It’s been nearly two years since USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb has seen her star player, JuJu Watkins, play a regular-season game in college. Since tearing her ACL, the USC guard has spent all her time in rehab. But she is ready to make her comeback. While Watkins would still need some time to find her game touch, Gottlieb is happy with how her star player is approaching the game since her return.

“The development that I’ve seen happen as a human being, she’s playing with such joy now,” Gottlieb said in State Farm’s “JuJu Watkins: The Return, Part 2: A New Chapter.” “She always loved the game. She was always an incredibly hard worker. But I think now there’s an intentionality about her work and about being out here with her teammates and soaking up every opportunity to play basketball at this school.

“So that’s something that ‌I look at, and it’s really a unique thing to see. I hope that the goal is for her to carry that joy through the whole season because then there’s nothing that she is not capable of.”

Returning to the court for full-time practice and participation is perhaps the hardest transition that a player has to make after nearly a two-year gap. It’s not the physical transition that is hardest, but the psychological one that holds the key to performance. 

49-year-old Gottlieb has been coaching college basketball since 1999. She also served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers before taking over as the USC head coach. Gottlieb has seen enough to conclude that the injury wasn’t all bad for Watkins.

“One thing I could tell her from experience is that this is going to make you stronger and better. You may not see the ways now. I ‌couldn’t see it at the time when I was going through it. But it’s really clear to me that when you go through something like that, it makes you stronger and more resilient,” she added in the video.

JuJu Watkins gets honest about USC’s title expectations

With Watkins’ return to the lineup, the Trojans have officially become a legitimate threat. Watkins is aware that her team is loaded with talent, and there won’t be enough excuse for her team if they fail. But the USC star knows rushing to a desirable result won’t be sustainable for her or her team.

“It’s on my mind every day,” Watkins said, per ABC. “So much anticipation has gone into this year. I want it really badly, but also in a healthy way. I just want to have fun and really enjoy this year.”

Alongside Watkins, the Trojans will have Jazzy Davidson. Last year, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year averaged 17.9 points. She led her team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. They have guard Saniyah Hall and forward Sara Okeke to back their title claim. 

Last year, the Trojans exited in the second round of the NCAA tournament. They had an 18-14 record in the season and a 9-9 record in the Big Ten. With Watkins back, USC will hope to rise to the top, and the star player is finding it hard to let go of the anticipation ahead of the Nov. 2 opener against the Rebels.

“I’ve had dreams about that every night. I might shed a tear, honestly, I can’t lie,” Watkins said. “That’ll be a really amazing feeling for me.”

In her first two years with the Trojans, Watkins averaged 25.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. She shot 41.2% from the field and 32.2% from the 3-point line.

Leadership from the bench and cerebral growth of JuJu Watkins’ basketball

Last year, JuJu Watkins spent all of her time in rehab or on the bench supporting her teammates during the season. Finding herself unable to be useful to her team, Watkins did things in the locker room and became the hype person for USC. But staying on the sideline gave her a fresh perspective on the game.

“I was able to take on a leadership role for sure, and I can’t say I really owned that role prior to that,” she said. “Being able to do that and also see the game from a different perspective and seeing how I can help my team really helped grow my IQ and leadership skills.”

You could see Watkins continuously talking to Davidson and encouraging her on the sideline. Davidson later said that Watkins told her not to be too hard on herself. The two have even formed a friendship too, and perhaps that could prove to be crucial for the Trojans.