USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb went off on the selection committee for her team’s March Madness draw. The Trojans received the fourth No. 1 seed and will now headline a loaded Spokane region. The program is led by superstar guard JuJu Watkins, who has made history several times this season. With a stellar resume and several notable wins to boot, USC women’s basketball’s reward is getting to share a bracket with the UConn Huskies again, the team that eliminated the Trojans last year.
In an interview with SiriusXM, Gottlieb explained why the logic behind the Trojans’ placement is flawed.
“It makes no sense. We went to UConn this year on the road. Why would you want to send them back to us? Even if they’re the top No. 2, they might want to stay in the East Region. I also think if UCLA was ahead of South Carolina, it doesn’t make sense to me that Texas was ahead of us. You know they have Maryland getting the four seed ahead of Ole Miss. So, if you look at the strength of the conference, it doesn’t really make sense to me. There’s just some questions there that I think would be interesting for them to try to justify.”
The Trojans will have a chance at redemption this NCAA Tournament
USC women’s basketball’s phenomenal season last year ended in an Elite Eight loss to UConn. The No. 4 Trojans have already faced the No. 3 Huskies earlier this season in what was a thrilling 72-70 victory for USC. The Trojans subsequently finished the regular season at 28-3 overall and 17-1 in Big Ten play.
In addition to the UConn win, some other highlights for Lindsay Gottlieb’s team include winning the Big Ten regular season title and giving No. 1 overall seed UCLA its only two losses on the season. The Bruins did get one win back on the Trojans in the Big Ten tournament championship game. Regardless, there was a thin line between USC women’s basketball and the rest of the No. 1 seeds in the tournament. But that fact does not mean that Lindsay Gottlieb’s frustration isn’t understandable. The Trojans are in a dangerous bracket, and the road even to the Elite Eight will be a precarious one.
However, USC has undoubtedly learned from past mistakes and is a more dangerous team this postseason than last. The winner of the Spokane region will likely be considered the favorite heading into the Final Four in Tampa, Florida. The Trojans will, therefore, have to lock in immediately if they want to win their first national title since 1984.
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