Lindsay Gottlieb details how Caitlin Clark can help Juju Watkins navigate stardom

Juju Watkins is next up, as the kids would say, following the collegiate departure of Caitlin Clark. Ironically, the USC women’s basketball star is in the Big Ten now after Clark left an immeasurable impact on Iowa, the conference and the sport.

Now starring in the WNBA, Clark knows what it takes to get to that level and Watkins looks like a star in the making, if she isn’t already. USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb actually made it a part of Watkins’ initial recruiting pitch.

Watkins, who already has deals with Gatorade and Nike, could be the face of women’s college basketball the next three years.

“I would say that the story goes kind of like this: when Juju was sitting my in my backyard on her recruiting visit, I was very intentional about sitting and asking her and saying, I’ve never been the number one player in the country at anything you know, let alone basketball,” Gottlieb said on Sirius XM. 

“And there are resources we could put her with. Tina Thompson has, you know, Cheryl Miller has, but more importantly, my relationship with you is gonna matter. You have to open up and tell me what that’s like so I can help. I want to help you navigate that and allow you to step into your greatness, but be aware. And to me building that relationship with her so she can be uniquely who she is, not necessarily follow anyone else, like it starts with that.”

Juju Watkins the next Caitlin Clark-type player?

Gottlieb noted Clark’s blueprint was there to follow and modify as needed. She actually got to talk to Clark about Watkins and college basketball’s all-time scoring leader is more than willing to help.

“Then, I mean, we do have this blueprint in front of us, and we have reached out to Iowa. My administration has reached out to ‘what you do about security? What did you do about autographs? What did you do on a game day?’ And we saw Caitlin at the Wooden Awards, and I said, hey, when Juju was standing here, Caitlin was right here. I said, ‘Hey, you know, what advice can you give me?’ And she was great. She said, ‘I’ve had this attention for like, a year and a half. Juju is gonna have it for three years. Let me help, however I can.’ 

“She gave me her phone number. She said, reach out. I’m obviously trying to let her get a little bit of a break here after the craziest, you know, probably eight months that anyone’s ever had. But she was really warm and welcoming to say, however I can help. Let me know.” 

As a freshman, Watkins averaged 27.1 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game, 3.3 assists per game, shot 40.1% from the field and 31.9% from three-point range. He also has an 85.2% free throw percentage and averaged 2.3 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.

“And I just want to put the resources around you Juju to make sure you know, number one, she’s happy, healthy, being a kid, but at the same time give her the space to be her own self and her own type of star,” Gottlieb said. “And I think this conference gives quite a platform to do that as we’ve seen with Caitlin.”