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/ Women's Basketball
USC’s JuJu Watkins Selected to Watch List for Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year
October 29, 2024 | Women's Basketball
Watkins won the national honor last year as a freshman.
LOS ANGELES — USC sophomore JuJu Watkins is set up to defend her Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award, which she won last year as a freshman, with her naming to the Watch List for the award as she enters her second season at USC. Today (Oct. 29), the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, in partnership with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), announced the 20 watch list candidates for the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, in its eighth year, honors the top shooting guard in women's NCAA Division I college basketball. It is named after the Class of 1993 Hall of Famer, the first player, regardless of gender, to be chosen for an All-America Team in four consecutive college seasons.
Watkins is the second Trojan to be named to a 2024-25 watch list for the Naismith Starting 5, following Talia von Oelhoffen's selection to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List on Oct. 28. There are three other positional Watch Lists — small forward, power forward and center — still to be announced.
An AP Preseason All-American and the unanimous selection as the 2024-25 Big Ten Coaches Preseason Player of the Year, JuJu Watkins enters her sophomore season with the Trojans. USC's sixth First Team All-American and the 2024 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year, Watkins set the all-time national record for scoring by a freshman with 920 points last season and finished as the nation's second leading scorer behind Iowa's Caitlin Clark with 27.1 points per game.
Also last season, Watkins tallied at least 30 points in 14 games — a USC single-season record — and she broke the single-game scoring record at USC with a 51-point outing at Stanford. The 2024 National Freshman of the Year, Watkins earned a spot on the NCAA Portland Region 3 All-Tournament Team for her work in helping the Trojans to their first Elite Eight appearance in 30 years.
Watkins and the Women of Troy enter their 2024-25 campaign as the No. 3 team in the nation, set to open the season next week in Paris. No. 3 USC takes on No. 20 Ole Miss in an Aflac Oui-Play Game on November 4 at Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting in each of the three rounds starting on Friday, November 1. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February, to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to the Meyers Drysdale and Hall of Fame's selection committees, where winners will be selected. The Selection Committee for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is composed of top college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the four other members of the Men's and Women's Starting Five.
For more information on the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophallu and #DrysdaleAward on X and Instagram.
About Ann Meyers Drysdale:
Ann Meyers Drysdale's career escalated women's basketball to a new level. Meyers Drysdale was the first high school player to make the United States national team and the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA. Her high-octane approach translated into wins and awards and she finished her stellar career at UCLA owning 12 of 13 school records. A supremely talented all-around player with natural basketball ability and instincts, Meyers Drysdale was the first player, male or female, named to the All-America team in four straight seasons. She also played on the first women's Olympic team in 1976. After an All-America career, she became the first woman player drafted into the Women's Basketball League and made history by becoming the first female player to try out with an NBA team, the Indiana Pacers. Meyers Drysdale pushed the envelope in women's basketball, bringing a feel and sense for the game that few players ever experience.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981, or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and celebrating the game of basketball at every level—men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches, and contributors—both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 450 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits, and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum, and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophallu, or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, in its eighth year, honors the top shooting guard in women's NCAA Division I college basketball. It is named after the Class of 1993 Hall of Famer, the first player, regardless of gender, to be chosen for an All-America Team in four consecutive college seasons.
Watkins is the second Trojan to be named to a 2024-25 watch list for the Naismith Starting 5, following Talia von Oelhoffen's selection to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List on Oct. 28. There are three other positional Watch Lists — small forward, power forward and center — still to be announced.
An AP Preseason All-American and the unanimous selection as the 2024-25 Big Ten Coaches Preseason Player of the Year, JuJu Watkins enters her sophomore season with the Trojans. USC's sixth First Team All-American and the 2024 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year, Watkins set the all-time national record for scoring by a freshman with 920 points last season and finished as the nation's second leading scorer behind Iowa's Caitlin Clark with 27.1 points per game.
Also last season, Watkins tallied at least 30 points in 14 games — a USC single-season record — and she broke the single-game scoring record at USC with a 51-point outing at Stanford. The 2024 National Freshman of the Year, Watkins earned a spot on the NCAA Portland Region 3 All-Tournament Team for her work in helping the Trojans to their first Elite Eight appearance in 30 years.
Watkins and the Women of Troy enter their 2024-25 campaign as the No. 3 team in the nation, set to open the season next week in Paris. No. 3 USC takes on No. 20 Ole Miss in an Aflac Oui-Play Game on November 4 at Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting in each of the three rounds starting on Friday, November 1. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February, to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to the Meyers Drysdale and Hall of Fame's selection committees, where winners will be selected. The Selection Committee for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is composed of top college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the four other members of the Men's and Women's Starting Five.
For more information on the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophallu and #DrysdaleAward on X and Instagram.
About Ann Meyers Drysdale:
Ann Meyers Drysdale's career escalated women's basketball to a new level. Meyers Drysdale was the first high school player to make the United States national team and the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA. Her high-octane approach translated into wins and awards and she finished her stellar career at UCLA owning 12 of 13 school records. A supremely talented all-around player with natural basketball ability and instincts, Meyers Drysdale was the first player, male or female, named to the All-America team in four straight seasons. She also played on the first women's Olympic team in 1976. After an All-America career, she became the first woman player drafted into the Women's Basketball League and made history by becoming the first female player to try out with an NBA team, the Indiana Pacers. Meyers Drysdale pushed the envelope in women's basketball, bringing a feel and sense for the game that few players ever experience.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981, or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and celebrating the game of basketball at every level—men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches, and contributors—both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 450 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits, and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum, and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophallu, or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
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