Through her stellar sophomore season at USC, JuJu Watkins set herself apart as a singular superstar. Now she’s got the hardware to prove it.
Watkins became the first Trojan to be selected the Associated Press player of the year Thursday, joining Courtney Paris, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart as just the fourth sophomore to win the award. The latest honor came after a week in which national awards for Watkins have piled up.
Watkins won the Naismith Trophy, another player-of-the-year honor, on Wednesday, becoming the third USC player — after Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie — to take home the award. The U.S. Basketball Writers Assn., the Athletic and Sporting News already heaped their own player-of-the-year awards onto the pile, and the Wooden Award should be close behind in giving Watkins her flowers as the best player in the game.
A knee injury cut Watkins’ special season short in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32, and without her the Trojans were eliminated two rounds later in the Elite Eight.
It’s unclear when she will return to the court. But the unfortunate conclusion to her sophomore campaign further illuminated just how extraordinary Watkins was in leading the Trojans to a top seed in the tournament.
USC won the Big Ten in its first season in the conference, while Watkins was named Big Ten player of the year. She posted her 20th career 30-point game and moved to ninth in school history in scoring after becoming the fastest Trojan to reach 1,000 points.
Watkins averaged fewer points (27.1 to 23.9) and rebounds (7.3 to 6.8) than she did as a freshman but became a more refined and efficient player. Her defense also improved by leaps and bounds, enough so that she was a finalist for defensive player of the year.
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