Women's Fastbreak On SI

JuJu Watkins' Response to USC Transfer April Fools Troll Goes Viral

USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins was all of us when seeing an April Fool's post suggesting she was transferring schools.
Grant Young|
Mar 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) during pregame warmups before an NCAA Tournament second round game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Mar 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) during pregame warmups before an NCAA Tournament second round game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The women's basketball community is still trying to come to terms with USC Trojans star guard JuJu Watkins suffering a torn ACL during her team's March 24 NCAA Tournament game, which kept her out of their Elite Eight showdown against UConn and will likely force her to miss the majority of next season.

While Watkins remained quiet on social media for the first week or so after the injury occurred, she sent a heartfelt message after USC's defeat to UConn on her Instagram story that wrote, "Thank you for all the incredible love and support. Seeing all your messages and kind words has meant the world to me — y'all have given me so much hope."

It was good to see Watkins back active on social media. And another comment she made on April 1 (aka April Fool's Day) went viral.

The USC Barstool Instagram account posted a graphic on Tuesday showing JuJu that wrote, "JuJu Watkins has announced she will be transferring schools following a season-ending injury that has reshapes her path forward." The post's caption wrote, "We'll miss you Juju 😢".

The post's top comment is from Watkins, who responded with a GIF of a confused and alarmed-looking dog.

This hilarious response has since gone viral, with one of her fan accounts on X reposting it with the caption "LMAOOOOOOOOOOO you’re sick 😭 @BarstoolSC even JuJu was shook 🤣😂😂". This post has over 80,000 views on the platform.

Thankfully for Trojans fans, this was merely an April Fool's joke, and Watkins isn't headed anywhere as she begins the journey back to USC's basketball court.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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