The air was light and celebratory at Galen Center on Sunday night as USC women’s basketball waited to see how it would be seeded in the NCAA tournament, which starts this week. There was some speculation over the Trojans’ potential seeding because of the pure depth of talent in the women’s college basketball pool, but they were able to grab a No. 1 seed in Regional 4 – Spokane.
USC will face the UNC Greensboro Spartans (25-6, 13-1) in the first round of the tournament at Galen Center on Saturday. Many were shocked to see the Trojans drop to the fourth No. 1 seed after beating overall No. 1 seed UCLA twice this season.
“I never thought I’d be a one seed and feel disrespected,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Sometimes I don’t understand people who make decisions in women’s basketball and why they do what they do.”
The Trojans (28-3, 16-1) had a strong season but faltered at the end, losing to UCLA 72-67 in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament. UCLA secured the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament — also playing in the Spokane regional — and will play the winner of a matchup between Southern and UC San Diego.
“[The Big Ten Tournament final] just gave us a chip on our shoulder,” sophomore guard JuJu Watkins said. “It was a battle. It was a good game. So much to go back to and go back to the drawing board and learn from. We’re just wiping the slate clean and we know what we need to do.”
There are other heavy hitters within the Trojans’ region, and they will potentially have to face No. 2-seeded UConn in a rematch of last year’s Elite Eight loss. Other potential matchups from the Regional 4 division include Big Ten foe Iowa — who USC lost to in February — and Cal, where Gottlieb started her Power Five head coaching career. It’ll be a gritty journey for the Trojans if they aim to go further in the tournament than they have in recent history.
“UConn is an incredibly tough two [seed],” Gottlieb said. “They’re really really good. The fact that that potential game would be in a regional is surprising to me… When you’re looking as a basketball person overall at the bracket, you’d have to be smarter than me, I guess, to make it make sense.”
As Gottlieb alluded to in her pre-selection show speech, four different teams — UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Notre Dame — have held the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this season. All but No. 3-seeded Notre Dame received No. 1 seeds in the tournament.
Seeding disputes aside, USC will host the first two rounds of the tournament. The Trojans ought to be wary of the Spartans, who were Southern Conference regular-season champions as well as tournament champions.
But USC has shown its toughness this season, and the team appears intent on bringing that grittiness and resolve into the weekend’s matchup.
“This season has not been pretty,” Watkins said. “There were moments when we could have kind of given up and we didn’t, and I think that speaks to our resilience and just our will to want to win and play together.”
USC will likely rely heavily on its freshmen and bench talent to support Watkins and graduate forward Kiki Iriafen offensively. Freshman guard Avery Howell and sophomore guard Malia Samuels had notably strong performances off the bench in the Big Ten Tournament. Freshman guard Kennedy Smith has been tenacious on the defensive end this year and is vocal about the veteran support on the team.
“Obviously, we have a lot of vets on this team — [graduate guard Talia von Oelhoffen, Iriafen, senior center Rayah Marshall] — they have all been in this position before, so they just say ‘stay the course,’” Smith said. “We’re all super excited to be in this position we’re in now.”
Even with the disrespect the Trojans might feel, the stage has been set for the NCAA tournament and USC will host the Spartans on Saturday. Tipoff time has not yet been released for the first-round matchup.