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No team -- in basketball or any other sport -- begins a season believing it can't do something big. There is a realistic awareness of what is likely, but every team tries to shoot for the moon. You never know when a last-place team in one year might somehow catch fire the next season and surprise everyone. It has happened. USC women's basketball didn't want to limit itself entering a season without JuJu Watkins. Where could this team go? Early wins over NC State, Cal and Washington offered hope that maybe this team could surprise everyone.
It seemed for a period of time -- especially after the Washington win and then the Nebraska win a few weeks later -- that USC might transcend preseason expectations. However, we all knew -- and the coaching staff knew -- the margin for error was slim to none. Any small -- or big -- inconvenience could gum up the works. Sure enough, Kennedy Smith missed three games in the middle of the Big Ten season. USC lost those games. Against better Big Ten teams, the Trojans simply had no cushion. Any lapses got punished, their flaws consistently exposed.
When we consider just how difficult it was to handle a full season without JuJu Watkins, USC -- though falling short of the Sweet 16 (which I put forth in November as a realistic goal for this group) -- did not underachieve. The Round of 32, where USC lost to South Carolina on Monday night, represents a good result and a genuine achievement for this squad.
Were there aspects of this team which didn't emerge as Lindsay Gottlieb and staff had hoped? Of course. The frontcourt was just not up to par. USC games felt like 4-on-5 when the Trojans played offense, because defenses were able to sag off the post player and know they wouldn't pay a price for it.
Let's be honest about that frontcourt, though: As soon as it was known JuJu Watkins was not playing this season, top transfer portal prospects naturally didn't want to come to USC. They went to UConn or other top programs in position to compete for a national title. This wasn't Gottlieb's failure. It was the bad hand of cards this program was dealt.
If there's a true point of underachievement this season for USC women's basketball, it was less the frontcourt -- the Trojans had to throw together a committee everyone knew wasn't ready to be great -- and much more about Londynn Jones. The transfer from UCLA was a near-total bust. She had a few terrific games but was largely unable to produce consistently. She had hoped to become a more versatile offensive threat compared to how she was used at UCLA by Cori Close, but the experiment simply failed. USC lost a number of close games this season in which Jones just didn't play anywhere close to her best.
The bench was not dynamic, but it's noteworthy that role players such as Malia Samuels thrive when asked to play like role players. Without JuJu Watkins and given the limits of the frontcourt, Samuels was simply not in a position to compensate for those weaknesses. Samuels is supposed to be a small piece of a larger puzzle, not a large piece of a small puzzle.
The 2026 USC women's basketball team knew this would be an uphill battle. We knew it, too. All in all, winning an NCAA Tournament game is pretty darn good considering what this team had to face.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: 2026 USC women's basketball, without JuJu Watkins, competed admirably
Continue reading...
It seemed for a period of time -- especially after the Washington win and then the Nebraska win a few weeks later -- that USC might transcend preseason expectations. However, we all knew -- and the coaching staff knew -- the margin for error was slim to none. Any small -- or big -- inconvenience could gum up the works. Sure enough, Kennedy Smith missed three games in the middle of the Big Ten season. USC lost those games. Against better Big Ten teams, the Trojans simply had no cushion. Any lapses got punished, their flaws consistently exposed.
When we consider just how difficult it was to handle a full season without JuJu Watkins, USC -- though falling short of the Sweet 16 (which I put forth in November as a realistic goal for this group) -- did not underachieve. The Round of 32, where USC lost to South Carolina on Monday night, represents a good result and a genuine achievement for this squad.
Were there aspects of this team which didn't emerge as Lindsay Gottlieb and staff had hoped? Of course. The frontcourt was just not up to par. USC games felt like 4-on-5 when the Trojans played offense, because defenses were able to sag off the post player and know they wouldn't pay a price for it.
Let's be honest about that frontcourt, though: As soon as it was known JuJu Watkins was not playing this season, top transfer portal prospects naturally didn't want to come to USC. They went to UConn or other top programs in position to compete for a national title. This wasn't Gottlieb's failure. It was the bad hand of cards this program was dealt.
If there's a true point of underachievement this season for USC women's basketball, it was less the frontcourt -- the Trojans had to throw together a committee everyone knew wasn't ready to be great -- and much more about Londynn Jones. The transfer from UCLA was a near-total bust. She had a few terrific games but was largely unable to produce consistently. She had hoped to become a more versatile offensive threat compared to how she was used at UCLA by Cori Close, but the experiment simply failed. USC lost a number of close games this season in which Jones just didn't play anywhere close to her best.
The bench was not dynamic, but it's noteworthy that role players such as Malia Samuels thrive when asked to play like role players. Without JuJu Watkins and given the limits of the frontcourt, Samuels was simply not in a position to compensate for those weaknesses. Samuels is supposed to be a small piece of a larger puzzle, not a large piece of a small puzzle.
The 2026 USC women's basketball team knew this would be an uphill battle. We knew it, too. All in all, winning an NCAA Tournament game is pretty darn good considering what this team had to face.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: 2026 USC women's basketball, without JuJu Watkins, competed admirably
Continue reading...
