USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb lost sleep over the Trojans’ overtime defeat to South Dakota State in the first round of the 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament, but she knows the team can now dream bigger than ever. USC added JuJu Watkins, the 2023 No. 1 recruit, but the momentum started well before her commitment.
“I think we’ll always remember last season as one that kind of launched where we want to go with women’s USC basketball,” Gottlieb told CBS Sports.
In past years, the program hadn’t been making a lot of noise and constantly fell to the middle of the pack in the Pac-12, but Gottlieb’s arrival in 2021 has helped turn things around.
Results didn’t happen overnight, but last January it became clear USC was heading in the right direction as the Trojans stunned then-No. 2 Stanford, 55-46. USC was ranked for the first time since 2016 the following month, and in March it reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014 and third time in this century.
“I wish we had gone another game or two further in the NCAA tournament, but I also feel the journey was pretty spectacular with that group and there aren’t a ton of regrets,” Gottlieb said.
The team is currently working on playing fast in transition,…
