JuJu Watkins goes 0-10 from the field and has 2 pts in first half vs. Minnesota

[Beattheohiostate]

USC jumped out to a 20-5 lead and led by 12 at the half, despite Watkins' failing to score from the field. Yes, USC is good. Lots of size and talent besides Watkins, but after seeing them play for the first time, I wasn't overly impressed. But they are 18-1 and on a 15-game winning streak . . .

Watkins ended up 7-24 from the floor, 1-8 from three for 20 points. She didn't remind me of Caitlin Clark in any way whatsoever, FWIW.

Anyway, playing at home, USC never was able to put the Gophers away, winning 82-69. Minnesota outscored USC the last 3.5 quarters. I hope the travel and a great effort from the Hawkeyes can lead to a great upset on Sunday. We'll see.

BTW: The attendance at USC was reported as 5,243--only about 10,000 short of the standard crowd at Carver. Based on the evidence, it doesn't look like Watkins is a big draw, even at home.

 

[QChawks]

She’s a damn good player but she doesn’t do anything “star” like

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

She’s a damn good player but she doesn’t do anything “star” like

She's also a sophomore.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

USC jumped out to a 20-5 lead and led by 12 at the half, despite Watkins' failing to score from the field. Yes, USC is good. Lots of size and talent besides Watkins, but after seeing them play for the first time, I wasn't overly impressed. But they are 18-1 and on a 15-game winning streak . . .

Watkins ended up 7-24 from the floor, 1-8 from three for 20 points. She didn't remind me of Caitlin Clark in any way whatsoever, FWIW.

Anyway, playing at home, USC never was able to put the Gophers away, winning 82-69. Minnesota outscored USC the last 3.5 quarters. I hope the travel and a great effort from the Hawkeyes can lead to a great upset on Sunday. We'll see.

BTW: The attendance at USC was reported as 5,243--only about 10,000 short of the standard crowd at Carver. Based on the evidence, it doesn't look like Watkins is a big draw, even at home.

 

[citizenHawk]

That also means she scored about 20 points in the second half--two 3pt shots to open the third quarter, a dribble drive late in the 4th where she torched about four Minnesota defenders.

I have a feeling she is going to light it up in Carver unless they make stopping her the priority, and just hope the others have an off day.

And that would be a shame on a day celebrating Caitlin Clark. I'd bait her into charging fouls, get in her head and do to her what teams finally started doing to Clark last year. Jan knows how Clark was stopped, so curious to see what she will do.

 

[Beattheohiostate]

She's also a sophomore.

Yup. And she and her backers claim she's already better than Caitlin Clark ever was. You can look it up. Some national commentators have even said Watkins is so fabulous that she should be playing in the WNBA right now. I would beg to differ.

The reality is that Watkins is a wannabe, a fine scorer who compares to Clark's overall game in no other way whatsoever. Lots of people have scored points in women's basketball over the years, but none has changed the way the game is played--except Caitlin Clark. And that's just a fact.

 

[kceasthawk]

That also means she scored about 20 points in the second half--two 3pt shots to open the third quarter, a dribble drive late in the 4th where she torched about four Minnesota defenders.

I have a feeling she is going to light it up in Carver unless they make stopping her the priority, and just hope the others have an off day.

And that would be a shame on a day celebrating Caitlin Clark. I'd bait her into charging fouls, get in her head and do to her what teams finally started doing to Clark last year. Jan knows how Clark was stopped, so curious to see what she will do.

Its funny to say she was stopped when she averaged 32 pts and 9 assists/gm.....A bad game for her was 23 and 6 ...

 

[kceasthawk]

Yup. And she and her backers claim she's already better than Caitlin Clark ever was. You can look it up. Some national commentators have even said Watkins is so fabulous that she should be playing in the WNBA right now. I would beg to differ.

The reality is that Watkins is a wannabe, a fine scorer who compares to Clark's overall game in no other way whatsoever. Lots of people have scored points in women's basketball over the years, but none has changed the way the game is played--except Caitlin Clark. And that's just a fact.

There was a talking head ex NBA player who said he was certain that Juju could play in the NBA. I just laughed my ass off the way they're trying to build her up....

 

[spiderland]

Nothing screams “transcendent player” more than someone who scores one out of every four of her points from the charity stripe.

One out of about every five points JuJu scores (22%) is from three. By comparison, 42% of Caitlin’s career points were from three. And not just from three, but from places on the court that almost nobody (women or men) had ever even thought about scoring from.

Put another way, Caitlin had over twice as many points in her career shooting from 25-30 feet in the live action of the game than she did shooting uncontested with play stopped from 15 feet.

Oh yeah, and then there were all those (1144–3rd all-time), largely insane, “wtf did I just see” assists. Ho hum.

THESE are the reasons the Caitlin Clark effect is what it is. And why there is no JuJu Watkins effect.

Look, JuJu is a fantastic player and, barring injury. is going to have a tremendously successful and prolific career. But anybody who seriously believes that she and Caitlin are in the same stratosphere in terms of their impact on the future of this sport either has an agenda or just doesn’t get it.

 

[sadiehawkins]

I think iowa wins this game. Guyton is the difference maker for iowa. Watchin the Minnesota game. USC looked suspect from the 3. Suelke will need some help on the board's. Juju s strength is going to the glass. Extremely atheletic who s ever guarding her needs to stay down and stay in front of her. Don t need to stop her but she needs to earn every point.

 

[Matt1nb7]

Shot clock was off with USC up 16 and Jujy went down and shot a 3 instead of dribbling the clock out.

Minnesota got the rebound and Juju blocked the layup out of bounds. Then the USC coach took her out of the game.

 

[Georgia_Hawk]

Yup. And she and her backers claim she's already better than Caitlin Clark ever was. You can look it up. Some national commentators have even said Watkins is so fabulous that she should be playing in the WNBA right now. I would beg to differ.

The reality is that Watkins is a wannabe, a fine scorer who compares to Clark's overall game in no other way whatsoever. Lots of people have scored points in women's basketball over the years, but none has changed the way the game is played--except Caitlin Clark. And that's just a fact.

I've heard others claim Juju is (or will be) better than Clark. But has Juju actually made this claim?

And labelling someone who averaged 27pts and 7 rebs as a freshman as a wannabe is.... curious.

 

[Randon]

Juju is obviously a great player but comparisons to Caitlin Clark are really unfair to Juju. Clark is a point guard and Juju is not, she's a hybrid 2-3 shooting guard. Therefore she's never going to match Caitlin in assists - one of the strongest parts of Caitlin's game. Caitlin averaged 28.4 points over 139 games and thus far Juju has a career average around 26.5. Not taking anything away from Juju, but it's doubtful she will ever surpass Caitlin's scoring record.