It appears that USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is not stoked about seeing UConn on the other side of her team’s bracket.
The Trojans earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA women’s tournament bracket that was revealed on Sunday. But to Gottlieb, this placement as the tournament’s fourth No. 1 seed was disrespectful. She let her feelings be known with media shortly after the bracket reveal.
Lindsay Gottlieb was not happy with USC being the 4th overall No. 1 seed.
“I never thought I’d be a 1 seed and feel disrespected,” Gottlieb said.
“Sometimes I don’t understand the people who make decisions in women’s college basketball and why they do what they do.” pic.twitter.com/hErcL8Dzw3
— Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) March 17, 2025
“I never thought I’d be a 1 seed and feel disrespected,” Gottlieb said. “But I thought there would be very little chance we would be the No. 4 overall No. 1.
“We’ve got a big game here on Saturday against UNCG. We’ll handle it accordingly. But you tell me if you think that bracket that we got should’ve been the one that it was.”
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Did USC really get snubbed as a No. 1 seed?
The other No. 1 seeds include top overall seed and USC rival UCLA that lost two regular-season games to the Trojans before beating them in the Big Ten championship game. South Carolina and Texas are the other No. 1 seeds.
The latest AP poll has USC ranked as the No. 4 team in the nation behind UCLA, South Carolina and UConn, commensurate with its placement as the tournament’s fourth No. 1 seed.
The advanced analytic NET rankings have USC’s placement as a No. 1 seed of any kind as generous. Per the NET rankings, USC is the sixth-best team in the country behind UConn, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and Notre Dame.
Is this really about UConn?
The real issue here appears to be that UConn is under-seeded — and, for Gottlieb, that it’s the No. 2 seed in USC’s bracket.
Almost every metric but the selection committee’s thinks that UConn is worthy of a No. 1 seed. The betting market agrees. UConn (+275) opened Sunday night with the second-shortest odds to win the NCAA championship, just a smidge behind favorite South Carolina (+270). Geno Auriemma’s Huskies are once again a force to be reckoned with.
Gottlieb may not be excited about a potential matchup with UConn before the Final Four. But fans anticipating a marquee matchup of JuJu Watkins vs. Paige Bueckers are in for a potential treat.
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