It sounds like a fantasy draft gone haywire.
Combine the nation’s top player with its top returning freshman and top incoming high school recruit and see who can stop you.
That’s the reality that USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb has forged for her team heading into summer workouts.
Only a month after cross-town rival UCLA won the national title, the Trojans are preparing to unveil what could be considered their own super team led by JuJu Watkins, Jazzy Davidson and Saniyah Hall.
“In terms of singular individual players, this team is really loaded,” Gottlieb told the California Post on Monday in an exclusive interview, “but you don’t get points for that; you’ve got to play together on the floor. So we’ll only be a super team if we play super together. That’s the goal and that’s what we’re looking forward to doing.”
A generational superstar, Watkins is on the verge of being fully cleared to return from the devastating knee injury that wiped out last season. Davidson is primed to build on a debut college season in which she led her team in scoring. Hall could emerge as another primary option after ranking as the nation’s top recruit in 2026.
Realizing what she already had to work with, Gottlieb set about complementing what might be the nation’s top threesome with two additions through the transfer portal, with one more player possibly to come.
“It’s not that we didn’t think we needed to improve,” said Gottlieb, whose team was eliminated by top-seeded South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, “but we also know that improvement for us this year looked different than the teams that are trying to replace a roster or rebuild or get their leading scorer.”
With upgraded post play a priority, the Trojans snagged Pania Davis, a 6-foot-6 center from Florida State who combines impressive size and mobility. Davis could play beside – or alongside – Sara Okeke, a five-star freshman from Spain who possesses star upside.
They’ll be joined by returning forward Laura Williams – a part-time starter last season – and Sitaya Fagan, who enrolled in January to train with the team and has already impressed with her face-up skills.
“We felt,” Gottlieb said, “you don’t win at the highest level with only one player that’s that size.”
Given that Gottlieb said her team could often use four-guard lineups next season to capitalize on its superior positional size, the Trojans needed more help in the backcourt. So they brought in Ryan Bennett, a combo guard from UC Davis who could be a key contributor both as a distributor and shot-maker alongside fellow guards Watkins, Davidson, Hall and Kennedy Smith.
Hall’s arrival is just the latest recruiting win for a coach who continues to bring in top high school talent annually. How has Gottlieb been able to do it year after year?
“Well, first off, I don’t necessarily start out and go circle the No. 1 kid on someone else’s ranking,” Gottlieb said. “We look at the players that we think are really exceptional and then also fit what we’re trying to do.”
When she first started recruiting Hall, the 6-2 guard was rated as only the 12th-best player in her high school class. But Gottlieb believed she saw someone who deserved to be ranked significantly higher based on her toughness combined with an ability to score and create for others.
“I texted my staff and I said, ‘I don’t know that I’ve felt this way about a young player in a workout since the way I felt when I went to see JuJu,’” Gottlieb said. “And so she became a focal point for me in that class and then she shot up in the rankings to be No. 1. I could have told you she was the best player that day, but the rankings took a minute.”
Gottlieb said Watkins is expected to participate in summer workouts starting June 15 after impressing everyone with her commitment to her rehabilitation.
“She’s been really great at growing in so many ways from understanding her recovery,” Gottlieb said, “and the recovery now isn’t the rehab of ‘I’m healing something,’ it’s growth, it’s getting better at basketball, even, which is a scary thought because of how good she was. And I think there’s a real excitement about getting to play again, about what this year can be like for her and her teammates.”
Some have asked how so many stars can happily coexist, but maybe that’s framing it the wrong way. Maybe the question should be: How is anyone going to stop them?
“They’ve each spent their lives being the focal point of another team’s defense and so what are you going to do, right?” Gottlieb said. “Do you focus on Jazzy? Well, then what does that allow JuJu to do? And the same, you know, obviously JuJu has gotten everybody else’s focus, and so now you’ve got other players.
“All three are really versatile and multitalented players, so yes, I think the more space we can create on the floor, the ability to hunt the best shot, to play basketball the way that’s going to produce excitement and wins for us, to have three players of that caliber on the floor is an exciting thing and it doesn’t stop there, right?”
If all goes well, it might not stop until the confetti falls inside Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio – site of the 2027 Final Four.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
