Lindsay Gottlieb handled difficult circumstances with skill, agility
Imagine losing a superstar for a whole season and not being able to get top transfers. Many programs would have cratered. Not Lindsay Gottlieb's USC
When a team loses its best player for a whole season, that's going to hurt. When the best player is not only a very good player but an absolute superstar -- a top-three player in the sport -- it's an especially crushing loss. Lindsay Gottlieb knew she wasn't going to get the best of the best in the transfer portal market when JuJu Watkins went down.
Top players were going to go elsewhere to pursue a title, something USC realistically was not going to win when JuJu got hurt last March. This was a season in which Lindsay Gottlieb had to focus on player development, making sure Jazzy Davidson learned her offensive concepts and that Kennedy Smith could flourish in an unexpected and different context. Kennedy Smith missed several games due to injury or illness and battled through the season like a trooper.
Davidson had to endure a college basketball baptism by fire because JuJu -- though present on the bench as an extra coach -- wasn't able to be on the court and space the floor for Jazzy. Stop and consider all the enormous limitations this USC team faced. No real frontcourt.
A short bench. No JuJu. No elite transfers akin to Kiki Iriafen.