JuJu Watkins is back in the picture, and the USC women’s basketball conversation changes the second that becomes real.
The senior guard returned to practice June 29 after tearing her ACL in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said Watkins looks “stronger, faster, in her best shape ever.” That alone would be enough to put USC’s backcourt under a microscope. But the bigger story is what happens now that Watkins and sophomore guard Jazzy Davidson are set to share the floor.
Davidson spent last season carrying a heavy load while Watkins recovered, and she answered with a trophy case that looked suspiciously like Watkins’ own freshman year. Davidson won the USBWA’s Tamika Catching Award, The Athletic’s National Freshman of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team as USC’s only freshman.
Watkins had already stacked up similar hardware two years earlier, when she was a freshman in the Pac-12, before adding the Naismith Trophy, the John R. Wooden Award and Big Ten Player of the Year as a sophomore.
That kind of overlap is what makes this backcourt so fascinating. Both players have already proven they can be the center of an offense, and the numbers say it plainly.
Watkins posted a 42.7% usage rate as a freshman, one of the highest in the country, and the last time she played she averaged just under 24 points a game with a 32.7% usage rate. Davidson stepped into the lead role in Watkins’ absence and put up a 29.5% usage rate of her own, averaging 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while scoring in double figures in 30 of 32 games.
Add freshman guard Saniyah Hall, the No. 1 recruit, and the question gets even sharper. There are only so many possessions to go around, and USC now has multiple players who are used to being the offense rather than simply working within it.
Still, Davidson’s game suggests this doesn’t have to be a collision. She is more than a scorer, and the 4.1 assists per game point to a guard who can run the offense and make others better.
That gives USC options: Davidson can handle the connective work while Watkins finishes, and Watkins can take on the connector role when Davidson is the one drawing attention. That kind of flexibility is what makes a high-end backcourt actually work.
Davidson also brings a defensive edge that matters here. Last season, she was the only Division I player, men’s or women’s, to average at least two steals and two blocks per game. That kind of production means she can take on bigger, tougher assignments, which could spare Watkins from having to spend energy chasing the other team’s top scorer.
There’s also a case to be made for Davidson after the criticism she absorbed last season. USC finished 18-14, and too much of that burden got pinned on a freshman who was never supposed to replace a reigning Naismith winner by herself.
Even then, she still came away with Freshman of the Year honors. Now, with Watkins back, Davidson should be able to settle into a role that fits her even better.
Of course, there’s always risk when two alpha guards are asked to share the same space. Great on paper doesn’t guarantee smooth on-court chemistry. But Davidson’s passing, Watkins’ scoring, and the presence of another elite talent in Hall give USC a real chance to make the pieces fit.
The ball can only go to one player at a time. That’s the problem and the opportunity. For USC, it may also be the whole point.
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Lincoln Riley singled out Wafles aggressive style and the kind of impact he can have if that carries forward. For USC, the bigger question is whether one encouraging debut becomes a real answer in the middle of the defense, especially with the season now turning toward tougher tests and the rest of the roster's offseason progress, including former Trojans like Makai Lemon, JaKobi Lane and Kamari Ramsey, now showing up on NFL rosters and practice squads. [Read more 🡒]