USC Women's Basketball: Biggest Challenge For HC Lindsay Gottlieb This Season

Is Gottlieb the correct coach for this Trojans program?

Heading into this next season, the USC women's basketball team will be seen as one of the best teams in the country again. Following an impressive run to the Elite Eight, the Trojans have added more firepower to their roster to go even further.

The Trojans still have superstar guard JuJu Watkins, who is primed for even more of a breakout next year. But they also added in forward Kiki Iriafen from Stanford, giving them another star to build around.

Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb will have her work cut out for herself this coming season. Her biggest challenge will be how she manages all the stars on this team, combining their skill sets into one collective unit. Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire broke this all down.

“USC fans might ask, “How is Lindsay Gottlieb going to manage all these high-profile players?” This is where the depth factor comes into play. If any player gets hurt (which we hope won’t happen) or falls into foul trouble, Gottlieb has options. Allocating minutes will be a central challenge, but the other central task for the coaching staff is to have reserves ready to perform well when another player falls into foul trouble and the Trojans have to make a change — not by choice, but by necessity.”

If Gottlieb can succeed in this, the Trojans will be one of the best teams around the nation once again. They have the firepower to become dominant next season but will need the leadership of Gottlieb to manage the stars on the roster.

'This, in many ways, will be Lindsay Gottlieb’s central challenge: allocating minutes to everyone in a way that works and keeps the stars fresh for March Madness."

The best coaches know how to manage their players in every possible way and Gottlieb showed her ability last season. But now the target will be on USC all year, having them go from the ones hunting to being hunted.

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