All season long, the USC Trojans women's basketball team has been one of the most dominant in the nation, thanks in large part to the impact of freshman guard JuJu Watkins. In fact, Watkins' impact on the USC women's basketball program is giving Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard some flashbacks to how an 18-year old Carmelo Anthony turned around the fortunes of the Syracuse Orange despite being one of the youngest players in college basketball back in 2002.
Now, USC is in a dogfight against the Connecticut Huskies for a spot in the Final Four. The Trojans may be facing their most difficult task yet, but Watkins continues to impress — with Lillard urging the Trojans to just give their best player the basketball and let her go to work in a similar way to how the Orange let Anthony cook.
“Juju like Melo at Syracuse fr… you wana win give her the ball man,” Lillard wrote on his official Twitter (X) account.
Back in 2003, Carmelo Anthony was already one of the best players in collegiate basketball history despite being a freshman; the same applies for JuJu Watkins, who has been incredible in her freshman season at USC.
To this point, Watkins is averaging 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, posing a mismatch problem for most of her peers due to her incredible blend of size, speed, and scoring touch — showing shades of Anthony in the way she glides so effortlessly around the court.
It's important to note that a comparison to the Syracuse version of Carmelo Anthony means that Damian Lillard sees the USC Trojans as one of the favorites to win the national championship, provided, of course, that they feed JuJu Watkins the basketball and get out of her way as they try to overcome Connecticut.
JuJu Watkins is already WNBA-caliber
Similar to Carmelo Anthony back in his days in Syracuse, JuJu Watkins already looks like a professional-caliber basketball player. After all, she was setting records for scoring earlier in the season, including a 51-point outburst in an all-important conference clash against a Stanford Cardinal team that finished first in the Pac-12 standings.
Anthony went one-and-done; after all, he didn't have anything more to prove after leading Syracuse to the national title in his freshman year. Watkins, however, won't have the opportunity to pursue that route. The WNBA draft eligibility rules prohibit her from entering the league before 2027, which is quite a shame, since she already has the skill level to compete with the best players on the planet.
She also has the physical stature to tower over other WNBA guards; at 6'2, she will be quite a handful for defenders to handle, and it would have been a treat if the opportunity to make the leap to the pros (stateside) was already there for her.
USC on the ropes against Connecticut?
JuJu Watkins hasn't had the best of games in their Elite Eight matchup against Connecticut. Through three quarters, Watkins has tallied just 16 points on 5-15 shooting as the Trojans find themselves down by four heading into the final frame.
The Huskies are no joke either, as Watkins may have met her match in Paige Bueckers, one of the best collegiate players in women's basketball history. The sheer star power on display is quite remarkable, and there will be 10 minutes of game time left to decide which side comes out on top.
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