USC women’s basketball hasn’t been a top seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1986. That was Cheryl Miller’s senior season. The Trojans haven’t hosted the first two rounds of March Madness since 1994, over a decade before Galen Center opened.
On Sunday, USC took another important step in its return to the glory days, obtaining a No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. For their opening-round matchup, the Trojans (26-5) drew No. 16 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-8), who earned their first-ever tournament bid by winning the Southland Conference tournament. That game will take place at Galen Center on Saturday, March 23.
LET’S GO ✌️ pic.twitter.com/P5m8b5uk2L
— USC Women's Basketball (@USCWBB) March 18, 2024
“My body was shocked with chills,” junior center Rayah Marshall said. “We went from last year from being like an eight or nine seed to our dreams coming true this year being a one seed, hosting at home. We’re grateful for it. This is a moment we worked for. To watch that come alive was real for us.”
The Trojans learned of their No. 1 seed at a Selection Sunday celebration held at Galen Center surrounded by a sea of Trojan supporters. In attendance were their friends and families, as well as the Spirit of Troy. Several USC women’s basketball alumni were also present — including Miller, who has been a consistent supporter of the Trojan women this season.
“The love from our alums is like no other,” Marshall said. “I can’t thank them enough for coming out. It means the world to our program.”
USC’s pod also includes eighth-seeded Kansas (19-12) and ninth-seeded Michigan (20-13); those teams will compete for a second-round matchup against the Trojans on Monday, March 25, barring a massive first-round upset by the Islanders.
USC has never played against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or Kansas in program history. The Trojans have matched up with Michigan twice before, though, with the schools splitting those nonconference contests back in 2007 and 2008.
Elsewhere in USC’s Portland Regional, Ohio State claimed the No. 2 seed. The Trojans already took down the Buckeyes in Las Vegas back in November to kick off the season. Fellow Pac-12 program Arizona — who USC has already defeated three times this year — joins Regional 3 as a No. 11 seed. Third-seeded UConn and fourth-seeded Virginia Tech are also hosting first-weekend games in the same quadrant of the NCAA Tournament bracket.
“Bring on whoever we’re playing,” Marshall said.
USC ended up as the only Pac-12 team to claim a top seed this season. However, UCLA and Stanford are both No. 2 seeds in their respective regions; it’s the first time that the Pac-12 has received three top-two seeds in its history, an appropriate sendoff for the conference, which garnered a total of seven bids to the tournament.
In total, the Trojans played nine other squads out of the 68 total in the NCAA Tournament field. They went a combined 13-4 in those matchups, with all of the losses coming against fellow Pac-12 squads that earned top-five seeds.
“All those teams that we played coming into March Madness were great preparation for us,” Marshall said. “We played Arizona then UCLA, then Stanford in the [Pac-12 Tournament] championship game. [They are] all really good teams, really good competitive teams. That sets a great tone for our team going into March Madness.”
The Trojans are coming off of a successful conference tournament run in Las Vegas, where they were crowned Pac-12 tournament champions after defeating Stanford 74-61 last Sunday.
“It’s definitely great momentum to go into March on a winning note,” graduate guard McKenzie Forbes said. “It feels good to feel like we’re playing our best basketball in March.”
This year’s tournament will be Forbes’ second appearance on the national stage. Her first appearance was back in 2019 with the California Bears, when she added seven points in their opening-round win over North Carolina.
“[I’m] just trying to be that mature presence for our team and keep us focused on the main thing, which is winning it one game at a time,” Forbes said. “I think with March, it sometimes can get to be overwhelming [with] a lot of media obviously. But, I think to host helps a lot.”
With three matchups this weekend, Galen Center is set to host the first NCAA Tournament games in its history. When USC last hosted the first weekend, the team played at Lyon Center across campus.
“Women’s basketball has the unique opportunity to host, and we’ve wanted to do that all year long,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “To get back to this community that’s been incredible to us this year, we’re super happy to be able to stay at home and kick off our NCAA tournament here at Galen.”
“Home games are something we’re grateful for,” Marshall added. “We embrace it. We’re ready to put on a show for our fans.”
Last season, USC earned a No. 8 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, the program’s first bid to the Big Dance since 2014. The Trojans fell 62-57 in overtime to ninth-seeded South Dakota State.
Looking towards this weekend, the Trojans will look to make a much deeper run this time around.
“We don’t take anything for granted,” Gottlieb said. “We’ll have practice tomorrow as if it’s day one. We know that the celebration kind of stops tonight. We’re happy with what we’ve done, but we have a lot more to do.”
Given USC’s long drought as NCAA Tournament hosts, expect an electric environment in Galen Center Saturday as Trojan fans look to witness a restoration to those aforementioned glory days.
“The theme of the year [is] just bringing USC and L.A. back on the map,” Forbes said. “That means a lot to us, and I hope it means a lot to [Miller] and the people who came before us as well.”