JuJu Watkins’ absence looms large in Spokane, where eight of the remaining 16 teams, including USC, are gathering this week for March Madness.

The Kansas State game alone will be a battle. They are a veteran group led by center Ayoka Lee. Lee, 24, averages 15.6 points per game and shoots 64.1 percent from the field. She will be a handful with or without Watkins in the lineup.

So much had been heaped on JuJu Watkins from the start — from the moment she set foot on USC’s campus, she was the one who would bring the program back to the mountaintop. This season, she was the player who would carry the star power in women’s college basketball in the wake of Caitlin Clark.