When Lindsay Gottlieb looks back on last basketball season, it’s impossible not to think of the pressure. The spotlight on USC burned brightly from Day 1 last fall, the whole hoops world seemingly waiting on JuJu Watkins to lift the Trojans to a national title. Everyone within the program felt that weight. Even USC’s coach.
“Everyone felt we were a national championship contender,” Gottlieb said.
There were lessons learned through that crucible, she admits now, and plenty of things she might do differently. Though no one could’ve planned for Watkins’ knee to buckle awkwardly beneath her in the second round of the NCAA tournament — or for the injury to rob her of the entire next season at USC, throwing a massive wrench into the Trojans’ trajectory.
Now, as USC prepares for a season without its superstar, there is no such pressure. As the Trojans’ season tips off Tuesday against New Mexico State, the spotlight will be busy shining elsewhere. Because as far as the college hoops world is now concerned, with Watkins sidelined, there are no outside expectations for the Trojans to start this season.
A year ago, Gottlieb had to confront that hype head-on. “It would have been foolish to ignore the [expectations],” she said.
But this year? “I think it would be foolish to do anything but ignore them.”
After mounting a run to the Elite Eight last March — in part, without Watkins — USC was voted No. 18 in the initial Associated Press top 25 poll. Gottlieb dismissed preseason polls as largely “educated guesses” when asked last month about the Trojans’ ranking. Some fans, though, saw it as disrespectful after a season in which USC lost just four games and won the Big Ten regular season title.
But the truth is the Trojans do open the season with far more questions than answers. USC lost not just Watkins, but six of its top seven scorers from the Elite Eight team to either injury, the WNBA or the transfer portal. It has no proven players in the frontcourt, with a four-big committee expected to open the season. Not to mention one of the toughest schedules in the nation awaiting them, with four games against the preseason top three: UCLA, South Carolina and Connecticut.
“There’s a lot more that’s still unknown than at this time last year,” said Gottlieb, who’s entering her fifth season as coach. “And so that’s me, having my work cut out for me.”
That work begins with Watkins — or rather, the gaping void her absence leaves on both ends of the floor.
Gottlieb has no delusions of someone stepping right into the superstar’s place. Even if it is tempting to connect the dots to freshman Jazzy Davidson, the nation’s top prospect in 2025.
“No one is filling JuJu’s shoes. Those are very unique shoes,” Gottlieb said. “But the fact that Jazzy can step into our program and already just make a really unique and incredible impression on everybody is pretty wild.
“She’s really, really good. I’ll start with that. She’s next-level good.”
How quickly that talent translates on the court could very well determine the direction of USC’s season. But Davidson has no interest in being compared to the Trojans’ last top prospect, who became an instant sensation as a freshman.
“She’s JuJu — she’s a generational player,” Davidson said. “I think we both do separate things. She’s been super helpful in my transition. But I’m really just coming in to help the team win, whatever way I can.”
No one doubts she’ll do that. Already, the freshman’s defensive prowess in particular has made an impression in practice.
“Her length is incredible,” said sophomore guard Kennedy Smith. “Her wingspan is so long. She’s blocking shots all the time.”
Her offense should no doubt follow, considering that Davidson is the all-time leading scorer in the history of Oregon Class 6A women’s basketball.
But how much the Trojans have to lean on their star freshman early in the season, especially with tough non-conference tilts looming against Connecticut and South Carolina, remains to be seen.
Regardless of who takes the lead on offense, USC will need Smith to make a major leap on that end, if the Trojans hope to keep up in a competitive Big Ten race.
Already a dominant defender in her first season, Smith was inconsistent shooting from the perimeter as a freshman. Now, fresh off a gold-medal run with Team USA at FIBA AmeriCup, Smith said she’s “really getting into my bag” as a sophomore.
“I feel like in my role, I have to be more consistent,” she said. “But I feel like everybody on this team has value and everybody can get a bucket if they want.”
USC will need all hands on deck if it has any hope of defending its Big Ten title. Georgia Tech transfer Kara Dunn will be critical to the Trojans’ backcourt as its most consistent threat from three-point range. USC also needs someone to emerge from a four-big committee that includes Yakiya Milton, Laura Williams, Vivian Iwuchukwu and Lithuanian import Gerda Raulusaityte, none of whom have averaged more than two points per game playing college basketball.
Those questions will need to be answered soon enough. But as far as anybody inside the program is considered, the expectations won’t change either way.
“The goal still remains the same, which is the national championship,” Smith said. “It’s just navigating with what we have.
“And our situation, it isn’t bad at all.”
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