As part of our 1-v-1 video series, USC’s India Otto sat down to interview teammate JuJu Watkins. 

Here are five things to know from our conversation with the freshman phenom from LA.

#1 JuJu defines her purpose as wanting to inspire others to not place limits on themselves.

Her advice to younger athletes is to “take a step back and just realize how grateful you are to be around so many great people and be in an environment where you’re able to have an impact on others. And don’t take that for granted any day.” She recommends “just always being in constant awe of how far you’ve come.”

#2 JuJu is self-reflective when it comes to the impact of her growing social media fame.

"People are always going to have something to say, so I think just taking that mindset that you can’t be perfect and everybody’s always going to have an opinion on something.”

#3 An LA native, JuJu says the state of basketball in LA is “just booming right now.”

“The Pac-12 and LA is just amazing, and I’m just glad that I’m able to be a part of that and feel the atmosphere every night.”

#4 JuJu is known for her drip.

Her favorite brands are Rick Owens, Alexander Wang, and Nike. And if she could have dinner with any three people (dead or alive), she would choose Drake, Bob Marley, and Beyonce. 

#5 JuJu’s favorite piece of advice:

“To whom much is given. Much is required.”

Watch the full conversation on the Just Women’s Sports YouTube channel.

UConn guard Azzi Fudd is again delaying her WNBA aspirations to return to the Huskies for the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season, the 22-year-old announced in a social media post on Tuesday — just one day after the No. 2-seed squad booked their Sweet 16 spot in this year's March Madness tournament.

In an interview with ESPN, Fudd explained that her decision to declare for the 2026 WNBA Draft and exhaust her NCAA eligibility will allow her to "work on everything I need to work on" before turning pro.

Fudd also noted that her choice became clear after UConn head coach Geno Auriemma told her that while he supports whatever decision she makes, she has yet to max out at the collegiate level.

"He [told me], 'I would say 10 games, maybe, you've played to your full potential of who Azzi Fudd really is,'" Fudd recounts. "'You wouldn't do yourself justice leaving. You would leave here not doing what you could in a UConn uniform.' I was like, 'Yeah, he has a point.'"

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Already a standout, Fudd chases greatness

Entering the NCAA as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021, Fudd has been a highly-touted professional prospect for years, with the Husky originally expected to be chosen in the first round of next month's 2025 WNBA Draft.

However, Fudd's college career has been dampened by injury, with the talented shooter playing in just 72 games across her four years at UConn.

Making her competitive return in November after suffering an ACL and meniscus tear one year prior, Fudd hit her stride, earning a career-high 30 appearances for the Huskies this season — 26 of them as a starter.

A season-high 28-point performance in UConn's 87-58 February beatdown of defending national champs South Carolina further boosted Fudd's momentum, with the guard putting up a March Madness career-high 27 points in UConn's first-round victory over No. 15-seed Arkansas State on Saturday.

After adding another 17 points in the Huskies' second-round win over No. 10-seed South Dakota State on Monday, Fudd's 16.4 postseason points per game trails only iconic teammate Paige Bueckers' scoring rate on the UConn stat sheet.

It's those top-tier performances that Fudd will be chasing next season, hoping to add some lengthy consistency and confidence to her basketball resume.

"Having someone of Azzi's ability and the way she can just control a game, she just hasn't had an opportunity, at this point, to fully show who she is, what she can do, what impact she can have on our program and on college basketball," Auriemma told ESPN. "Can we get a full year out of that? I'm as excited as anybody, our fans, anybody to see what can happen."

Delaying WNBA debuts could result in higher rookie salaries

Though Fudd is adamant that her decision to play one more year in college is purely based in on-court considerations, there are also other major financial implications at play.

With the WNBPA currently negotiating a new CBA set to begin in the 2026 WNBA season, rookies who enter under those new terms will likely begin their professional careers at a higher salary than the $78,831 that this April's No. 1 draft pick will earn.

Even Auriemma acknowledged the potential financial benefits Fudd would reap by staying in Storrs.

"If [Fudd] stays one more year, she'll make more money next year when she goes into the draft because they have a new collective bargaining agreement coming up that should pay them more money than if she goes at the end of this year," Auriemma told reporters earlier this month.

Even more, an extra year at the NCAA level will allow Fudd to grow her already flush NIL portfolio, which includes deals with brands like Bose, Chipotle, Buick, and DoorDash.

With the business side of basketball booming, top college players are recognizing the long-term impacts of kicking off their pro careers with stacked athletic and brand-building resumes — and Fudd just bought herself another year to raise her WNBA and financial stock.

The Naismith Awards sliced their already elite 10-athlete National Player of the Year (POY) list down to four finalists on Tuesday, narrowing the race for the 2024/25 NCAA basketball season's top individual honor.

Earning spots in the final tally are two sophomore phenoms, USC's JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, as well as UCLA junior Lauren Betts and UConn senior Paige Bueckers.

"The brilliance of these athletes and their unrelenting passion for college basketball are evident in their outstanding accomplishments," noted Atlanta Tipoff Club president Eric Oberman, whose organization bestows the annual award.

Three of the finalists have already claimed some POY hardware for their 2024/25 performances, with Hidalgo, Bueckers, and Watkins all earning the honor for their respective conferences. Hidalgo and Betts also bagged Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) awards from the ACC and Big Ten, respectively.

Double-dipping on the national stage are Betts, Hidalgo, and Watkins, whose POY finalist status comes just four days after the Naismith Awards named the trio to its four-athlete DPOY final list.

Buoyed by their individual contributions, all four players have helped their programs become veritable contenders to claim the 2024/25 national championship trophy.

Betts's Bruins entered March Madness as the overall No. 1 seed, with Watkins's Trojans also claiming a top spot in the 2025 NCAA bracket. Behind team-leading contributions from Bueckers and Hidalgo, UConn and Notre Dame snagged No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.

"Their efforts have been instrumental in their teams’ successes this season. Recognizing any of these extraordinary student-athletes with the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy would be a fitting tribute to their excellence."

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POY race reflects parity-filled NCAA season

Unlike past seasons with arguably clear-cut frontrunners, the 2024/25 NCAA season is stacked with both parity and standout performers, giving each member of the exclusive POY finalist quartet a strong case to snag the prestigious award.

With her third time as a POY finalist, Bueckers — a playmaking guard who shoots over 54% from the field — could add a second Naismith trophy to her shelf, bookending her UConn career after becoming the only freshman winner in the award's now 42-year history in 2021.

That said, she'll have stiff competition from fellow 2023/24 finalist Watkins, whose prolific scoring surpassed the two-season tally notched by the all-time Division I points leader, back-to-back POY winner-turned-WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.

Star center Betts has anchored the Bruins in the paint all season, setting a UCLA record for blocks while shooting over 64% from the floor and averaging a near double-double with 9.7 rebounds per game.

As for Hidalgo, who currently sits third in the league with over 24 points per game, the Irish guard has yet to register a single collegiate appearances with less than 10 points.

The four finalists will have one final weekend of March Madness competition to impress voters before the POY winner is announced on April 2nd — two days before the NCAA tournament's Final Four tips off.

Unfortunately, after suffering a season-ending ACL tear on Monday, Watkins's POY bid rests on her already complete 2024/25 campaign.

How to vote for the 2024/25 National Player of the Year

While the majority of the Naismith Awards' final counts rest with coaches, conference commissioners, journalists, and former winners, fans account for 5% of the total vote.

With POY candidates, DPOY finalists, and Coach of the Year nominees on the ballot, fans can vote once per day online for the NCAA's top basketball personnel. Voting closes at 12 PM ET on April 1st.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and NWSL champ Merritt Mathias serve up their hottest takes on all things women's sports. And in today's episode, the crew is talking March Madness, as the NCAA tournament cruises to the Sweet 16.

After lamenting their busted brackets, the discussion turns to UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd. Is a healthy Fudd this year’s secret NCAA tournament weapon?

“I think my biggest one that I was like, ‘whoa,’ was UConn,” O'Hara said of Connecticut’s first-round blowout.

“UConn by 69!" marvels Diaz. "We do have to talk about miss Azzi Fudd. 21 points in the first half of that game.”

"Is that why you wore the shirt?" asks O'Hara, pointing to Fudd's face emblazoned on Diaz's Round 21 t-shirt.

"Of course!" says Diaz. "We gotta show love to Azzi Fudd."

“We said if she shows up, she will be a differentiator for this team going deep into March Madness,” echoed Mathias.

All in all, the co-hosts tackle the NWSL's top weekend goals, followed by the future debut of World Sevens Football, Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton's hard launch, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' hosts debate NWSL Rookie of the Year odds

Later, the hosts put on their soccer hats to discuss the NWSL Rookie of the Year. With younger players joining the league — coupled with the abolishment of the college draft — what subsequently even counts as a true rookie season anymore?

"People are already starting to have these these chats about who's up for Rookie of the Year," starts O'Hara. "My take is this: When is Rookie of the Year going to no longer exist? Because like you said, [Seattle goal-scorer] Jordyn Bugg is technically in her second year. But in my opinion, she's still a rookie."

"These players who are showing up to the league as teenagers, not coming out of college, their chances of Rookie of the Year are greatly diminished," she continues. "Are we going to get a Under-20 Player of the Year award at some point?"

"It's a conversation to be had. But it's also the evolution of the game," says Mathias. "If you want to enter the league at such a young age, it signals, 'I'm willing to forsake like Rookie of the Year awards to be able to develop my game in this environment.'"

"You want to go to college and run that route, that is your reward for taking that time, feeling a bit more able to take on the pressure, the demands," she adds. "So you get rewarded with things like Rookie of the Year and allowing your stock to grow."

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

The New York Sirens made PWHL history this weekend, as forward Abby Roque — who grew up in Michigan — scored the second-year league’s first-ever Michigan goal against the Ottawa Charge on Saturday.

With Ottawa leading 3-1 in the game's third period, Roque skated behind the Charge’s net, snapping the puck under the crossbar to register her sixth goal of the season.

A very rare trick shot, "The Michigan" entered the sport's lingo in the 1990s, after University of Michigan men's hockey winger Mike Legg successfully replicated minor-leaguer Bill Armstrong’s lacrosse-style "high wrap" goal during a 1996 NCAA Tournament game against Minnesota.

Requiring deft mechanics, the shooter lifts the puck with their stick, slotting it into the top near corner of the net behind an unsuspecting goalkeeper.

"There was a lot around the net and I just I knew I had time behind the net to pick it up, [so] I thought I may as well," said Roque after her performance. "It’s something that has become a joke and we say every day when I come to the rink: 'Michigan today.'"

"The opportunity presented itself, so I had to try."

Roque joins short list of "Michigan" goalscorers

Roque — Team USA's first-ever Indigenous hockey player — now inks her name onto a short list of athletes who have scored a Michigan goal.

The first successful major pro league attempt came in the NHL, when Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov converted the trick shot against the Calgary Flames in October 2019.

On the women's side, PWHL history-maker Roque is just the third athlete to claim Michigan goal success.

Slovakia's teen star Nela Lopušanová paved the way, flicking in the first-ever women's Michigan shot during the 2023 U18 IIHF World Championships at just 14 years old.

Leading the charge Stateside is Brown University forward Margot Norehad. As a freshman for the Bears, Norehad netted a Michigan during a February 2024 NCAA game against Quinnipiac.

While Roque's shot wasn't enough to secure a Sirens win on Saturday, she did manage to her individual 16-point season total with style.