It has been 588 days since JuJu Watkins last played in a college game, and 42 years since USC last won a national title. Both clocks are moving now. Watkins is back, the Trojans are ranked No. 3, and one of the sport’s biggest names has picked them to cut down the nets. Then Aliyah Boston, from another school with the same three letters, answered with three words.

On the Post Moves podcast, Candace Parker made her picks for the men’s and women’s national champions. She chose Duke for the men, and for the women, she went another way. Her co-host, Boston, replied, “The fake one?”

Parker laughed and kept going: “You said the fake one. That’s wild.”

Parker’s pick? USC. 

“For me, it would be so simple to take number one or number two… I’m a renegade, okay? I don’t like picking with everybody. So I’m going to pick USC.”

She added: “JuJu has her eyes set on a national championship to be one of the greats. That’s what you got to do. You got to win. So I got Southern California.”

Boston’s line is a joke with a long history. Her school, South Carolina, and Southern California both shorten their names to USC, and the argument over which is the real one has run for years. 

Boston won the 2022 national title at South Carolina, so she has a stake in it. Last season, the argument spilled onto the court. The Gamecocks beat the Trojans 69-52 in November at Crypto.com Arena, a game billed as the first of the “Real SC Series,” then 101-61 in the NCAA second round. 

Coach Dawn Staley kept the debate lighthearted when she was asked about it. Watkins missed both games with her knee injury.

The jab did not come from nowhere, and it was not unkind. Boston has backed Watkins before. After Watkins tore her ACL in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Boston sent prayers. She then asked fans not to blame the Mississippi State player who was guarding her.

“I’m usually quiet on Twitter, but please don’t start this narrative.” 

Parker has followed JuJu Watkins closely too. In August, she said the Sparks’ trade of Kelsey Plum raised their chances of drafting Watkins in 2027. In October, she asked Hall of Famer Tina Thompson which parts of Watkins’ game would carry over to the WNBA. 

Parker’s pick rests on what Watkins showed in her return. She scored 21 points in 25 minutes in a 100-68 win over the UNLV Lady Rebels on Nov. 2, with five rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. She shot 9-of-22 and missed all five threes, so some rust remains. 

She sat out the fourth quarter on a minutes limit, and coach Lindsay Gottlieb said she will only “continue to get better.” 

The Trojans did not need her to be perfect. Jazzy Davidson scored 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting, Saniyah Hall added 22 in her college debut, and USC shot 58.8% and forced 24 turnovers.

So what are the Trojans’ chances? They have the pieces. JuJu Watkins was the consensus National Player of the Year in 2024-25, averaging 23.9 points, and she is the Big Ten’s preseason player of the year. Davidson, Hall, and the other newcomers give her more help than she had before. 

But the road is hard. South Carolina is ranked No. 1, and USC visits Greenville, SC on Nov. 15. In mid-December, it plays No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 4 Duke in Las Vegas. Last year USC went 18-14 and lost in the second round. The field looks open, though: No. 2 UConn has already lost at No. 5 Michigan, 77-66. Watkins is not hedging. 

“There is no if,” she told CBS Sports, and she wants a Final Four in Columbus.

That makes Nov. 15 the real test. On that day, Boston’s Gamecocks play Parker’s pick, and JuJu Watkins plays the school that beat her team twice last season. Boston called USC “the fake one.” Parker said Watkins wants to be one of the greats. 

One game in South Carolina will tell them both something.