The USC Trojans entered Thursday night’s women’s basketball game against UCLA with an unbeaten record. However, that 9-0 mark came against a series of very manageable opponents. The Trojans did not play any of the elite teams in college basketball. They played a schedule which was conducive to piling up wins. They didn’t opt for a murderer’s row-type schedule which would severely test them.
This scheduling approach is good for a developing program. When USC gets better and becomes a top-flight program, the Trojans will obviously want to play the “take on all comers” schedule we see from Stanford, South Carolina, UConn, Texas, Tennessee, and the other big names in the sport. For now, though, building a winning identity — and scheduling a more manageable nonconference slate — makes sense.
The key point to emphasize is that after nine preliminary games, USC got its first really big test of the season on Thursday against UCLA. The Bruins, under veteran coach Cori Close, were ranked No. 10 and had a 9-1 record. How USC fared against UCLA would offer the first true and substantial measurement of where coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s program stood, both this season and in a larger evolutionary context.
This is only Year 2 of Gottlieb’s tenure at USC. A quick fix was not the job description. Getting the program back on track was seen as a project which would take at least three or four years.
After this game against UCLA, the Trojans have to be optimistic about where they are headed.
The Women of Troy didn’t beat the Bruins, but they came close. They held UCLA to only four points in the fourth quarter, but UCLA’s defense was strong enough to fend off USC in a 59-56 street fight.
USC belonged on the same court as the Bruins, who have been a Sweet 16-level program under Cori Close and have established themselves as a contender in the Pac-12 over several years. Being this competitive with UCLA shows that even in defeat, USC validated its solid start to the season. The Trojans have every reason to expect that they can finish in the upper half of the Pac-12 after finishing 10th last season.
Progress is real in Los Angeles. Lindsay Gottlieb has this program moving in the right direction.
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