Anthony on L.A.: Something special is brewing at Galen Center and more need to know
What if I told you about a program with years of poor seasons that recently hired a major head coach? Then, after an initial season of rebuilding, the transfer portal was utilized to reshape the roster with experienced players.
With all the new faces, the program had fresh hype. It was a more prosperous time, something unfamiliar to fans of the team in recent years. A strong start to the season followed the hype, reaffirming preseason beliefs.
No, this isn’t a column about football. It’s about the severely underrated women’s basketball team, which has had a similar turnaround.
Much of the conversation around USC Athletics has surrounded football, and rightfully so. A year ago, they finished 4-8 and are now sitting at 11-1 with a chance to make its first College Football Playoff.
The hiring of Lincoln Riley as head coach and elusive transfers such as sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams and redshirt senior running back Travis Dye stole the headlines. After a summer and fall camp with high hopes, the Trojans lived up to it.
But, if you look real close, the undefeated women’s basketball team is building something special too. We’ll get to the on-the-court play and transfers soon, since Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb and her staff just hit the biggest jackpot of the year — and no one is talking about it enough.
The nationwide top recruit in the class of 2023, JuJu Watkins, committed to the Trojans earlier this month, shifting the landscape of women’s basketball at USC. She picked the Trojans over two staples of women’s college basketball — Stanford and the University of South Carolina.
Watkins is the third top-10 recruit to sign with the Trojans since 2007, two of which have come during Gottlieb’s tenure as head coach. Watkins is a two-time USA Basketball gold medalist and the reigning Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Simply put, she is one of the best high school girls’ basketball players of all time. Imagine coveted football recruit Arch Manning committing to the Trojans. OK, now times Manning’s status by ten. Now, it’s like JuJu.
Yeah, it’s that big, even big enough to have a billboard set up at Galen Center announcing the commitment.
It’s a massive get for Gottlieb, who is in charge of rebuilding a program that has not made the NCAA Tournament since the 2013-14 season. Remember, this is a program that dominated the 1980s with four Final Four appearances and two National Championships.
It won’t happen quickly, but Gottlieb has done something that previous coaches have been unable to do — recruit well and improve the product on the court.
The Trojans are currently undefeated, sitting at 6-0 for the first time since 2018 when they started 9-0. They’ve defeated teams with ease, beating teams by under 10 points just twice so far this season.
Coming into the season, USC had eight new transfers, including four graduate transfers, bolstering a roster that has only five players remaining from last season.
One of the best additions has been two grad transfers — forward Kadi Sissoko and guard Destiny Littleton. Sissoko is leading the Trojans with 17 points per game. Littleton, who came from the reigning national champion South Carolina Gamecocks, has scored in double digits in every game.
Last season’s Pac-12 All-Freshman team member guard Rayah Marshall has elevated her game, averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds a game so far, including a monster 19 points and 18 rebound game last week.
The Trojans are clicking with a game that’s faster, an offense that’s smoother and a team that will make noise in the loaded Pac-12.
Gottlieb is a key part of all of this. She was a home run hire from the beginning, but now? It’s a grand slam, game-winning goal, buzzer-beater shot hire that has flown under the radar.
Her commitment to the program is second to none. After giving birth to her second child on Oct. 15, Gottlieb took just three weeks off and was back on the sidelines for opening night on Nov. 8.
That’s a leader. That’s a coach. That’s somebody that’s going to lead this historically great women’s basketball program back to winning ways, competing for championships and filling arenas.
Isn’t that just like what’s happening with the football team? Yeah, so let’s start paying attention as such.
Anthony Gharib is a senior writing about all things Los Angeles sports. His column “Anthony on L.A.” runs every other Tuesday.