Top women's hoops recruit Watkins chooses USC

No. 1 women's hoops enlistee Juju Watkins, who grew up 10 miles from the USC campus, signed her nationalist missive of intent Tuesday with the Trojans.

Watkins, who picked USC implicit finalists South Carolina and Stanford, is simply a two-time golden medalist with USA Basketball, a defending California authorities champion astatine Sierra Canyon High School and the state's reigning Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

The 17-year-old, who grew up successful Watts, is successful enactment to articulation a database of USC hoops legends who grew up successful the Los Angeles area, including Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Cheryl Miller, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.

"I didn't privation to unreserved this process," Watkins said. "A batch of radical successful my people had already committed earlier me, and I decidedly was taking my time. But I privation to marque definite it was 1,000 percent wherever I wanted to go."

Watkins joins Malia Samuels, a 5-foot-6 defender from Seattle's Garfield High School, successful manager Lindsay Gottlieb's 2022-23 recruiting class. Samuels is the No. 49 imaginable successful the 2023 espnW 100.

Watkins, a versatile 6-2 guard, averaged 24.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.0 blocks past play for Sierra Canyon en way to the authorities title. Last summer, she started each 7 games arsenic a subordinate of the USA Basketball Women's U17 National Team and averaged a team-high 13.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals.

Watkins becomes the 3rd top-10 enlistee to motion with USC since espnW started its nationalist rankings successful 2007, joining No. 7 Jordan Adams successful 2012 and No. 8 Aaliyah Gayles successful 2022.

USC hasn't won a nationalist title since it went back-to-back successful 1983 and 1984. It past won a league rubric successful 1994 and the league tourney successful 2014. But its database of alums are arsenic decorated arsenic those from immoderate school: Cooper-Dyke, a two-time NCAA champion, four-time WNBA champion and erstwhile USC coach; Miller, a two-time NCAA champion, three-time Naismith Player of the Year and the program's all-time starring scorer; Leslie, a Naismith Award winner, four-time Olympic golden medalist, and two-time WNBA champion; and Thompson, the archetypal assemblage subordinate drafted into the WNBA, its second-leading scorer each clip and a four-time WNBA champion.

Watkins is present poised to articulation the Trojans' legendary L.A.-to-USC starting five.

Growing up successful Watts, Watkins started playing hoops astatine the property of 7 contempt her parents' tendency for her to play tennis similar Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Every day, she'd signifier with her parents, Sari and Robert, successful the backyard oregon astatine the Watts gym named aft her great-grandfather, Ted Watkins Sr., a civilian rights activistic successful the 1960s.

Before her inferior twelvemonth successful precocious school, Watkins transferred from Windward successful Los Angeles to Sierra Canyon successful Chatsworth, California, and joined manager Alicia Komaki's title team. At Sierra Canyon, Watkins rapidly recovered occurrence and fame. Despite the schoolhouse boasting celebrated past names similar James and Kardashian, Watkins became her ain personage and helped capable the stands during the 2021-22 girls' hoops season.

In February 2022, she became the archetypal precocious schoolhouse jock to motion with Klutch Sports Group for NIL representation. This October, Watkins finalized an NIL endorsement woody with Nike, alongside Sierra Canyon classmate Bronny James, Iowa constituent defender Caitlin Clark, Stanford defender Haley Jones and apical 2023 defender D.J. Wagner.

"Juju has been successful the nationalist spotlight since seventh grade," Komaki said. "When she archetypal came to Sierra Canyon, she knew that she carried a sanction with her and she understood that. She understood her work to the crippled due to the fact that of who she is. And erstwhile she plays successful college, she'll bash the aforesaid thing. The sanction connected the beforehand volition beryllium conscionable arsenic important arsenic the sanction connected the back."