Haven’t you heard? USC is not a football school right now. Usually and historically, it is. Right now, however, USC is a women’s basketball school. The Trojans are ranked No. 3 in the preseason Associated Press Poll, confirming their status as a favorite to make the 2025 Women’s Final Four on April 4 in Tampa, Florida.
Defending national champion South Carolina is the No. 1 team in the preseason poll. UConn, which made the Final Four last season by beating USC in the Elite Eight, is No. 2. USC is expected to join the Gamecocks and Huskies at the Final Four. Texas is No. 4 in the poll with UCLA, the Trojans’ crosstown rival, checking in at No. 5. The Notre Dame team USC plays on Nov. 23 is ranked No. 6, making that one of the can’t-miss games of the coming women’s college basketball season. USC plays UConn in December. USC faces UCLA twice. You can do the math and quickly realize that USC is playing four games against opponents ranked in the preseason top six. That’s the new standard for Lindsay Gottlieb’s program. Gottlieb is going to make sure JuJu Watkins, Kiki Iriafen, Talia Von Oelhoffen, Rayah Marshall, and the rest of the Trojans are continuously tested by the best teams in the sport. The intent is to make sure this group is ready for any challenge in March and can get to the big show in April. It is “Final Four or bust” for USC this season, and the Trojans are not going to shy away from or ignore those expectations. The elite programs welcome that level of difficulty.
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