USC women's basketball aiming to strive for year-round collective excellence

When speaking of greatness, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb has achieved a certain hallmark level of success in college basketball. It's not only in the amount of wins that the Women of Troy have compiled in her tenure, though that is a part of it. Instead, it more so has to do with how the Trojans go about their business throughout the year.

A large component of their overall approach is USC's director of women’s basketball sports performance, Kelly Dormandy. The Trojan staff member went on the Let's Talk USC Women's Basketball show recently to discuss part of her past in athletics as well as her current role in the USCWBB program.

Among a number of topics, coach Dormandy spoke on what USC expects from within. This is a team that always has a lot of talent. It's known that there will always be something of a pipeline from the Trojans to the WNBA. While in college and on the team, however, their goal is to collectively push each other and strive to be the best versions of themselves.

Work within the strength and conditioning aspect of training is a microcosm of what the staff have to balance on a daily basis. Coach Dormandy spoke on how athletes will all have individual goals or areas to work on. That is true, while at the same time, the summer workouts, for example, will also be in line with what coach Gottlieb envisions her team will play toward the beginning of each start to each season.

Focused diligence of USC women's basketball program

Naturally, there are always multiple factors to weigh. The longevity of the season itself is something especially that plays an important factor in how the team approaches conditioning and strength training. During the episode, coach Dormandy shared an overview of USC's philosophy when it comes to preparing for the marathon of the season:

"It's not easy to be the best. So are we doing all of the things necessary to put ourselves in a position to be the best version of ourselves individually, but more importantly collectively as a group."

Pushing the boundaries and truly coming together is what allows for teams to push limits and strive for greater heights. Getting individuals to buy in and genuinely invest in that belief. That is where many fall short.

Every year is different, and each roster will have their own obstacles to overcome throughout the year. With people like coach Dormandy in the building, the Trojans are better equipped than most to handle adversity as it presents itself.