Earlier this week, USC women's basketball superstar Juju Watkins was named the Naismith National Player of the Year. As it turns out, that is not the only National Player of Year award she will be taking home in 2025. Earlier this week, she earned the same honor from the Associated Press. It therefore had to be a portrait of mixed emotions fo JuJu as she watched UCLA get demolished by UConn, 85-51, in the Women's Final Four on Friday night.
USC beat UConn on the road in December with JuJu Watkins on the floor. Then USC lost to UConn by only 14 points in a very competitive game without JuJu in the Elite Eight. We say "very competitive" because it's true. USC trailed by only five points at the start of the fourth quarter. UConn extended the lead and was clearly the better team, but it wouldn't rate as a blowout. A moderately comfortable win, yes, but a game UConn had to work hard to secure.
UCLA put up zero fight against UConn. The Huskies' lead was 20 at the half, 23 at the end of three quarters, and 34 at the end. JuJu Watkins had to have watched the game and felt that USC was better than UCLA, and that with her on the floor, the Trojans easily could have been competing for the national championship against South Carolina on Sunday.
As we have been saying a lot around here in recent days, "Life isn't fair." At least JuJu Watkins has an AP Player of the Year Award to show for her brilliant season, which helped make USC special once again.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Juju Watkins, AP Player of the Year, made USC special this season
