USC Star JuJu Watkins Debunks Every Basketball Myth

Female athletes have to train with men to be good.

This is not true.

Hi, Self. I'm Juju Watkins,

and I'm going on the record about all things basketball.

[upbeat music]

Playing for a highly ranked school automatically creates

a pipeline into the WNBA.

No. I think that to get to the W, you, of course,

have to have the talent.

There's only so many roster spots,

so talent definitely speaks for itself.

So I don't think there's a pipeline for real.

SC, fight on forever, bro.

Being naturally gifted is just as important as hard work.

Okay, I think there is a balance

to natural ability and hard work.

I think if you have more natural ability,

like when it comes to hand-eye coordination,

then that helps.

But you just have to work on your craft

or it's not gonna really turn out the way you want it.

Like, maybe you'll be good at a pick-up game.

But I think when you actually get to different levels to it,

it's like, if you're not working on it, then yeah.

I think me, like I was naturally athletic

and, you know, I had good genes

when it came to playing sports, but I was still trash.

Like, it wasn't until I really started putting hours in

and focusing on getting better that I saw, like results.

So I'm going to have to say false to this one.

Go on the record, is offense or defense more important

for a winning team?

That's a great question.

My coach is, I don't know.

Both are important.

I guess I'm going to go with defense.

I don't know, this is hard.

I'm gonna go defense like for a team

because if you go on like sprees

like when you're not scoring,

it's important that you stop the other team from scoring.

So that's just really important.

If you don't have defense, you're probably not gonna win.

Team chemistry is just about players

liking each other off the court.

This is not true, guys.

Like at all.

Of course, it's important to like each other off the court,

but I don't think that necessarily translate directly

to on the court chemistry.

You guys got to work it out,

get experience with each other, play games.

It takes a lot to build that chemistry,

but it doesn't just come from off the court.

There's so many things that go into a winning team.

I think respect, you know, having respect for one another,

having each other's backs,

and just like this collective mindset that you want to win,

and you're kind of going to do whatever it takes

to help chip in and give what the team needs.

I've been fortunate like all my years here at SC,

like every single team I've been on,

like we've all had like just natural chemistry.

Like we've all like got along, great friends to this day,

even former teammates.

So I've been really blessed with that.

But I think honestly playing, like the more you play,

the more you get the chemistry,

you start to learn more about your teammates, so.

College athletes have it easy

because they're treated like celebrities.

There are definitely some perks to being a college athlete

and an athlete in general.

but I think there's so much work that goes into it,

so much pressure to perform that it kind of

balances everything out, so.

A lot of like my peers or like regular students

kind of assume that college athletes don't do their work

or things like that.

But I think at SC, it's definitely mandatory

that you go to class, you be present and do your work.

You can't have a social life as a college athlete.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this one might be true.

No, it's partially true.

You really have to make time for it, I will say.

So maybe like a lot,

with the little time you get to yourself,

you might have to share that with, you know,

your friends, family.

It definitely is hard to balance that social life aspect.

But I think just make time for it

and know what you need as a person, as a athlete.

See like off season, I'll be hanging out,

like I'll spend time, we have the village,

I'll go to the village, grab acai bowl.

you know, just really enjoy life.

But during the season, no.

Honestly, like me and my team are so tight,

like I'm hanging with them year round.

So it's like, yeah, they're my besties.

A large social media following automatically equates

to NIL deals.

This might be true. [chuckles]

I don't know.

I don't really know what the logistics are,

but this might be true, unfortunately.

Yeah, see, I'm like more introverted.

Like I have to set time to post for the most part.

'Cause sometimes I forget, like I'm just going through

my life without remembering to post.

So I think when it comes to like scheduling stuff,

that's kind of how I do social media.

Sometimes it's natural.

Like if I get cute pictures, I'll post them.

But yeah, that's not really a natural thing for me.

Yeah, I mean, I have Klutch.

Klutch helps me a lot.

They do so much.

And then when it gets to me, I'm just like,

yes or no, and they just tell me where to be,

and I'm there.

So shout out to Klutch.

And then also my parents really helped me

like navigate stuff when I'm busy.

[Interviewer] Do you have close friends or a finsta

where just people who really know who you are?

No, I don't.

I do not have a finsta.

Female athletes can't earn as much

as male athletes through NIL.

This is false.

Yeah, I think when it comes to NIL,

it's like women have the upper hand.

There's so many different ways to do NIL,

and I think naturally women just are better.

Once you're cleared to play following an injury,

you're 100% back to your pre-injury self.

I don't know this, we will see.

Coming back, I think it will be an adjustment with due time.

You know, you should be back 100%, if not 110.

I think honestly, I've noticed that prior

to me getting injured,

I didn't really pay that much attention

to like strengthening specific parts of my body.

So I think after this whole process,

it will kind of give me awareness

that I need to continue to get stronger in certain areas

that I didn't really pay attention to before.

So honestly, I'm kind of expecting to be even better

and like stronger mentally, but also physically.

I think even just like fundamentals, not even basketball,

but just like how to cut properly,

but more like technical things

that I wasn't really doing correctly

that kind of are on my radar now

and like I'm learning how to do

and like relearn things the right way.

Athletes bounce back faster than non-athletes

when it comes to injury.

Yes. [chuckles]

I think this is true.

I might be a little biased.

I think most athletes, we just have this like work ethic

that it's like, you just gotta keep working.

So I think most non-athletes,

I don't think they have that mindset, if I'm being honest.

So I'm gonna have to be biased with this one.

Shout out my PT people, Jason, Shane, Mito-Detox,

and Aaron, Andrew, all the USC staff here.

They really, and my mom. [chuckles]

They've all really just been helping me recover

and get my mind and physical right.

It takes a village and it definitely takes a team

and I'm glad to have mine.

They've been getting me right since pre-surgery.

So I do like, I'm starting to like do like dry needling,

massages, ice bath every day, or not every day,

but like as much as I can just to make sure that my body's

like recovering from the PC because it probably can be a lot

for my body, like doing it every day.

So just make sure that I'm on top of my recovery as well.

These are pretty common misconceptions.

To having that different perspective of what others think

is reality is kind of shocking.

But some of them were valid.

Some of them were like way far-fetched,

but it's cool to see the different perspectives.

Thank you, Self.

I hope I was able to clear up some things

and see you guys next time.