NCAA women’s tourney changes with JuJu Watkins injury, Sweet 16 next

• JuJu Watkins, one of college basketball’s biggest stars, will miss the rest of the NCAA Tournament after suffering a knee injury Monday. Watkins’ USC Trojans advanced after beating Mississippi State.
• The top three seeds in every region of the bracket have advanced to the Sweet 16.
• A star performance by UConn’s Paige Bueckers has the Huskies moving near the top of the favorites list.

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Heading into the Sweet 16, the women’s NCAA Tournament is full of top seeds and favorites. After Monday night, March 24, the one, two and three seeds in every region are moving on to the next round.

What happened to JuJu Watkins?

That includes the No. 1 seed in region four, USC. However, the Trojans saw their future, extending all the way into next season, instantly change during their game against Mississippi State.

Juju Watkins, one of the biggest stars in the game, went down with a knee injury five minutes into their win, and it’s not a stretch to say the entire tournament has now changed.

Doctors diagnosed Watkins with an ACL tear. She will not only miss the rest of the tournament –– the start of next season is also in doubt. Without their best player, the Trojans’ hopes of clinching a championship takes a big hit.

“I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t rattled,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Seeing Juju on the floor and crying –– I mean, this is a human game –– and so you know, I tried, obviously, my best to be what I need to be for the team. But, you know, internally, it’s a lot.”

Watkins’ teammates were encouraged by the way they put aside the injury and focused on beating the Bulldogs, with a runaway 35-point victory.

“It’s hard when you have such a key player not with you, but at the end of the day, we have to win the game,” said USC forward Kiki Iriafen. “Respectfully, nobody cares on Mississippi State that we lost her. So, I think for us it was just making sure that we got the job done. We want our season to be extended.”

Who is the current favorite in Region 4?

In the same region as USC, and seemingly the new favorite, is No. 2 UConn, who got a masterful performance from star guard Paige Bueckers. She tied a career-high with 34 points in her final game at Gampel Pavilion as the Huskies dominated South Dakota St. to advance.

“Haven’t had, like, a wave or rush of emotions hit me yet because we’re so locked in and focused on the task at hand and being present in the moment,” Bueckers said. “We didn’t look at it as our last game at Gampel; we looked at it as the second-round NCAA Tournament game that we’re trying to win and trying to keep advancing.”

What had the fans going crazy Monday?

Without a doubt, the most thrilling game Monday was 4-seed Maryland against 5-seed Alabama, which went to double overtime before the Terps got the win with an NBA-like score of 111-108. Maryland was down 17 points in the third quarter and came back to win behind Sarah Ti-Biasu’s 26 points. Ti-Biasu was carried off the floor by her teammates after the win.

The Terps will match up with No. 1 South Carolina next. The Gamecocks have won two of the last three titles. There are also some dark horse favorites still alive, like Notre Dame, TCU, NC State and Duke, that could find themselves moving on to the Final Four with a couple of mild upsets. Sweet 16 games get going Friday, March 28, at 2:30 p.m. EST in Birmingham, Alabama and Spokane, Washington.