Smiles can wait. Gameco*cks' Ashlyn Watkins is too busy dominating (2024)

COLUMBIA— It isn’t so much the nickname. It's that the nickname is genuine and not sarcastic.

“They call her ‘Cheese,’ because she’s always smiling,” says Asia Dozier, Ashlyn Watkins’ high-school coach and herself a graduate of Dawn Staley’s program.

Excuse me? Ashlyn Watkins is always smiling?

Granted, she isn’t supposed to smile on the court. That’s her work station, and she takes the job seriously.

To see her there or in pictures from No. 1 South Carolina’s social media accounts, there’s hardly ever a smile. Not at the Eiffel Tower, not at the Gameco*ck Gala, not boarding the plane to head to a road game.

Her mouth is usually in a straight, grim line, part of a bored/I’d-rather-be-playing expression. She’s not much of one to holler on the court, either, usually limited to a quick “Woo!” or “Let’s go!” after again drawing the crowd to its feet.

But yes, the people who know her best— the people that she decides to let into an extremely tight inner circle— swear it. She’s much more than the not-smiling sophom*ore who first became known as a teenager who could dunk, and over the last four games has become the Gameco*cks’ most indispensable player.

“Even when she won the (McDonald’s All-American) slam dunk contest or won the state championships, she wasn’t that excited. She keeps an even face,” said James “Pooh” Abrams, who began training Watkins in the seventh grade. “She’s very funny, she likes to joke. She will crack jokes on the sly, and you hear her say little things under her breath.”

The Gameco*cks’ last four opponents have seen a rather unfunny joke told to them. First starting forward Chloe Kitts was sick, then starting center Kamilla Cardoso was gone for two games due to playing in an Olympic qualifying tournament. Watkins stepped into the starting lineup each time.

Then she turned in performances so dizzying that the losing teams were saying, “She’s a backup? Yeah, that’s pretty funny … ”

Two double-doubles, one rebound short of a third. Twelve blocks. Nine steals.

And naturally, four wins, not uncommon for the undefeated Gameco*cks but another example of just how absurdly wealthy this team is when it comes to ways to win games.

Staley, forever a disciple of keeping a starting lineup intact because those starters earned it, was shaking her head after the last game, a blistering of No. 15 Connecticut. Kitts returned to full health and started the last two games, and Cardoso is expected back for Thursday’s tilt at Tennessee.

But Watkins has earned a spot. Where it will be is up to the coach.

“Ashlyn is super-impressive. We have to have Ashlyn on the floor,” Staley said. “When Kamilla comes back, whether (Watkins) stays in the starting lineup, whether she comes off the bench, we have to have her on the floor. She’s proven that.”

That could bring a smile to Watkins’ face. Maybe.

“She’s very personable, but she’s very guarded. She’ll talk to you and answer questions and engage with you, but sometimes those answers are one-liners,” Abrams said. “She bottles her emotions for the court. You can tell now because when she dunked that last time, she didn’t jump up or down as she went back.

“She knew that was going to do something to help the team.”

That’s what always stood out about her, even as the best player at Cardinal Newman and a national prospect. Watkins could dunk but that didn’t mean she would, not when she could help in other ways.

“One thing that flew very under the radar was her actual skill set. When we were doing ball-handling, she’s doing the same things the guards are doing,” said Dozier, who coached Watkins as a junior and senior. “She was one of the best 3-point shooters on our team for two seasons. She didn’t take a lot of them, but she was comfortable taking them.”

Dozier also found out that despite the proximity to her star, it was very much a coach-player relationship. Watkins was never standoffish or acted out; it’s just that it’s always been her way to only offer trust after a lengthy period.

“She’s not somebody that you get to know that well in two years. She’s got her circle that’s been around her her entire life,” Dozier said. “I was a very small piece by the time I entered her circle.”

It didn’t hinder the compliments.

“You think she’s great now, just wait till her senior season. She is the No. 1 athlete I’ve ever coached, the best athlete that I’ve not played against,” Dozier marveled. “I could be at the free-throw line and she could be at half-court and I’d still think she’d have a chance to block me.”

Abrams knew her much earlier in life and became a confidante as well as a trainer. He was the one who advised her to go somewhere where she would want to play for the coach and where she could truly accomplish her goal— to play in the WNBA. There was no shortage of schools to choose from, but which one fit those parameters?

Watkins picked USC, knowing full well she would struggle for minutes in a senior-laden lineup. Abrams encouraged her to go as hard as she could in practice, even if it was against then-National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston, and prove herself despite the limited minutes.

The first dunk came in a blowout out of Clemson. But the energy was constant whenever she got in.

That led to more minutes this year, and to the last four games.

“It’s like seeing your child make straight As,” Abrams said. “She’s just excited about not only playing, but playing at a high level.”

Watkins will work on the smiles— not that she needs to.