00:00Female athletes have to train with men to be good.
00:04This is not true.
00:05Hi, Self. I'm Juju Watkins,
00:07and I'm going on the record about all things basketball.
00:13Playing for a highly ranked school automatically creates a pipeline into the WNBA.
00:18Um, no.
00:19I think that to get to the W, you of course have to have the talent.
00:22There's only so many roster spots, so talent definitely speaks for itself.
00:26So I don't think there's a pipeline for real.
00:28SC, fight on forever, bro.
00:30Being naturally gifted is just as important as hard work.
00:33Okay, I think there is a balance to natural ability and hard work.
00:37I think if you have more natural ability, like when it comes to hand-eye coordination,
00:41then that helps, but you just have to work on your craft,
00:45or it's not going to really turn out the way you want it.
00:48Maybe you'll be good at a pick-up game,
00:50but I think when you actually get to different levels to it,
00:54if you're not working on it, then yeah.
00:57Yeah.
00:58I think me, like I was naturally like athletic and you know,
01:01I had good genes when it came to like playing sports,
01:03but I was still trash.
01:06Like it wasn't until like I really like started putting hours in
01:09and focusing on getting better that I saw like results.
01:13So I'm going to have to say false to this one.
01:15Go on the record.
01:16Is offense or defense more important for a winning team?
01:19That's a great question.
01:20My coach is just, I don't know.
01:24Both are important.
01:25I guess I'm going to go defense.
01:27I don't know.
01:28This is hard.
01:29I'm going to go defense like for a team,
01:31because if you go on like sprees, like when you're not scoring,
01:35it's important that you have to stop the other team from scoring.
01:38So that's just really important.
01:39If you don't have defense, you're probably not going to win.
01:41Team chemistry is just about players liking each other off the court.
01:45This is not true, guys, like at all.
01:48Of course, it's important to like each other off the court,
01:52but I don't think that necessarily translate directly to on the court chemistry.
01:58You guys got to work it out, get experience with each other, play games.
02:02It takes a lot to build that chemistry, but it doesn't just come from off the court.
02:06There's so many things that go into a winning team.
02:08I think respect, you know, having respect for one another,
02:11having each other's backs and just like this collective mindset that you want to win
02:16and you're kind of going to do whatever it takes to help chip in and give what the team needs.
02:22I've been fortunate like all my years here at SC, like every single team I've been on,
02:26like we've all had like just natural chemistry.
02:30Like we've all like got along, great friends to this day, even former teammates.
02:36So I've been really blessed with that.
02:37But I think honestly playing, like the more you play, the more you get the chemistry.
02:42You start to learn more about your teammates.
02:44So college athletes have it easy because they're treated like celebrities.
02:47There are definitely some perks to being a college athlete and an athlete in general,
02:51but I think there's so much work that goes into it.
02:54So much pressure to perform that it kind of balances everything out.
02:58So a lot of like my peers are like regular students kind of assume that college athletes don't do their work or things like that.
03:09But I think at SC, it's definitely mandatory that you go to class, you be present and do your work.
03:15You can't have a social life as a college athlete.
03:18Okay, I'm not gonna lie. This one might be true.
03:21No, it's partially true.
03:22You really have to make time for it, I will say.
03:24So maybe like a lot with the little time you get to yourself, you might have to share that with, you know, your friends, family.
03:32It definitely is hard to balance that social life aspect.
03:37But I think just make time for it and know what you need as a person, as an athlete.
03:43See, like off season, I'll be hanging out.
03:46Like I'll spend time.
03:47We have the village.
03:48I'll go to the village, grab an acai bowl, you know, just really enjoy life.
03:52But during the season, no.
03:55Honestly, like me and my team are so tight, like I'm hanging with them year round.
03:59So it's like, yeah, they're my besties.
04:02A large social media following automatically equates to NIL deals.
04:07This might be true.
04:10I don't know.
04:11I don't really know what the logistics are, but this might be true, unfortunately.
04:19Yeah, see, I'm like more introverted.
04:22Like I have to set time to post for the most part.
04:26Cause sometimes I forget, like I'm just going through my life without remembering to post.
04:32So I think when it comes to like scheduling stuff, that's kind of how I do social media.
04:38Sometimes it's natural.
04:39Like if I get cute pictures, I'll post them.
04:41But yeah, that's not really a natural thing for me.
04:44Yeah. I mean, I have Clutch.
04:46Clutch helps me a lot.
04:47They do so much.
04:48And then when it gets to me, I'm just like, yes or no.
04:50And they just tell me where to be and I'm there.
04:52So shout out to Clutch.
04:54And then also my parents really helped me like navigate stuff when I'm busy.
04:58Do you have like a close friends or like a Finsta or just people who really know who you are?
05:04No, I do not have a Finsta.
05:08Female athletes can't earn as much as male athletes through NIL.
05:13This is false.
05:14Yeah, I think when it comes to NIL, it's like women have the upper hand.
05:19There's so many different ways to do NIL.
05:22And I think naturally women just are better.
05:26Once you're cleared to play following an injury, you're 100% back to your pre-injury self.
05:32I don't know this. We will see.
05:36Coming back, I think it will be an adjustment with due time.
05:40You know, you should be back 100%, if not 110.
05:44I think honestly, I've noticed that prior to me getting injured, I didn't really pay that much attention to like strengthening specific parts of my body.
05:54So I think after this whole process, it will kind of give me awareness that I need to continue to get stronger in certain areas that I didn't really pay attention to before.
06:05So honestly, I'm kind of expecting to be even better and like stronger mentally, but also physically.
06:12I think even just like fundamentals, not even basketball, but just like how to cut properly, but more like technical things that I wasn't really doing correctly that kind of are on my radar now.
06:25And like I'm learning how to do and like relearn things the right way.
06:30Athletes bounce back faster than non athletes when it comes to injury.
06:34Yes, I think this is true. I might be a little biased.
06:38I think most athletes, we just have this like work ethic that it's like you just got to keep working.
06:45So I think most non athletes, I don't think they have that mindset if I'm being honest.
06:51So I'm going to have to be biased with this one.
06:53Shout out my PT people, Jason, Shane, Mito Detox and Aaron, Andrew, all the USC staff here.
07:01They've really, and my mom, they've all really just been helping me recover and get my mind and physical right.
07:09It takes a village and it definitely takes a team.
07:11And I'm glad to have mine. They've been getting me right since pre-surgery.
07:15So I do like, I'm starting to like do like dry needling massages, ice bath every day or not every day, but like as much as I can.
07:24Just to make sure that my body is like recovering from the PT because it probably can be a lot for my body like doing it every day.
07:31So just make sure that I'm on top of my recovery as well.
07:34These are pretty common misconceptions.
07:36Having that different perspective of what others think is reality is kind of shocking, but some of them were valid.
07:44Some of them were like way far fetched, but it's cool to see the different perspectives.
07:49Thank you, Seth. I hope I was able to clear up some things and see you guys next time.
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