LOS ANGELES — To really understand the impact JuJu Watkins has had on USC women’s basketball in just a few short months, consider the concession stands.
No, seriously.
A year ago, the Women of Troy played and defeated Oregon at home on a mid-February Friday night – a T-shirt giveaway, no less – and drew 1,126 fans, and my search for an open snack bar at the Galen Center was truly a search – one on the lower level just happened to be open. Smaller crowds, fewer concession staffers needed, right?
Sunday afternoon, when USC played Utah – and Watkins broke the school record for 30-point games in a 74-68 loss to the Utes – there were 7,129 in the house, food stands were fully stocked and staffed … and lots of those in attendance were little girls waving signs, boys and girls – and adults – wearing JuJu jerseys, and certified basketball royalty in the courtside seats.
Yes, Cheryl Miller has four season tickets directly across from the USC bench. The fulcrum of the school’s two NCAA championship teams in 1983 and ’84 – and indisputably the greatest player of her era – is prominent in her presence and one of a number of program alumni encouraged to come back by head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and lead assistant Beth Burns.
They may have been attracted because they’re loyal alums, but they’re mainly there because of JuJu.
This is a prime era for women’s college basketball, with more televised games, more attention, and as Gottlieb noted in a phone conversation this week, more investment in the women’s game than ever before. On the other side of the country, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has set the NCAA Division I women’s career scoring record and is creating a nice living for scalpers wherever the Hawkeyes go. Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers and LSU’s Angel Reese are among others who have taken advantage of the attention.
But JuJu is the vanguard of the next generation of superstars. More significantly, she’s an L.A. kid who, rather…
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