The AP Rankings released yesterday have thoroughly shaken up women’s college basketball. With South Carolina facing defeat for the first time since losing to Iowa in the 2022-23 season’s Final Four, UCLA has surprisingly moved to the top spot for the first time in history. But there’s another team that’s been hit badly in Southern California and their top player, JuJu Watkins, seems to be in hot water.

In their latest match-up, the USC Trojans’ surprising loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish turned into Watkins vs. Hannah Hidalgo. Then ranked No. 3, USC was expected to take the win against their then-No. 6 ranked opponents but their loss heavily affected their AP Rankings.

With the Trojans now at No. 6, even analyst Meghan McKeown has moved them out of the top 5 of her own rankings list. And Zora Stephenson agrees. “With this new top 5, it does mean that USC drops out of the top 5,” she said on NBC Sports.

“And they lose at home to a Notre Dame team, that at the time, if we’re talking about AP Rankings, I believe was 6. So, makes sense, and this is going to fluctuate throughout the season.” Just last week, these two teams were exactly in each other’s spots, but this time Notre Dame, disrupting her flow with heavy defense, seemed to get to USC’s standout shooting guard.

Watkins, who also celebrated a huge NIL deal with State Farm yesterday, seemed to struggle when matched with different sizes on the court vs. the Fighting Irish. The USC sophomore had a slow start in the first half, scoring just five points. But she heated up in the second half against Hidalgo to finish the 74-61 defeat with a total of 24 points.

USC might have lost this week and will be wary of Notre Dame when they meet next on Dec. 6th. By then, McKeown and Stephenson’s lists might have changed again. But for JuJu Watkins, who led the team to their first Elite Eight appearance in 30 years last season, the stage is set for a long-term victory.

JuJu Watkins “set the stage last year” and is ready to win dramatically this season

After taking college basketball by storm as a freshman, the Angelino has achieved things not even Caitlin Clark was able to do. For instance, she has an upcoming documentary called “On the Rise: JuJu Watkins,” presented by LeBron James’ UNINTERRUPTED and 4.4.Fourty Media.

She has NIL deals with Gatorade and Nike and looks primed for a successful college career. But even with all of these achievements, the only thing she wants is an NCAA title.

“There is definitely a standard we have built and we are looking to achieve and that’s a championship,” Watkins told Sporting News. “We kind of set the stage last year, and this year, we really plan to continue to grow. It’s basically a whole new team, so we’re still working on chemistry and that will continue to come with as many games as we have.”

The Fighting Irish might have ended the Trojans’ four-game winning streak but Lindsay Gottlieb’s squad is not one to be easily kept down. This week might have pushed them out of the top 5 but even with rising challenges, JuJu Watkins and Co. will be looking for a comeback.