USC women's basketball star nominated for ESPY award

Juju Watkins has been nominated for the ESPY award for "Best Breakthrough Athlete" of 2024. An ESPN press release listed the USC women's basketball star will fellow nominees: Haleigh Bryant, C.J. Stroud, and Victor Wembanyama.

Watkins undoubtedly deserves her ESPY nomination after a breakthrough college basketball season. The freshman led USC to an Elite Eight appearance, the Trojans' furthest women's NCAA tournament run since 1994. Watkins finished second to Caitlin Clark in average points per game (27.1), including 27.5 PPG during the postseason.

The guard from Los Angeles made an immediate impact when she dropped 32 points, grabbed six rebounds, and contributed five assists in her first college game. The casual women's college basketball crowd started to notice Watkins' incredible play after USC broke into the AP top 10 rankings in mid-February.

The Trojans vaulted as high as No. 3 and finished the 2024 season as the AP's No. 5 team, the program's best final ranking since 1986.

USC women's basketball is expected to make a bigger NCAA tournament run in Watkins' sophomore season. When they do, Juju will have no shortage of attention. With sports media mainstays like Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink now in the WNBA, we expect the attention to turn to Watkins and UConn's Paige Bueckers.

The Trojans have a proud history of ESPY winners. Former quarterback Caleb Williams won the ESPY for "Best Male College Athlete" in 2023. Reggie Bush won the same award in 2006, after Matt Leinart in 2005. USC also shared "Game of the Year" honors with Texas in 2006.

Hopefully, Juju can bring home USC's first non-football ESPY award next month.

The 2024 ESPYS, Presented by Capital One, will air on ABC on July 11 at 8 p.m. ET / PT.