JuJu Watkins' injury sent USC's championship odds diving and gave UConn a massive boost
JuJu Watkins' injury sent USC's championship odds diving and gave UConn a massive boost
Breaking: USC phenom JuJu Watkins has suffered a torn ACL in her right knee, sources tell ESPN. She will undergo surgery. pic.twitter.com/2qMvpXTGwI — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 25, 2025
Even as the No. 1 seed in their region of the 2025 women's March Madness bracket, the USC Trojans weren't viewed as the favorites to make it to the Final Four. That distinction belonged to the 2-seed UConn Huskies, whose +275 national title odds entering the tournament only trailed South Carolina (+270) as the overall favorite at BetMGM. With Wooden Award favorite JuJu Watkins leading the way, though, USC was going to be a huge obstacle for UConn to hurdle -- a tough out for any team in the tournament.
On Monday, that hurdle just got a lot shorter.
Watkins left USC's second-round win over Mississippi State with a knee injury that's being reported as torn ACL by ESPN's Shams Charania. Her tournament run is over. Oddsmakers think USC's will end soon too.
At BetMGM, USC plummeted from +550 national title odds entering the tournament (+700 entering the second round) to +2500 ahead of their Sweet 16 game against 5-seed Kansas State on Saturday.
UConn, meanwhile, improved from +225 to +175 over the last round, leapfrogging South Carolina (+200) as the championship favorite. UCLA (+650), Texas (+750) and Notre Dame (+1000) make up the next three, distant favorites. USC's odds rank as sixth-best among the remaining 16 teams. The odds imply that even if USC gets past Kansas State (+8000) as expected, the team's run will end with UConn in the Elite Eight.
'Many of the top seeds have advanced, which will set us up for great matchups later in the women's NCAA Tournament," BetMGM trader Hannah Luther said in an email. "UConn has an easier path to the Final Four following JuJu Watkins' injury and are now the favorites. South Carolina, UCLA and Texas are contenders drawing strong interest from bettors.'
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