LOS ANGELES — Perhaps, Lindsay Gottlieb will acknowledge, this moment for her USC women’s basketball program has arrived sooner than the bevy of 2024 freshmen she’s recruited ever quite expected.
But they came to USC drawn to a movement, spearheaded by Gottlieb and accelerated with the arrival of JuJu Watkins. And this program is approaching recruiting – and every facet of their program – with the mind to be a national power. To be the national power.
And after securing the top-ranked recruiting class in the country in 2024, USC has a strong head start in 2025, as five-star Oregon guard Jazzy Davidson announced her commitment to the Trojans on Instagram on Monday morning. She chose USC over programs like UCLA and UConn, according to 247Sports.
Suddenly, Gottlieb and USC have a bevy of talented guards on their hands, a number of options to join Watkins in the Trojans’ backcourt of the future once Oregon State transfer Talia Von Oelhoffen departs. Two five-star freshmen – Idaho’s Avery Howell and New York’s Kayleigh Heckel – are already on the roster, plus four-star Texas product Rian Forestier. And Davidson, too, is a versatile piece, a 6-foot-1 guard with a high, left-handed release who operates well in the midrange.
It’s the first commitment of USC’s 2025 class, ahead of a season with plainly expressed national-championship aspirations.