With fall in full swing and The Associated Press releasing its preseason top 25 rankings, it can only mean one thing: Women’s basketball is back. 

Last year was a true return to glory for a once-dominant franchise that saw just one NCAA Tournament appearance between 2007 and 2022. Led by superstar then-sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and then-senior forward Kiki Iriafen, the Trojans achieved the best record in the Big Ten and made it all the way to the Elite Eight before losing out to eventual national champion University of Connecticut for the second consecutive year.

But this season, the preseason No. 18 Trojans are wading through uncharted waters: In September, Watkins announced via Instagram that she would miss the entire 2025-26 season to continue recovery from the ACL tear she suffered in USC’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi State. Watkins only missed three games in her first two seasons as a Trojan. 

Tuesday will mark USC’s first game and the beginning of a test to see if it can adapt for a full season without its superstar.

Underclassmen take big roles

Regardless of Watkins’ absence, Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s squad for this season is a talented one, and arguably the biggest shareholders of talent expectation are sophomore guard Kennedy Smith and freshman guard Jazzy Davidson. Last Thursday, both were selected to the Naismith Player of the Year watchlist, which Watkins won last year.

Gottlieb said that Smith, who stands out for her defensive prowess, will have a larger role in leading the offense, noting that she’s great at “just [making] the right basketball play.”

“We’ll be able to be a little bit more versatile in terms of actually being positionless. … Collectively, I think we can get a lot of our players stepping up with their athleticism and ability to run the floor and rebound and get production there,” Gottlieb said. “Versatility [and] pace will be our calling card for sure.”

Davidson, hailing from Clackamas, Oregon, was the top recruit in the country for the class of 2025 and won Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year honors all four years of high school. She has also won three gold medals with USA Basketball.

The freshman has formed a special relationship with Watkins — someone who understands the expectations and attention that come from being a No. 1 recruit at a successful basketball school like USC.

“I’m trying to talk to her every day about, ‘You do not need to be anything other than what your best self is,’” Gottlieb said in a Zoom news conference Thursday. “Even though we anticipate her being someone super important to us in freshman year, that’s not an additional pressure, and it certainly doesn’t mean that there’s any notion of perfection.” 

Transfer additions look to fill in cracks

USC lost four players to the transfer portal during the offseason, but they picked up five newcomers. Specifically important losses were the combo of then-freshman guards Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel, who are both becoming Huskies. Howell, who had the lowest turnover percentage in the Big Ten last year, transferred over to Washington, while Heckel, another efficient shooter, went to UConn.

First announced was senior guard Londynn Jones, who transferred from rival UCLA on April 24 and specializes in 3-point shooting; Jones led the Pacific-12 in 3-pointers made two years ago and was top three in the Big Ten last season.

A day after Jones’ transfer was announced, senior guard Kara Dunn’s transfer announcement followed. Dunn spent three years at Georgia Tech, making two All-ACC team appearances; she was the Yellow Jackets’ best player last season, leading them to an NCAA Tournament appearance and their best record since 2011.

On April 30, sophomore forward Dayana Mendes became USC’s first international transfer — the former Washington State forward is a Paris native — which was followed by the news of junior forward Yakiya Milton’s transfer from Auburn two weeks later. Milton didn’t get much playing time at Auburn, but the 6-foot-5 forward — the tallest on the team — will add some much-needed length to the Trojans.

Junior forward Gerda Raulušaityte was the final transfer to join USC’s squad and the only one without prior experience in American collegiate basketball. The Lithuania native has experience primarily from Eurobasket, FIBA, and Lithuanian high school and club basketball, which will look to round out USC’s frontcourt.

Gauntlet lies ahead for Trojans

USC’s schedule involves a murderers’ row of opponents: The team is set to face nine programs on the preseason top 25, including the three-headed monster of No. 1 UConn, No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 UCLA.

But Gottlieb spoke about her choice to run the gauntlet with a sense of obligation.

“When I took the job [of head coach], I wanted to turn USC into the premier women’s basketball program in the country. You’re trying to catch these other programs and eventually be in that air,” Gottlieb said. “Well, you’ve got to play them.”

USC will play its first game of the season against New Mexico State University on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Galen Center.