You may comply with him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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