LOS ANGELES (AP) — The bun is back. Along with the smile and that silky jump shot. JuJu Watkins is returning to college basketball after missing last season while rehabbing an ACL tear.
The star guard who averaged 25.6 points in her first two seasons for Southern California is surrounded by a talent-laden supporting cast as the third-ranked Trojans bid for their first national championship since 1984.
“It's on my mind every day,” Watkins said. “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.”
Watkins has already envisioned seeing her first basket go in.
“I've had dreams about that every night. I might shed a tear, honestly, I can’t lie,” she said. “That’ll be a really amazing feeling for me.”
Watkins scored 18 points while playing 22 minutes in USC's exhibition win over California recently.
She joins Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson, who averaged 17.9 points last season, in the backcourt for the first time. The duo began developing their chemistry while Watkins was sidelined from the injury she sustained in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. She could be spotted encouraging Davidson on the sideline during games.
“She saw me being hard on myself and I think she saw a little bit of her in me,” Davidson said, "and so she kind of knew what it was like going through that. Being able to build the friendship that we were able to build, it’s a huge blessing.”
Davidson led the Trojans in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game last season, when they finished 18-14 overall, 9-9 in the Big Ten and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
USC's stockpile of talent includes guard Saniyah Hall, who had 23 points, six rebounds and five steals in the Trojans' exhibition, as well as forward Sara Okeke, one of three five-star recruits to join the roster.
"They have proven that they’re going to be really impactful players at a high level,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.
The expectations on Watson are huge, as always. She was named the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year.
“I’m just trying to be myself and peak at the right time,” she said. “I'm definitely a smarter player coming back. I know more about the different reads and was able to study a lot and assert myself in different situations when I wasn't playing.”
Last season, Watkins would set up chairs in the locker room for the team talk on the road. It was one of the small ways she found to be useful without being on the court.
“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 can I help my team really helped grow my IQ and leadership skills.”
The Trojans open the season on Monday in Las Vegas against UNLV in the Hall of Fame Series. Their early games include a visit to top-ranked South Carolina on Nov. 15, and facing No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 4 Duke in the Players Era Showcase in Las Vegas in mid-December.
“We’re going to get hit in the mouth,” associate head coach Beth Burns said. “The good thing is when you get hit in the mouth you either cower or you bite back, and we got a lot of people who want to bite.”
That includes Watkins.
“Everybody wants to know the secret, why is JuJu JuJu? The secret is there ain’t no secret, it’s work and focus,” Burns said. “Her choice is to be elite in every facet in her life.”
Last year, Watkins' favorite class was Pete Carroll's “The Game is Life” offered through USC's Marshall School of Business. The former Trojans football coach emphasized his mindset of always competing and it made an impression on her.
"Coming back, I haven’t lost my confidence, I haven’t lost my attention to detail,” Watkins said. “Everything is the same. It’s just I’ve been out for a minute.”
And now she's back, with a will to win that's as strong as ever.
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FILE - Southern California guard Jazzy Davidson shoots a free throw against South Carolina during the second half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed Friday the existence of a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent.
The investigation has been ongoing for several months, but revelations this week from The New York Times that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska,” U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters.
Separately, and days before Tuesday's ranked vote general election, the U.S. Department of Justice — as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed last week — asked a federal judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate potential voter “confusion” with the two-term incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan.
Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson in Alaska, in a filing, said the government “seeks to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary.”
The Department of Justice also filed with the court a list of proposed questions it seeks to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as part of the civil case seeking to block certification of the Senate race if the incumbent loses. President Donald Trump has said he told the department to file the case.
Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot. Democrats, including the DSCC, have repeatedly denied that they were involved in any campaign trick. Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest.
The race is among a handful of Senate contests expected to determine control of the chamber.
The Department of Justice request to segregate the ballots in Alaska comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election sent to some 20,000 people the administration contends may not be U.S. citizens. California officials argued the list is highly unreliable and most likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.
Department attorneys in the Alaska case said there is a “substantial risk” that Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy “will mislead voters and ultimately result in an electoral process that lacks integrity.”
“To guard against this danger, the United States seeks an order directing Defendants to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary,” the filing states. It requests a decision by Monday.
Attorneys for the state have argued that Alaska elections officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot. The senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent, while the challenger is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. That's the same way in which they appeared on the August open primary ballot.
They also have argued that the state’s ranked voting system further addresses concerns about potential confusion by allowing voters to rank both Sullivans.
Heyman on Friday would not say what potential crimes authorities are looking into or the targets of the probe, but asked members of the public to come forward with tips that could help investigators.
It’s highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even confirm its existence. The timing of the press conference is particularly notable given the Justice Department has had a longstanding practice of avoiding taking public steps in the weeks leading up to an election that could be perceived as attempting to influence a political outcome.
At a campaign event in Juneau late Thursday, Peltola began her speech by saying she wanted to “clear the air.”
“I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about," Peltola said. "I am not interested in tricking voters.”
Federal prosecutors this week issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Separately, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said, following The New York Times' reporting, that he'd ordered an investigation into whether any violations took place.
Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel of the Anchorage field office participates in a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael J. Heyman holds a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael J. Heyman holds a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FILE - This combination photo shows Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, in Palmer, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2026, and a candidate in Alaska's Senate race, Dan Sullivan, right, in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photos/Mark Thiessen/Becky Bohrer, File)
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola speaks during a campaign event Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Juneau, Alaska. (AP Photo/Chloe Anderson)
A sample election ballot is displayed in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
