Where JuJu Watkins can look for inspiration after crushing ACL injury

SPOKANE, Wash.— When JuJu Watkins crumbled to the hardwood last week with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, it wasn’t just the end of her sophomore campaign, but the beginning of a long, grueling journey. Watkins is about to learn a lot about herself. She’s going to have to dig deep and unlock strength that she might never have known she had.

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.Be tested in a way she’s never been before. It’s not only about mourning the loss of the game she loves and accepting the betrayal of a small part in her knee.

But she’ll have to discover the strength to remain persistent on the hardest days and stay positive while experiencing one of the most physically and mentally taxing processes of her career to this point. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has been around the game for more than four decades and has seen a lot of players, including Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, go through similar struggles that Watkins is about to endure. “I don’t know that anyone that I’ve coached that suffered an injury like this that was the quality of player that we’re talking about that didn’t come back better because that’s what makes them who they are,” Auriemma said Sunday.“For them, it’s another challenge, it’s another game to win, it’s another opponent that they have to beat.

And if you’re a competitor, if you’re somebody like Paige, somebody like JuJu, or some of the other kids that have gone through this, they come back better, they come back stronger, they come back more determined, more resilient, more understanding that they can fight through things and overcome just about anything.” Watkins couldn’t travel with USC to the Spokane, Wash., regional.She watched the Sweet 16 win against Kansas State from her Los Angeles apartment and FaceTimed the team after the win. But if Watkins turned on the TV to watch the game before USC, she would’ve seen a perfect example of an epic comeback story. Bueckers has had h...