USC women’s basketball predictably suffered last season with JuJu Watkins out. Naturally, losing a superstar player was the first and foremost reason the Trojans weren’t a Final Four contender, but it was more than that in isolation which made the season difficult. Jazzy Davidson was hoping to play with JuJu, but that didn’t materialize. Life would have been so much easier for Jazzy if JuJu was on the court with her. It was part of the plan, but then JuJu got injured. Life threw USC a curveball.
Kennedy Smith knew what it was like to play with JuJu, but when JuJu got hurt, Smith was left alone on an island. She knew how to play with JuJu, but the rest of the 2025-2026 team did not. Smith was a returning player on last season’s roster, but her new teammates were not. Londynn Jones, Kara Dunn, Jazzy Davidson, and the frontcourt were all new to USC. Smith had to be a coach on the court for her new teammates instead of having JuJu there to carry the workload and lend continuity to the on-court roster.
USC wasn’t just fighting an uphill battle to replace JuJu’s lost production. It had to figure out a way to play together with JuJu not in the mix. All of that was really difficult. Players were thrust into uncomfortable situations and had to learn how to cope with an adjusted reality. After two years of being a No. 1 seed an an Elite Eight team, USC barely made the Round of 32. The difference was obvious, the process painful.
Now that JuJu Watkins is back, however, with big-time reinforcements coming in the top-ranked 2026 recruiting class, the players who played for USC last season are in position to benefit. It’s more than just the cavalry coming to help; the reality of last season’s growing pains and teachable moments should help USC’s returning players enormously. They won’t be learning from ground zero this season. Last season gave them a huge storehouse of knowledge they can readily apply. This team won’t be starting from scratch. It has made huge advancements in basketball IQ and can start the season knowing a ton more than it did in November of 2025.
This is something which should help USC play with the crispness and fluidity which mark an elite basketball team.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Last season’s pain should be this season’s gain for USC women’s hoops
Reporting by Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire | USA TODAY Network
