Juju Watkins, a USC basketball star, announces that she will not play this season
Women’s basketball star at the University of Southern California, Jojo Watskins, will be absent from the next total basketball season because she recovers from the serious knee injury that she had during the NCAA championship in March.
Watkins He said in an advertisement On social media, I planned to take the 2025-26 season to “fully focus on continuing to recover so that I can return to the game I love.”
“The past few months have been filled with a lot of recovery, comfort and thinking,” Wetkins said in a statement. “The recovery of this injury was not easy, and I want to say thank you – your love, support and kind words raised me during one of the most difficult times in my life.”
Watskins was in the midst of a seasonal season in the stars student when her knee was turning on a separation during the second round of the NCAA Championship. The injury proved that it was a devastating kick for the title of USC, as it lost the Trojan horses in the eighth elite to Connecticut.
There was a glimmer of hope that Watkins would be able to return for the post -season race in March 2026, after a full year of her injury. Two of the Times orthopedic surgeons were told at the time that it would ask for more than 12 months to recover.
“There will be a lot of differences from one person to another in this recovery process,” said Dr. Gabriela Audi, an orthopedic surgeon who works as a team doctor for New York Freedom. “There is nothing wrong even with a 12 -month recovery. I want to be very straightforward about it. There are many people who take 12 months.”
That is, speculation that Watskins may return closer to Sunday, more than a month before the start of the women’s total basketball season.
“The program will fully support its decision to focus on recovery this season.”
“While we will definitely miss its impact on the court, it continues to play a vital role in our program as a leader and teammate.
Its effect will not be easily replaced. But another possibility, Jazzy Davidson, should help fill some void.
“Nobody fills the juju shoes,” Gottlieb said earlier this month. “These are unique shoes. But the fact that Jazzy can enter our program and that it is already just leaving a unique impression and does not believe everyone is very brutal. It’s really good.”
In two seasons in USC, Watkins was not less than a phenomenon, inside and outside the court.
Watskins, a citizen of Compton, arrived at the University of Southern California in 2023, determined to help build a reserve program, and during a season he helped convert Trojan horses into the competitors of the national title. As a student in the second year, she won the wood prize, The Naismith Trophy, Big Ten Player of the Year, and she became the first player at the University of South California ever for the Associated Press player for this year. USC also pushed the Big Ten title in its first season at the conference, while it became the fastest Trojan ever to 1,000 professional points, a sign that it exceeded early in its second year.
Upon returning as adults, Watskins still has two years of the remaining eligibility. But the Trojan star is certainly to announce the draft WNBA when it is qualified for the first time in 2027.