Judea “Juju” Watkins, a star guard for the University of Southern California (USC) women’s basketball team, tore her ACL in the 2025 March Madness Tournament while going for a layup, causing her to miss the 25-26 season. This was devastating news for all her supporters nationwide, because they looked forward to Watkins carrying her team to the championship game.
With Watkins tearing her ACL, the rest of the Trojans went on to beat Mississippi State 96-59, and advanced on to the sweet sixteen, where they played against Kansas State. They then carried on to the elite eight, where they faced the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies, and were sadly eliminated from the tournament with a 64-78 final score.
In Watkins’ documentary, USC Trojans women’s basketball head coach, Lindsay Gettlieb, talked about the impact Watkins’ ACL injury had on her.
“Anytime a player goes down with a significant injury, it is brutal,” Gettlieb said. “ What we all experienced in that arena when she got hurt was indescribable.”
Later on in the interview, Gettlieb became emotional. “It’s hard for me to talk about…Just because in that moment it didn’t feel like it was normal,” she said while wiping her tears. Watkins’ injury didn’t just affect her; it affected those around her as well.
Paige Bueckers, a UConn Huskies Alumna and current player for the Dallas Wings in the WNBA, shared similar sentiments as Gettlieb.
“I reached out to her just offering my support…my prayers and just letting her know that we’ve exchanged numbers now, so we’re locked in and whatever she needs mentally, physically she needs to went, ask questions…its a long process, and you learn a lot about yourself and about life through it,” Bueckers said.
Bueckers even spoke up about how it made her think about when she tore her ACL in the 22-23 college basketball season, showing that other players who have also torn their ACLs will be there to help Watkins overcome this obstacle in her journey.
“Devastating, obviously, you just empathize with her, because I’ve been in that position where you have this devastating injury. She had a time where it’s just the worst timing,” Bueckers said.
Before USC, Watkins played for Windward for her first two years, where she then transferred to Sierra Canyon High School for her junior and senior years of high school. Throughout her two years at Sierra Canyon, Watkins was rewarded with the Gatorade National Player of the Year and was the Naismith Prep Player of the Year in 2023. Along with McDonald’s All-American game co-MVP in 2023, and in 2022 and 2023 she was awarded California Ms. basketball.
For Watkins to only play two years for Sierra Canyon, she made sure to make a name and reputation for herself. She had many colleges recruiting her. Colleges like South Carolina and Stanford.
Watkins’ final choices for her commitment were South Carolina and USC, where she chose USC. Watkins talked about why she chose USC.
“You could see that they were trying, and that was everything for me, so… after taking it all in and really sitting with it. I realized you know this is home…but at the end of the day, I still have other options,” Watkins said. “I’m in a position where I could really go anywhere, but why not stay here?”
Watkins is now recovering from her ACL tear and is trying to reestablish herself in the media and in her own mind.
“It’s just the thought of like, d***, this is really what I’m doing right now. But just trying to.. get back to my old self at this point, that’s the goal,” Watkins said.