JuJu vs. Paige isn't happening, but UConn vs. USC promises drama anyway

New York Times

31-03-2025

SPOKANE, Wash. — The magic of March is that every tiny thing that has happened leading up to this point matters … but also, you should probably throw everything that's happened so far out the window.
The habits that were built in practice? Crucial. But the season records? Unimportant.
Team chemistry and growth? Necessary. But stats and individual records? Blah.
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It's why Monday night's Elite Eight game between UConn and USC remains compelling despite so much changing since Selection Sunday. The potential showdown was immediately circled by fans as the must-see rematch of the tournament, pitting the nation's top two individual players — USC's JuJu Watkins and UConn's Paige Bueckers — against each other.
The teams advanced to deliver this matchup, but it won't be the showdown that was expected. There will be no Watkins, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the second round. Yet, somehow, there's more to unpack in the vacuum left in the tournament by Watkins' exit.
Coaches consistently describe the Elite Eight as the toughest postseason hurdle. The Final Four is the hallowed ground of the NCAA Tournament. It's nice to gain entrance to the Big Dance, but legends are made when only four teams remain. It's why programs boast about their Final Fours, not Elite Eights. There's an invisible but pretty blatant wall that separates the two, and right now, USC and UConn are knocking on it.
They're in different situations, but they need the same thing: for players to make plays, and for the ball, every now and then, to fall their way.
'People say, 'Well, take it one game at a time, take it one play at a time,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. 'We preach that, but in reality, some players are going to rise to the occasion, and some are going to shrink. It's just the nature of it.'
One team, UConn, is motivated by Bueckers' quest for an elusive national title. After years of Auriemma imploring her to take over games, the impending finish line of her college career seems to have been just the tool necessary to help her unlock her full potential — and UConn's.
Then there's USC, a team motivated by the player who's not in Spokane. Reminders of Watkins surround the Trojans: the T-shirts they wore when they arrived at the arena for the Sweet 16, the JuJu Funko Pop that stood on the sidelines in that game, the video call afterward with Watkins when coach Lindsay Gottlieb's 2-year-old daughter, Reese, asked whether the phone call meant Watkins was no longer hurt.
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'No,' Gottlieb explained, 'but she's happy today.'
Even when this was all about JuJu vs. Paige, coaches knew there was an underlying theme: Both teams have needed contributions all around. In the last two games without Watkins, the Trojans have gotten more from their other players. Kiki Iriafen scored 36 points in the Trojans' second-round win against Mississippi State, the most ever scored by a USC player in the NCAA Tournament. USC freshman Kennedy Smith matched a career-best 19 points in the Sweet 16 win over Kansas State.
Those recent performances matter, but they don't guarantee a Final Four trip. When the ball is tossed up Monday night, neither team gets a head start because its players had the bigger night in the previous game. UConn doesn't get extra chances because its program has been in this position more, and USC doesn't get an extra player because it happens to be missing its best.
USC senior forward Rayah Marshall summed it up best.
'It's March,' she said. 'Throw the game plan away and really compete. That's what we are here to do.'
In last season's Elite Eight, Bueckers scored 28 points to lead the Huskies to their 23rd Final Four. But there's not much USC can glean from that contest. That late December game between the programs this season in Hartford, when Watkins' 25 points led USC to victory? Same deal for UConn. There are too many variables. Besides Watkins' absence, UConn redshirt junior Azzi Fudd was recently returned from her own injury in December and played only eight minutes. She's at full strength now. Smith also had just returned after missing five weeks for a knee injury.
If there's an overriding lesson either of these teams has learned over the last week (for USC) and the last few years (for UConn), it's that adversity can open doors. Gottlieb has relied on her freshmen probably more than she imagined, as they've led the Trojans deeper into the tournament than they've been in 30 years. Last year, the Huskies suffered a slew of injuries, and players like Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold gained starting roles. They come off the bench now, but those experiences make UConn even more dangerous.
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There's no reason to think these 40 minutes can't change everything for some of these players.
'We saw firsthand what it's like to play without someone who means so much to your team,' Auriemma said. 'At this time of the year, as you saw (in the Sweet 16), someone has to step up and do all the heavy lifting, and that normally would be somebody like JuJu. But if you have enough good people around her, which they do, they will get a chance to stand out even more than they would have ordinarily.'
The final spot in the Final Four will be decided Monday night in Spokane. The game won't at all be what it could've been, and yet, it's exactly what we knew it would be. So throw out the game tape and the records, and throw up the game ball and see which players make the most plays to clear the highest hurdle on the path to Tampa.
(Photo of Paige Bueckers and Talia von Oelhoffen: Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)