Coach Lindsay Gottlieb reflects on past USC women's basketball season

Too often for programs as successful as USC women's basketball, the sole barometer is the postseason. Specifically, measuring how deep a side gets during March Madness becomes the end-all be-all. This is certainly an important aspect. There is a high standard of winning as a Trojan. By only narrowly tailoring season assessment in this lens, however, a lot can be lost.

2024 saw the Women of Troy bow out in the Elite Eight. 2025 ended at the same spot in the NCAA tournament. For those only blindly looking at which stage USC made it to, the journey in getting there is overlooked. Each year presents its own challenges, and every path is different from the beginning of pre-season camp to the final buzzer, in whichever round that happens to be in.

Speaking on the USC Trojans Wire Podcast, coach Lindsay Gottlieb spoke on how she viewed this most recent season. After reflecting on the loss to the eventual champions in UConn, the fourth-year USC women's basketball HC explained how satisfied and pleased she was with her team's performance throughout the course of the year:

"We don't take for granted that the bar had been raised, but you still have to get there."

Coach Gottlieb believes that the program took a positive step forward as a program. It's easy to agree with her. In their first year in the Big Ten, the Trojans won the BIG regular season title and often looked like the best team in the country. Impressive wins over South Carolina, Maryland, and UCLA twice showed the high level that this group was capable of.

Then losing JuJu Watkins in the Second Round against Mississippi State to an ACL injury saw the rest of the team admirably continue to fight on. They not only advanced to the Sweet 16 but then beat a talented senior-heavy Kansas State side to extend their season by one more game.

Immediate questions for USC women's basketball

 The exact timetable of Watkins' return is unknown at this time. Seniors Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen will be moving on. A lot of the roster is unknown at this point. Hopefully, for USC women's basketball fans, Kayleigh Heckel reconsiders staying, as Avery Howell has already committed to the Washington Huskies.

Regardless of how all of the individual situations play out, coach Gottlieb has proven to be excellent at adapting and retooling for her team. There are a lot of unknowns, and the Trojans saw their season end at the same juncture as the last one. The current HC undoubtedly has the ability and belief in her staff to best position the Cardinal and Gold to be annual contenders, not just in the Big Ten, but on a national scale.