USC's Comeback Kid: Inside the Lady Trojans 2026-27 Title Chase
JuJu Watkins is finally, mercifully back, and the entire league is holding its breath. The USC superstar tore her ACL in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, a gut-wrenching collapse against Mississippi State that ended a championship run before it began. The Trojans phenom missed the entire 2025-26 season, watching from the bench while freshman Jazzy Davidson carried the offensive load in her absence. Now, more than 14 months removed from that injury, the two-time All-American is back on the practice floor, scrimmaging with her teammates after keeping her recovery almost entirely private. Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers, who survived her own ACL tear at UConn back in 2022, checked in on the young star constantly throughout rehab, proof that this sisterhood of survivors runs deep. Every ounce of that support matters now that the sport's brightest supernova headlines USC's season opener against UNLV in Las Vegas on November 2nd.
A Resume Built on Records
The resume Watkins built before the injury reads like a highlight reel with no ceiling. As a freshman, the Los Angeles native shattered the NCAA Division I scoring record for first-year players, piling up 920 points while averaging 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Her sophomore campaign was even more decorated, with 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest, a stat line that earned the Naismith Trophy, the Wooden Award and unanimous National Player of the Year honors. Over 67 career games, the sharpshooting guard has averaged 25.5 points and 7.0 rebounds while connecting on 83.6 percent of her free throws, numbers that made her the presumptive number one pick for the 2027 WNBA Draft long before this injury. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, herself a survivor of a high school ACL tear, has watched the do-it-all guard transform from a five-star recruit into the most feared scorer in the country. Every accolade, however, now carries an asterisk until she proves that explosiveness survives a knee reconstruction and is nearly a year and a half away from live competition.
What Her Return Means for USC
The stakes for USC could not be higher entering the 2026-27 campaign. Davidson proved capable of shouldering a heavy offensive load last season, yet pairing her with a fully healthy Watkins gives Gottlieb a two-headed attack that few programs nationally can match. Should Watkins rediscover the first step burst that once made her nearly unguardable off the dribble, the Trojans instantly reenter the national championship conversation alongside South Carolina and UConn. The November 2nd, opener against UNLV in Las Vegas offers a low-pressure proving ground before Big Ten play begins, every scout and rival coach in the sport watching her first live cuts off that repaired knee. History offers plenty of reasons for optimism, since Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles all returned from ACL tears to deliver dazzling, sometimes record-setting seasons. Should she do the same, the Trojans will not just be back in the title picture; the entire sport will remember exactly why her championship window was never supposed to close.
