Lindsay Gottlieb acknowledged it herself, that she's not usually so "agitated," but she couldn't hide those feelings Sunday as her USC women's basketball team learned its NCAA tournament draw.
The Trojans (28-3) received a No. 1 seed for the second consecutive season and will host the opening weekend at Galen Center, starting with a matchup against No. 16-seed UNC Greensboro (25-6) on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT.
The catch is that the Trojans received the fourth and final No. 1 seed, which means they end up in the same corner of the bracket with No. 2-seed UConn (31-3) and could meet in the Elite Eight, which is exactly where the Huskies ended USC's tournament run last year.
The Trojans beat UConn, 72-70, in Hartford, Connecticut, in December, and it's clear Gottlieb wasn't expecting the potential of seeing the Huskies again before the potential of meeting in the Final Four.
"It's unbelievable to have 1,000 people in here [at Galen Center for the selection show watch party]. It's not lost on us at all that we've earned a 1 seed for the second year in a row. There's so much gratitude to be playing at home, excitement for what we're going to do. But, I can't speak for them -- for me, I never thought I'd be a 1 seed and feel disrespected, but I thought the committee, I thought there would be very little chance we'd be the No. 4 overall No. 1," Gottlieb said.
"And so we've got a big game here on Saturday against UNC-G and we'll handle it accordingly. But you tell me if you think that bracket that we got should have been the one that it was. I can't speak for the players -- I think they're excited to play -- but this was not on my bingo card to be a little bit frustrated after being a 1 seed."
A large part of Gottlieb's contention with the seeding surely stems from the fact that UCLA (30-2) received the No. 1 overall seed -- which Gottlieb agreed was deserved -- while her team beat the rival Bruins in two of three meetings while accounting for their only losses. UCLA won the third meeting, 72-67, in the Big Ten championship game last Sunday.
Meanwhile, South Carolina (30-3) and Texas (31-3) received the next two No. 1 seeds before the Trojans got the final one.
South Carolina had the most Quad 1 wins (16-3), followed by Texas (14-3) and UCLA (13-2) and USC (13-3), while the Trojans were the lowest among those four in the NET rankings, which factors in results, strength of schedule, game location and other factors, at No. 6 while UConn was first followed by South Carolina, Texas and UCLA (with Notre Dame fifth).
"It's not an arrogance of any kind. I think there's a lot of really good teams, and you've got to play the first game in front of you and earn your way from there and that's what we'll do, but sometimes I don't understand people who make decisions in women's basketball and why they do what they do," Gottlieb continued. "And certainly with this committee, I would love to ask some questions. I can go down, just none of it makes sense to me of how UCLA is the No. 1 overall -- as they should be -- and we beat them twice, and then South Carolina's No. 2 but then how does Texas become No. 3 and we become No. 4? I just need someone to explain it.
"Or Maryland got the 4 seed over let's say Ole Miss -- Big Ten/SEC thing -- it doesn't make sense to me. That said, we're super excited to be playing at home. We have some really good teams coming here to Galen. That will be exciting. And every game you've got to take one game at a time, but if there's a little extra motivation for a team that's already a 1 seed we're going to have it."
The conversation with Gottlieb after the selection show Sunday night kept circling back to that disrespect factor ...
"Our sport is in a great spot. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. I don't think I can get fined for any of this. I'm being as honest as I can be," she said. "We're really excited to play Saturday at home. I think our team earned a No. 1 seed. I think there's a lot of fine hairs and things like this. But look at me, you guys see me normally, I'm not normally like this kind of agitated. I just like things that make sense. I don't like being disrespected.
"We scheduled UConn and scheduled Notre Dame this year for a reason -- you might have to match up with people again, but I just don't understand. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It also doesn't make sense down the line. But there's a lot of good teams, we're focused on Saturday, who knows what's going to happen after that, and if it gets to regional finals you can maybe ask these questions again."
Gottlieb was asked if this revealed to her that her Trojans weren't respected on a national level like they deserve to be, and she clarified that wasn't her takeaway.
"No, I think nationally we really are. I think there's a couple people sitting in a committee room who make decisions. Because I think if you ask people, everyone would look and say our bracket's loaded. It is loaded," she said.
The rest of USC's corner of the bracket includes No. 3-seed Oklahoma (25-7), No. 4 Kentucky (22-7), No. 5 Kansas State (26-7), No. 6 Iowa (22-10) and on down the line.
If the Trojans win Saturday vs. UNC-Greensboro, they would face the winner of No. 8 Cal (25-8) and No. 9 Mississippi State (21-11).
Beside her overall reaction to the bracket, Gottlieb wasn't ready to entertain questions about a potential Elite Eight rematch with UConn.
"We've got a lot of work to do. UConn is an incredibly tough 2 -- they're really, really good. The fact that that potential game would be in a regional is surprising to me, but shoot, if we both get there that would be great for TV and a lot of people excited and a really tough game and a really exciting game," Gottlieb said. "We've got to win the game in front of us, and anytime you get a chance to play a next game this time of year it's a great place to be. Every game is going to be tough.
"I don't think anyone can assume that 1s and 2s will be matched up in the Elite 8 -- you've got a lot of work to do. And the 3 seed in our bracket is great, and the 4 seed is great and we have a really tough UNC-G team here -- I just looked and they're [25-6]. And Cal and Mississippi State are good. So a lot of good games. But to me, when you're looking as a basketball person overall at the bracket, you'd have to be smarter than me, I guess, to make it make sense."
As for the first matchup ahead of the Trojans, UNC-Greensboro has won 14 straight games, including a 64-57 overtime win in the SoCon tournament championship game to earn the program's first NCAA tournament berth since 1998.
But the Spartans are 0-3 this season against major conference competition, losing 80-56 at North Carolina, 59-52 at Georgia and 54-50 at Wake Forest.
UNCG leads Division I women's basketball in scoring defense, holding opponents to 51.8 points per game and ranks 27th in field goal percentage defense (36.9%).
The Spartans area balanced team offensively, led by senior guard Jayde Gamble (11.8 points per game), freshman guard Nya Smith (11.0), junior guard Jaila Lee (9.6), senior forward Khalis Cain (8.0) and sophomore guard Makiah Asidanya (7.4). The 6-foot-3 Cain leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game and 43 blocks.
USC, of course, is led by Big Ten player of the year and national player of the year candidate JuJu Watkins (24.6 PPG, 6.9 RPG), star forward Kiki Iriafen (18.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG), freshman defensive stalwart Kennedy Smith (9.5 PPG), center Rayah Marshall (7.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG) and a deep supporting cast.
The players had a subdued reaction at the selection show watch party inside Galen Center, and Watkins said that was partly because they have been working for the goal of a No. 1 seed all season.
"That is the expectation. We know what we're capable of. It's just a matter of knowing who's next and tackling that day by day," she said.
As for why she thinks these Trojans are equipped to go further than the team did last season?
"I think just the trials and tribulations we've been through. This season has not been pretty. There were moments when we kind of could have given up, and we didn't, and I think that speaks to our resilience and just our will to want to win and play together," Watkins said.
