USC freshman JuJu Watkins has high expectations for her time with the Trojans.

Speaking with Ari Chambers on “ChattHER,” Watkins said that it’s “been great” stepping into her first year. While she had confidence in both the program and in her teammates before college, it’s grown exponentially since she stepped on campus.

“To come here, have my family here, have an even bigger family now that I’m here in the staff, the coaches, my teammates, it’s a dream come true and I couldn’t have wished for anything better,” the Southern California native said.

Watkins’ motivations include the feeling of winning and being able to share that with her team. But she also just wants to be happy, noting that happiness is “everything.”

Already, Watkins has the Trojans (3-0) off to a hot start. She scored 32 points in her debut against Ohio State, the most by a USC freshman in her debut since Lisa Leslie. And against Le Moyne on Monday, she had 35 points.

She’s the first D-I freshman in the last 25 seasons with multiple 30-point games in her first three career games. And she joins Leslie as the only USC freshmen to have multiple 30-point games.

One of her goals this year is to get USC to the NCAA Tournament. Another is to win the national freshman of the year award. Already, she’s off to a good start. And beyond that? She wants to bring USC a national title by her senior year.

“Definitely have to have a natty by then for sure,” she said when asked about what she wants to accomplish in her college career. And then the next thing? “Player of the year, Naismith.”

Juju Watkins is the Gatorade National Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

The USC commit, who also won this year’s Naismith High School Player of the Year award, received with the Gatorade award Monday during a photoshoot. WNBA star Candace Parker presented the Sierra Canyon high school senior with the award.

“This is one of the most prestigious awards you can get,” Watkins told The Athletic. “Just to get it and end it off the right way is really special for me. And it just gives me a lot of motivation going into next year at USC.”

As a senior, Watkins led her California high school to a 31-1 record, averaging 27.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. Last summer, she earned MVP while helping the U-17 U.S. women’s national team to a FIBA World Cup championship.

“Although we already had a legacy and winning culture at Sierra Canyon, Juju took this program to a different level,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki told ESPN. “She propelled us to win at the absolute highest level of competition. She took everyone’s best shot and delivered night after night.

“She made our program better… She made her teammates better. She made me a better coach. I truly believe she is one of the best to ever play high school basketball and her legacy will not just be about statistics and championships but how she handled being a superstar.”

As Watkins begins her college career next season with the Trojans, she has her sights set on one thing.

“I hope to add some hardware, some championships,” she said. “Just bringing USC back to what it was.”

USC won NCAA women’s basketball titles in 1983 and 1984 but has made just four March Madness appearances since 2000, including this year.

“Juju had the courage to stay home and is driven to bring USC women’s basketball back to prominence. What a monumental day for all of us in the Trojan family,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said when Watkins announced her commitment to the Trojans in November.

The 2023 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Girls High School Player of the Year watch list was revealed Tuesday, with 38 seniors making an appearance.

Parkway’s Mikaylah Williams, an LSU signee, and Sierra Canyon’s Juju Watkins, a USC signee, are among the marquee names on the watch list. Sophomores Aaliyah Chavez, Jasmine Davidson and ZaKiyah Johnson are the only underclassmen who made the list.

“This group of young women is as talented as we have ever seen,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “We are excited to watch them compete this season and see their progression and development throughout the 2022-23 season.”

Jadyn Donovan, a Duke signee, will give Sidwell Friends School an opportunity to claim back-to-back honorees after Kiki Rice won the award in 2021-22. UConn and South Carolina each have three recruits on this year’s list.

“Jersey Mike’s believes in the importance of high school sports,” said Jeff Hemschoot, vice president of marketing for Jersey Mike’s. “We are thrilled to be a part of another great year of girls high school basketball and look forward to honoring a deserving athlete at the end of the season.”

The five finalists for this year’s award will be revealed in February, while the trophy will be awarded to the top player in March.

2023 Naismith High School Girls Player of the Year Watch List

Sunaja Agara, Sr., G, Hopkins (Minn.), Stanford
Kamorea Arnold, Sr., PG, Germantown (Wis.), UConn
Carys Baker, Sr., F, Loomis Chaffee (Conn.), Virginia Tech
Sofia Bell, Sr., Wing, Jesuit (Ore.), Oregon
Madison Booker, Sr., W, Germantown (Miss.), Texas
Zoe Brooks, Sr., G, Saint John Vianney (N.J.), NC State
Jaloni Cambridge, Jr., PG, The Ensworth School, Uncommitted
Justice Carlton, Jr., PG, Seven Lakes (Texas), Uncommitted
Aaliyah Chavez, Soph., PG, Monterey (Texas), Uncommitted
Essence Cody, Sr., Post, Valdosta (Ga.), Alabama
Diana Collins, Sr., PG, Brookwood (Ga.), Ohio State
Breya Cunningham, Sr., Post, La Jolla Country Day (Calif.), Arizona
Jasmine Davidson, Soph., Wing, Clackamas (Ore.), Uncommitted
Aalyah Del Rosario, Sr., Post, The Webb School (Tenn.), LSU
Jadyn Donovan, Sr., G, Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.), Duke
Joyce Edwards, Jr., F, Camden (S.C.), Uncommitted
Milaysia Fulwiley, Sr., PG, W.J. Keenan (S.C.), South Carolina
Hannah Hidalgo, Sr., PG, Paul VI (N.J.), Notre Dame
Sahnya Jah, Sr., Wing, Montverde Academy (Fla.), South Carolina
Kymora Johnson, Sr., G, Saint Anne’s-Belfield (Va.), Virginia
Tessa Johnson, Sr., G, Saint Michael Albertville (Minn.), South Carolina
ZaKiyah Johnson, Soph., G, Sacred Heart (Ky.), Uncommitted
Ari Long, Sr., PG, Valley View (Calif.), Washington
Amanda Muse, Sr., Post, Heritage (Calif.), UCLA
Riley Nelson, Sr., Wing, Bullis School (Md.), Maryland
Mackenzie Nelson, Sr., PG, St. Luke’s School (Conn.), Virginia Tech
S’mya Nichols, Sr., Wing, Shawnee Mission West (Kan.), Kansas
Courtney Ogden, Sr., Wing, Westminster School (Ga.), Stanford
Olivia Olson, Jr., PG, Benilde Saint Margaret (Minn.), Michigan
Britt Prince, Jr., PG, Elkhorn North (Neb.), Uncommitted
Cassandre Prosper, Sr., F, Cairine Wilson Secondary School (Quebec, Canada), Notre Dame
Laila Reynolds, Sr., G, Shabach Christian Academy (Md.), Florida
Amiyah Reynolds, Sr., G, Washington (Ind.), Maryland
Emma Risch, Sr., G, Palm Bay Magnet (Fla.), Notre Dame
Qadence Samuels, Sr., F, Bishop McNamara (Md.), UConn
Taliah Scott, Sr., G, Saint John’s Country Day (Fla.), Arkansas
Sayvia Sellers, Sr., PG, Anchorage Christian Schools (Alaska), Washington
Ashlynn Shade, Sr., G, La Lumiere (Ind.), UConn
Sarah Strong, Jr., F, Grace Academy (N.C.), Uncommitted
Adhel Tac, Jr., Post, South Grand Prairie (Texas), Uncommitted
Delaney Thomas, Sr., F, St. John’s College (Washington, D.C.), Duke
Blanca Thomas, Jr., Post, Charlotte Catholic (N.C.), Uncommitted
Ciera Toomey, Sr., Post, Dunmore (Penn.), North Carolina
Letycia Vasconcelos, Sr., Post, Montverde Academy (Fla.), Baylor
Sammie Wagner, Sr., Wing, Ronald Reagan (Texas), Oregon
Juju Watkins, Sr., G, Sierra Canyon (Calif.), USC
Mikaylah Williams, Sr., G, Parkway (La.), LSU
Jada Williams, Sr., PG, La Jolla Country Day (Calif.), Arizona
Sahara Williams, Sr., Wing, West (Iowa), Oklahoma
Allie Ziebell, Jr., G, Neenah (Wis.), Uncommitted

Juju Watkins is staying home.

One of the top recruits in the class of 2023 announced her decision to play college basketball at the University of Southern California on Tuesday. Watkins grew up just 10 minutes from the USC campus, and her family, she said, was the main reason for staying close to home.

Watkins took great care with her decision, which she announced in front of her friends and classmates at Sierra Canyon.

“I didn’t want to rush this process,” Watkins told ESPN. “A lot of people in my class had already committed before me, and I definitely was taking my time. But I want to make sure it was 1,000% where I wanted to go.”

She chose the Trojans over current women’s basketball powerhouses South Carolina and Stanford, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP Top 25. USC is unranked.

With the Cardinal or the Gamecocks, Watkins would be stepping into a team that is already built for NCAA titles. With USC, she will be a part of the building process. In fact, Watkins will be the central building block for a historic Trojans program that hasn’t been in conversation with elite teams for quite some time.

But Watkins changes that, almost instantly.

“Juju is the best and most decorated player of her class both in the country and internationally, ” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a press release. “I could talk for days about her skill set: her shot-making ability, creativity to the rim, dominance on the boards, defensive tenacity and her elite court vision.

“But what I am most excited about is that JuJu the human being is joining the USC family. This is a young woman with transcendent talent, but she is also uniquely motivated. She is about things bigger than herself: her family, her team, her community, her city. Juju had the courage to stay home and is driven to bring USC women’s basketball back to prominence. What a monumental day for all of us in the Trojan family.”

USC was a powerhouse in the 1980s, with All-Americans Cheryl Miller, Paula McGee and Rhonda Windham leading the Trojans to an NCAA championship in 1983. They repeated the feat in 1984.

But recent women’s basketball history has belonged to teams like UConn and Baylor, as well as the last two teams competing with USC for Watkins – South Carolina and Stanford. The Trojans haven’t made an NCAA tournament since 2014, and after being a mainstay throughout the ’80s and most of the ’90s, USC has made just three March Madness appearances since 2000.

Watkins is the kind of talent that can transform a program — or in USC’s case, restore it to its former glory.

The 6-foot-1 guard has been called a generational talent after leading Sierra Canyon to a state title in her junior season with 24.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.0 blocks per game, among other accomplishments, including playing for the United States U-17 and U-16 national teams.

Watkins is a versatile guard, which along with her obvious talent makes her the ideal player to build a team around. And Gottlieb is already working on finding pieces to surround Watkins. Four-star recruit Malia Samuels, a point guard from Seattle, joins Watkins in the class of 2023.

It’s also worth noting that nine players on the ESPN Top 100 recruiting list for 2024 are from California. And with Watkins staying home to play for the Trojans, she could encourage more players to join her in staying home.

Surrounded by her Sierra Canyon teammates, Juju Watkins was relishing the moment Tuesday afternoon.

The star senior waited until the end of the NCAA early signing period to make her decision, but her teammates erupted in celebration when she announced that she was signing her National Letter of Intent with the University of Southern California in front of a packed crowd at the school’s gymnasium in Los Angeles.

Watkins picked the Trojans over the likes of Stanford and South Carolina, choosing to stay close to home in the end.

“To just be born and raised here and to have a community behind me is amazing,” Watkins told Luca Evans of the Los Angeles Times. “To just continue my L.A. legacy, and I feel like no matter where I would’ve gone, that would’ve still been a part of me, but I just think it hits different when I’m born and raised here and I get to continue my journey.”

The 6-foot-2 guard burst onto the scene for Sierra Canyon in 2021-22, averaging 24.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.0 blocks per game in her first season with the program. The Trailblazers went on to claim their second straight California Interscholastic Federation Open Division state crown.

She’s currently ranked No. 2 in the latest JWS player rankings for the Class of 2023 and is coming off a summer campaign in which she was named MVP at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.

Watkins announced her decision live on ESPN and said family was the main reason she decided to go with the Trojans.