Ju Ju carried off the court with an injury

[MSSportsGuy]

I don't want to put him on the spot, but I am curious to get the Mississippi State worldview on all of this, including fan reactions from that point forward. @MSSportsGuy Do you feel like weighing in?

Sure thing. Honestly it didn't appear to me to be a dirty play even from a couple of angles. A couple of fellow fans and I messaged last night and we agreed it just looked like her knee buckled in the way we've seen it dozens of times.

It certainly fired up the crowd and the Trojans. I can't say I blame them for being very disappointed and upset but don't think it's anyone's fault.

 

[JeannoCT]

I thought it was terrible the crowd was booing everytime Mississippi State had the ball. I don't believe the players caused that injury. I hoped Coach Gottlieb would take the mike and tell them to stop the nonsense, but no.

 

[Ozimoto]

I didn't hear anything about this until this morning. I wish the best for JuJu and hope that she takes the time to heal and doesn't try to get back too soon (always an issue for elite athletes). From what I saw, it looked like her knee buckles and she begins to go down before any significant contact with the MSU players.

 

[Dugway]

One of the things that JuJu does very well is she creates contact during her shooting motion. As she finishes, she plays into the defender. Often, she gets the basket plus a free throw, and worst-case scenario she just gets free throws. She scores a ton of points because of all those free throws, and it puts the defender into foul trouble quicker. She is very effective at this!

To me, it looks like she was racing for the layup at full speed, the defender was stride for stride, was between her and the hoop and neither was going to yield. The defender could have just let her have the layup, but that is not going to happen this early into the game with fouls to give, and your season on the line. Just the same, Watkins could have turned back and passed the ball to a trailing player. But turning back is absolutely not what we are going to see out of JuJu, ever! Pressing the defense hard is what she does, she is not only looking for the score in that situation but an added free throw as well, this is why she is as great as she is!

Unfortunately, playing into contract also comes with some degree of risk. It’s hard to watch and the outcome is gruesome for certain. For all the Trojan fans booing, I recognize that this is your star and there is a lot of emotion. There is no worse possible outcome or timing for that injury to have occurred, and I am sincerely sorry that this happened. This year’s tournament field has certainly lost one of the best players.

This however was not a dirty play by the defender or that MSU team. To me it appears to be an unfortunate result of an extremely aggressive player purposefully running right into the defense’s kitchen with the idea that at worst it would draw contact and a whistle.

God bless you JuJu Watkins, the ACL injury is horrible but great athletes heal from it and recover 100% every single year. Keep your head up, you will recover from this as well.

 

[Dugway]

I didn't hear anything about this until this morning. I wish the best for JuJu and hope that she takes the time to heal and doesn't try to get back too soon (always an issue for elite athletes). From what I saw, it looked like her knee buckles and she begins to go down before any significant contact with the MSU players.

Looked to me like she planted that right foot outside of her path of travel as she was striding, as if she was either readying herself for the impact that was coming or possibly even with the intent to create the impact. Either way, by planting that right foot just a little outside of her regular path of travel, the knee simply collapsed interior. Unfortunately, it happens an awful lot in the women's game, with emphasis on the awful!

 

[ThisJustIn]

Obviously this sucks in so many ways. Wanted to see her in a possible rematch v. UConn. Wanted to see her next year and in the WNBA. But the timing of the injury and the recovery process? Cr@p all around. MAYBE she gets back for part of next year, but we know all too well how long it takes to recover your game shape.

I hope she takes advantage of a redshirt and uses USC facilities to recover fully and get her basketball legs again.

And again - this so totally sucks.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I've taken a look at it a few times and I disagree rocky. This was as close as I could get to freezing it at the moment of contact. The defenders are in legal guarding positions.
View attachment 108155

That's the way I saw it too, to the point that if Juju's D doesn't buckle, I could see it being a no call.

I don't want to put him on the spot, but I am curious to get the Mississippi State worldview on all of this, including fan reactions from that point forward. @MSSportsGuy Do you feel like weighing in?

No foul. She made contact with the other player. Sorry I wasn't clear about that.

 

[Hist-teacher]

I agree with most of the posters here. No foul and no foul play. So sorry that this happened to JuJu. Great player and seems like a wonderful person as well. Wishing her the best in her recovery and hope to see her back again sometime next season.

 

[Greg]

So sad for Juju and her teammates. I watched the replay several times. The Mississippi players didn't do anything wrong. Chasing her down the court, reaching in to get the ball, and just a horrible bad luck accident. I know the USC fans were furious at the Mississippi player(s) they felt were responsible, and there were hard feelings expressed after the game in the hand shake line.

I hope the fans can get over it and not blame MSU... Said Gottlieb (after the game): "You can't tell me that the energy of the crowd and how angry they were with the other team and how much they were for our team [isn't] so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to this city."

As USC built its large lead, the game took on a different tone, with a few moments Trojans players described as "chippy." It all culminated in a postgame handshake line in which players from both teams had to be separated.

I get the sadness and frustration and human tendency to want to blame, but she needs to lead the way, IMHO, in not blaming the other team.

I have no doubt Paige AND Azzi will reach out - both of them sadly have a lot of experience dealing with season ending injuries, and coming back from them. Best wishes to Juju for a successful surgery and rehab, and hope she comes back better than ever...

Just plain bad luck. Yes, it makes the winner of Oklahoma v. UCONN get an easier task but I doubt there is a Husky that does not wish JuJu was playing.

 

[RitzLuce1]

Prayers to Juju. We know too well how devastating this is.

And hopefully a huge wake up call to ESPN/selection committee who have been too cute by half for a while now. Texas is not a better team than either USC or UConn and putting Paige vs Juju in the regionals for the sake of a big ratings juice heading into the Final 4 (similar to LSU-Iowa last year) was obvious and unfair to both teams.

 

[YoDore]

I thought it was terrible the crowd was booing everytime Mississippi State had the ball. I don't believe the players caused that injury. I hoped Coach Gottlieb would take the mike and tell them to stop the nonsense, but no.

ESPN reported the crowd booed the Mississippi State cheerleaders as they did their half-time routine. Also, they reported there were some harsh words exchanged in the post-game hand shake line.

 

[Woof 101]

Sad and heart break sympathy for Ju Ju. Was looking forward to the match up. Hope she has a quick and full recovery.
To her fan base I can only say welcome to our world. The opponent did not cause this injury.

 

[Zinethar]

The problem with ankle injuries is that they often result in a brace or heavy tape job that does not allow the ankle to bend normally under pressure and as a result the force can be translated up the leg and put a bit of extra strain on a knee. Part of the reason football linemen get broken leg bones so often. Knees and ankles are immobile due to braces so stress has to go somewhere. So sad that she got injured. It means so much more when you get to beat a team when both teams are healthy and ready to go.

 

[Cuango]

I thought it was terrible the crowd was booing everytime Mississippi State had the ball. I don't believe the players caused that injury. I hoped Coach Gottlieb would take the mike and tell them to stop the nonsense, but no.

So sad for JuJu. I wish her well in her recovery. However, as for Gottlieb, clearly she should have stepped up and calmed the crowd down! The Mississippi State girls did not deserve that anymore than they deserve what is reportedly happening on social media. It was clearly a routine basketball play and JuJu’s injury was not caused by anything the Miss. St. girls did!

I think Gottlieb should have to answer two questions. 1. Why is the biggest star in College Women’s Basketball routinely still in the game late in the fourth quarter when her team is up 30-50 points? 2. Why is JuJu trying to drive to the basket through two defenders when she had a teammate completely open running to the basket.

JuJu is averaging 35 minutes a game in a season where her team has 16 wins by more than 30 and five others by more than 20? Yes, she is a great player and everyone wants to see her score 28-30 ppg but I just think her coach should have done what coaches are supposed to do and rested her more when the games were clearly out of reach. I am not saying her injury is the coach’s fault but I do question whether Gottlieb has the strength of will to say to her star player, “The game is over, come sit and rest.“ No player of JuJu’s status should be in a game late in the fourth when her team is up by that much.

As for the second question, (why didn’t she pass to her wide open teammate?) that imo opinion is clearly Gottlieb’s fault! I’m guessing 90+% of all basketball coaches would immediately call timeout and sit that player on the bench while an assistant pointed out the error of her ways. However, it would not happen at all this late in the season as that would have been coached out of that player by now! If not, that player would be spending a lot of time on the bench. I cannot imagine a single player on the UConn (or LSU, Louisville, Duke, NC, SC, NC St, Kentucky, or even UCLA) roster, not passing the ball in that situation!

Would passing the ball have saved JuJu from her injury? Perhaps. No one can say for certain but I do believe that there is great pressure on Gottlieb to facilitate JuJu’s stardom and I’m betting that is the reason for both the extended minutes in blowouts and the lack of fundamentals that would lead to the kind of play that resulted in her terrible injury!

I have no doubt that some will point out that our own Geno has been guilty of leaving his star players in too long. I would agree with them, though he has been much better this season with a fuller roster. I personally believe he learned his lesson when Paige went down in the Notre Dame game and has put that habit behind him.

 

[JeannoCT]

JuJu only played 5 minutes, so her injury was at the start of the game.

 

[BRS24]

The problem with ankle injuries is that they often result in a brace or heavy tape job that does not allow the ankle to bend normally under pressure and as a result the force can be translated up the leg and put a bit of extra strain on a knee. Part of the reason football linemen get broken leg bones so often. Knees and ankles are immobile due to braces so stress has to go somewhere. So sad that she got injured. It means so much more when you get to beat a team when both teams are healthy and ready to go.

I had to give up my fave pair of high tops after injury as the ortho said the stress had to go somewhere, so better to sprain my ankle. And remembering back to the lengthy article about Paige's recovery, there was a comment about how rehab folks discovered that her ankle (the one that was repaired the year prior) didn't have normal/enough range of motion, and that may have affected the knee.

 

[FormerCTrez]

From an on-court perspective it certainly eases the path for UConn, but USC will be playing for Juju now and sometimes that extra inspiration goes a long way (I’m thinking of Louisville after the Kevin Ware injury).

I agree with you, but I’m sure Geno will remind his team to implement the “one game at a time“ approach. So they have to win the game against Oklahoma before they can face either USC or Kansas State.

 

[FormerCTrez]

So sad for Juju and her teammates. I watched the replay several times. The Mississippi players didn't do anything wrong. Chasing her down the court, reaching in to get the ball, and just a horrible bad luck accident. I know the USC fans were furious at the Mississippi player(s) they felt were responsible, and there were hard feelings expressed after the game in the hand shake line.

I hope the fans can get over it and not blame MSU... Said Gottlieb (after the game): "You can't tell me that the energy of the crowd and how angry they were with the other team and how much they were for our team [isn't] so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to this city."

As USC built its large lead, the game took on a different tone, with a few moments Trojans players described as "chippy." It all culminated in a postgame handshake line in which players from both teams had to be separated.

I get the sadness and frustration and human tendency to want to blame, but she needs to lead the way, IMHO, in not blaming the other team.

I have no doubt Paige AND Azzi will reach out - both of them sadly have a lot of experience dealing with season ending injuries, and coming back from them. Best wishes to Juju for a successful surgery and rehab, and hope she comes back better than ever...

Very well stated!!

 

[FormerCTrez]

One of the things that JuJu does very well is she creates contact during her shooting motion. As she finishes, she plays into the defender. Often, she gets the basket plus a free throw, and worst-case scenario she just gets free throws. She scores a ton of points because of all those free throws, and it puts the defender into foul trouble quicker. She is very effective at this!

To me, it looks like she was racing for the layup at full speed, the defender was stride for stride, was between her and the hoop and neither was going to yield. The defender could have just let her have the layup, but that is not going to happen this early into the game with fouls to give, and your season on the line. Just the same, Watkins could have turned back and passed the ball to a trailing player. But turning back is absolutely not what we are going to see out of JuJu, ever! Pressing the defense hard is what she does, she is not only looking for the score in that situation but an added free throw as well, this is why she is as great as she is!

Unfortunately, playing into contract also comes with some degree of risk. It’s hard to watch and the outcome is gruesome for certain. For all the Trojan fans booing, I recognize that this is your star and there is a lot of emotion. There is no worse possible outcome or timing for that injury to have occurred, and I am sincerely sorry that this happened. This year’s tournament field has certainly lost one of the best players.

This however was not a dirty play by the defender or that MSU team. To me it appears to be an unfortunate result of an extremely aggressive player purposefully running right into the defense’s kitchen with the idea that at worst it would draw contact and a whistle.

God bless you JuJu Watkins, the ACL injury is horrible but great athletes heal from it and recover 100% every single year. Keep your head up, you will recover from this as well.

Your statement is so authentic, and you’ve said what many other fans, myself included, would’ve shared. Now, can you frame this and send it to Coach Gottlieb? I understand her sadness in her star athlete’s injury, and any coach would, but just slightly disappointed in her statement.

PS: Does anyone remember how one of her players tossed Aaliyah Edwards to the floor last year In the E8 game? No fouls called by the refs, and the commentators failed to mention that blatant act.

 

[Forego]

So sad for JuJu. I wish her well in her recovery. However, as for Gottlieb, clearly she should have stepped up and calmed the crowd down! The Mississippi State girls did not deserve that anymore than they deserve what is reportedly happening on social media. It was clearly a routine basketball play and JuJu’s injury was not caused by anything the Miss. St. girls did!

I think Gottlieb should have to answer two questions. 1. Why is the biggest star in College Women’s Basketball routinely still in the game late in the fourth quarter when her team is up 30-50 points? 2. Why is JuJu trying to drive to the basket through two defenders when she had a teammate completely open running to the basket.

JuJu is averaging 35 minutes a game in a season where her team has 16 wins by more than 30 and five others by more than 20? Yes, she is a great player and everyone wants to see her score 28-30 ppg but I just think her coach should have done what coaches are supposed to do and rested her more when the games were clearly out of reach. I am not saying her injury is the coach’s fault but I do question whether Gottlieb has the strength of will to say to her star player, “The game is over, come sit and rest.“ No player of JuJu’s status should be in a game late in the fourth when her team is up by that much.

As for the second question, (why didn’t she pass to her wide open teammate?) that imo opinion is clearly Gottlieb’s fault! I’m guessing 90+% of all basketball coaches would immediately call timeout and sit that player on the bench while an assistant pointed out the error of her ways. However, it would not happen at all this late in the season as that would have been coached out of that player by now! If not, that player would be spending a lot of time on the bench. I cannot imagine a single player on the UConn (or LSU, Louisville, Duke, NC, SC, NC St, Kentucky, or even UCLA) roster, not passing the ball in that situation!

Would passing the ball have saved JuJu from her injury? Perhaps. No one can say for certain but I do believe that there is great pressure on Gottlieb to facilitate JuJu’s stardom and I’m betting that is the reason for both the extended minutes in blowouts and the lack of fundamentals that would lead to the kind of play that resulted in her terrible injury!

I have no doubt that some will point out that our own Geno has been guilty of leaving his star players in too long. I would agree with them, though he has been much better this season with a fuller roster. I personally believe he learned his lesson when Paige went down in the Notre Dame game and has put that habit behind him.

So sad for JuJu. I wish her well in her recovery. However, as for Gottlieb, clearly she should have stepped up and calmed the crowd down! The Mississippi State girls did not deserve that anymore than they deserve what is reportedly happening on social media. It was clearly a routine basketball play and JuJu’s injury was not caused by anything the Miss. St. girls did!

I think Gottlieb should have to answer two questions. 1. Why is the biggest star in College Women’s Basketball routinely still in the game late in the fourth quarter when her team is up 30-50 points? 2. Why is JuJu trying to drive to the basket through two defenders when she had a teammate completely open running to the basket.

JuJu is averaging 35 minutes a game in a season where her team has 16 wins by more than 30 and five others by more than 20? Yes, she is a great player and everyone wants to see her score 28-30 ppg but I just think her coach should have done what coaches are supposed to do and rested her more when the games were clearly out of reach. I am not saying her injury is the coach’s fault but I do question whether Gottlieb has the strength of will to say to her star player, “The game is over, come sit and rest.“ No player of JuJu’s status should be in a game late in the fourth when her team is up by that much.

As for the second question, (why didn’t she pass to her wide open teammate?) that imo opinion is clearly Gottlieb’s fault! I’m guessing 90+% of all basketball coaches would immediately call timeout and sit that player on the bench while an assistant pointed out the error of her ways. However, it would not happen at all this late in the season as that would have been coached out of that player by now! If not, that player would be spending a lot of time on the bench. I cannot imagine a single player on the UConn (or LSU, Louisville, Duke, NC, SC, NC St, Kentucky, or even UCLA) roster, not passing the ball in that situation!

Would passing the ball have saved JuJu from her injury? Perhaps. No one can say for certain but I do believe that there is great pressure on Gottlieb to facilitate JuJu’s stardom and I’m betting that is the reason for both the extended minutes in blowouts and the lack of fundamentals that would lead to the kind of play that resulted in her terrible injury!

I have no doubt that some will point out that our own Geno has been guilty of leaving his star players in too long. I would agree with them, though he has been much better this season with a fuller roster. I personally believe he learned his lesson when Paige went down in the Notre Dame game and has put that habit behind him.

I believe that Chris Dailey manages playing time. Geno implied this during a recent interview or presser when he mentioned that CD would start chirping at him to take a player out when that player had reached her allotted minutes.

 

[TAK]

ESPN reported the crowd booed the Mississippi State cheerleaders as they did their half-time routine. Also, they reported there were some harsh words exchanged in the post-game hand shake line.

I am disappointed at the USC fans’ reaction. Poor sportsmanship. As a Huskies fan, I understand well their emotions regarding an injury to a valuable starter. However, the reaction that one player would deliberately injure another should not be the response. Perhaps Coach Gottlieb after sleeping on it for two nights will put a stop to the blame game from her players.

 

[willtalk]

You people are either blind as bats or you have allowed your subliminal wishes to cloud your perspectives. Now the inside defender did nothing wrong. She was just holding her position. However, Ju Ju was being bodied by two defenders. The outside defender was pushing her into the inside defender. In this case Ju ju had position and was being fouled the entire way to the basket. The outside defender pushed and pinned Ju Ju between the defenders causing her to fall. As Ju ju was going down with one knee down and the other leg extended with the foot planted, the outside defender still maintained body contact pushing inward. That is when the ourside defender knee made contact with the exended legs below the knee pushing inward. That is what caused the ACL. Ju Ju's extended legs foot was planted her other knee was down and the defenders knee pushed against her extended and planted leg under her knee.

While I can understand not catching in game time, there is a still photo ( the one that has been used to show the injury happening) that shows the outside defenders knee hitting ju ju planted and extended leg. In the fllm you can see that the outside defender momentum carries her towards the inside one ju ju falls down and no longer provides returning pressure. It was the outside defender who cause that injury via contact and you can see that in the still picture. When the still is put into context with the video it becomes clear what happened.

The perspective that the defenders did nothing wrong is total BS. Now that would be true for the inside defender, but the outside defender was body contact pushing her during the entire drive to the basket. Ju ju was pinned between the players so she had no where to go. When Ju ju went down and the resistence from he was no longer there, the outside defenders momentum carried her inside leg into contact with Ju ju's inside knee causing the injury. It is obvious that the players were told to pressure Ju Ju as much as they could and they unfortunately took it too far. The refs should have blown the whistle earlier and that would have prevented what eventually resulted.

Those that are so quick to declare this injury to be just an unfortunate basketball event and not caused by a foul by a defender might want to ask themselves why they came to that conclusion so easily.

 

[fomalhaut]

I'm curious whether any team has lost their best player late in the season (but with several games to go in the playoffs) and still won a championship? I couldn't find any historical examples in any sport (Sue Bird and company made a good try at it).

 

[Puppy Love]

I'm curious whether any team has lost their best player late in the season (but with several games to go in the playoffs) and still won a championship? I couldn't find any historical examples in any sport (Sue Bird and company made a good try at it).

The NY Giants with Jeff Hostetler?

 

[Bone Dog]

I was impressed by what the team did after JuJu went down. They were buoyed by a wave of emotion. But they channeled it productively. That has to count for something even if they may fall flat in a week.

It’s not exactly comparable, but in one respect Juju reminds me of Deja Kelly. She scores a lot but puts a cap on what the rest of the team can achieve. Deja struck me as a limiting factor at UNC and now she’s moved on they seem better for it. This isn’t exactly true of USC, and JuJu is a much greater talent. But there are aspects of USC’s game that don’t really benefit from her talent. Ball dominant players are often like this to one degree or another.