The 2026-27 NCAA Division I women’s college basketball season kicks off Sunday in Rome at the Palazzo dello Sport for the Eternal City Tip-Off, but trust me, your eyes need to be glued to Monday’s games for the real fireworks: the long-awaited return of JuJu Watkins. This isn’t just another season opener, folks. This is the comeback of the 2025 Naismith and Wooden National Player of the Year, and it’s been a long time coming after she redshirted last season to rehab a brutal ACL injury from the 2025 NCAA tournament.
The Return of a Game-Changer
We are talking about 589 days since JuJu Watkins went down. Think about that for a second! That’s a longer timeline than what we saw with other elite players like former Texas point guard Rori Harmon, who was back in 10 months, or UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who returned around the one-year mark. But Watkins isn’t just “back.” She was already looking up to speed tearing it up at Team USA’s National Team training camp during Final Four weekend back in April. She’s got her sights set on “peak[ing] at the right time” as the season gets rolling. This 6-foot-2 USC guard is absolutely dynamic and was already one of the most talented scorers in the entire country, putting up 25.5 points per game in her career. She nearly dragged the Trojans to glory as a sophomore before that injury hit in the second round of the tournament. Now she’s age-eligible for the draft, but could also stay another year. Either way, she’s already right back in early National Player of the Year contention alongside names like Sarah Strong, Madison Booker, Hannah Hidalgo, and Mikayla Blakes. This is big, Seattle sports fans, because a player like this changes everything!
USC’s New Look and Familiar Powerhouses
This season, Watkins isn’t going to be carrying the entire load by herself. The Trojans are bringing in some serious firepower with reigning National Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson, who was the No. 1 recruit in 2025, and freshman wing Saniyah Hall, another No. 1 recruit. USC is about to be a top contender in a stacked Big Ten, a conference that now boasts a record nine teams in the AP Top 25. It’s been a minute since USC was at the very top, with their last national championships in 1983 and 1984, and their last final appearance in 1986. Could this be the year?
Meanwhile, you can bet your bottom dollar we’re still talking about the absolute juggernauts in Storrs, Connecticut, and Columbia, South Carolina. Is it even November if Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies and Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks aren’t dominating the conversation? After that fiery Final Four meeting last season that even ended with a scuffle between the coaches, these powerhouses are built to clash again on the final weekend. This is the third year in a row they’ve been ranked 1-2 in the AP preseason poll, with South Carolina holding the top spot this time. They’ve been a Final Four fixture, too; you have to go all the way back to 2007 to find a Final Four without either one of them. The 2026 runner-up Gamecocks also had a massive offseason win, adding a five-star forward to their roster.
The women’s college basketball season officially opens Sunday, but the real showstopper, JuJu Watkins, hits the court with USC against UNLV in the Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday at 4 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network. Get ready, because it’s going to be wild.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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