Women’s college basketball and broadcast partners face daunting season without JuJu Watkins

We all knew it was coming when JuJu Watkins fell to the ground in pain during the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament.

Watkins made it official on her Instagram account this week, revealing that she will miss the entire 2025-26 season with the torn ACL she suffered in late March. While Watkins’ long-term health and the future viability of the USC women’s hoops program, which she helped resuscitate, are more pressing matters, the big picture looks uncertain for the sport as well.

For the past three seasons, women’s college hoops soared to meteoric viewership numbers on the back of its breakout superstars. In 2023 and 2024, Caitlin Clark broke scoring records and made back-to-back Final Fours, writing one of the defining sports stories of the century. Last season, Paige Bueckers delivered another title for the UConn dynasty and became the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.

As a freshman and sophomore, Watkins dazzled fans and developed a notable NIL portfolio in L.A. The expectation was that she would take the baton from Bueckers for 2026, allowing the sport to keep its space in the American sports fan’s mind and continue its growth trajectory. Without Watkins, the sport faces a potential challenge ahead.

Some familiar faces remain, including LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, UCLA’s Lauren Betts, and UConn’s Azzi Fudd. Each has intermittently played at a high level and drawn the interest of casual fans, but none is a household name, though Fudd comes closest as a podcast host and NIL standout. Unlike with Clark and Bueckers, the intrigue of a star player finally getting over the championship hump is no longer driving the narrative around the sport, either.

Of course, this offers a chance for a new star to step into the void. Perhaps we will be talking about a youngster like UConn’s Sarah Strong or LSU’s Milaysia Fulwiley much more by spring.

The star power showed up in the viewership last season, illustrating what could be lost this year. A December clash between Watkins and Bueckers (with an NFL lead-in) drew as many viewers as any men’s game early in the season. Fox aired the game on its broadcast network, as did NBC and ABC for similar big-time matchups featuring Bueckers or Watkins. Those slots don’t figure to have a clear star to promote and market around.

ESPN’s audience for the women’s Final Four dropped significantly without Clark last year, but still plateaued above previous highs as Bueckers and the Huskies claimed a championship. The sport and its partners could be in for another decrease in 2026.

One silver lining: Watkins was born in 2005, meaning she won’t qualify for the WNBA Draft under current rules until 2027. So long as her recovery goes as planned, the USC star will return for her comeback tour next fall, giving women’s college hoops and its broadcast partners another national, bankable star. And perhaps by the time she returns, she won’t be the only one.