SPOKANE, Wash. -- In the moments after Saturday's Sweet 16 win over Kansas State, USC players received a special FaceTime call. JuJu Watkins, the superstar and heartbeat of their team, phoned the locker room as her teammates celebrated their big win, hyping them up after USC had secured consecutive Elite Eight berths for the first time since 1982-84.
Watkins, responsible for revitalizing the USC women's basketball program after years of dormancy, had to watch the game from Los Angeles. The national player of the year front-runner sustained a season-ending ACL tear in the Trojans' second-round NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State, sending shockwaves throughout the sports world.