After an up-and-down season without its injured superstar, USC still managed to make it back to the NCAA tournament. But its path won’t get any smoother from here.
The Trojans punched their ticket to the Big Dance for the fourth straight season on Sunday. They’ll be a No. 9 seed, set to face No. 8 seed Clemson in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday.
While the Trojans will have to travel across the country to take on Clemson, the Tigers will only have a two-hour drive from their campus.
A win in that game would set up a rematch in Columbia with No. 1 seed South Carolina, who beat the Trojans handily when they met in November.
History won’t be on the Trojans’ side in that matchup, either. Only twice in the last 15 years has a No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the women’s tournament upset a No. 1.
Just a year ago, USC entered March as one of the favorites to win the national title. But then JuJu Watkins injured her knee in the second round. The injury forced her to sit out the entire season, throwing a serious wrench in USC’s plans for the 2025-26 season.
Instead, the Trojans would have to rely on another dazzling young talent, Jazzy Davidson, to carry them. And Davidson would deliver, leading the Trojans in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. She was even named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
USC opened the season 10-3, with two of those losses coming against two No. 1 seeds, Connecticut and South Carolina. But the rest of the Big Ten season would prove to be a frustrating affair. The Trojans lost six of seven, before bouncing back to win six straight. They ultimately ended the regular season on a four-game losing streak, stumbling their way to a one-and-done finish in the Big Ten tournament.
But that winding path no longer mattered as of Sunday. USC made the NCAA tournament, in spite of everything working against it.
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