Vince Grippi: USC fights to the end, but loss of JuJu Watkins proves too much against UConn

When the NCAA women’s basketball bracket was unveiled two weeks ago, this was the Elite Eight game everyone wanted to see.

The Spokane 4 Regional’s top seed, USC, with the game’s most-exciting player, JuJu Watkins. Eleven-time national champion UConn, led by the certain No. 1 WNBA draft pick, Paige Bueckers.

It was so tasty, Southern California coach Lindsay Gottlieb complained that night her team was “disrespected” with the fourth overall seed and the toughest regional final opponent.

It was matchup of stars. That turned out to be star-crossed.

Watkins’ season ended in the second round with a knee injury. Still, USC toughed out a win at home. And another Saturday in Spokane. But Monday, before a pro-Connecticut – though maybe it was pro-Bueckers, what with all the jerseys and photos scattered around – 10,141 in the Arena, their run ended, 78-64.

Oh, the Trojans came close. An 11-0 run in the third quarter gave them a shot. But when the Huskies needed her, Bueckers came through, as stars do.

She scored five consecutive early fourth-quarter points, running mate Azzi Fudd hit two 3-pointers to bookend it and the Huskies held on from there.

USC? Its go-to player was at home.

As the clock wound below a minute, Gottlieb sat on the Trojan bench shaking her head. She wore her disappointment like an overloaded backpack, her shoulders slumped under pressure of a defeat she, and her 31-4 team, knew was impossible to stave off any longer.

A loss like Monday’s will hurt for today, tomorrow and, well, maybe forever.

It was just a week ago the Trojans were flying toward this showdown with Watkins as the pilot. Until a slight off-course veer from Mississippi State’s Chandler Prater clipped the sophomore’s knee. And clipped the Trojans’ wings.

Watkins, averaging 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.8 blocked shots and every eye in the building when she touched the ball, tore her right ACL.

But USC’s flew on until it all crashed to the Arena floor, brought down by Bueckers’ 31 points, Sarah Strong’s 22 and 17 rebounds and a team defensive effort that left USC befuddled at times.

Maybe that was to be expected. Earlier, if Gottlieb had looked down her team’s lineup during the Anthem, she would have seen Watkins’ usual space between freshmen Kennedy Smith and Avery Howell filled only with Talia Van Oelhoffen’s empty right shoe. A hole that was nearly impossible to fill.

The Trojans had already proved that they could play with – at least – the Huskies last December in Storrs, winning 72-70. It somewhat lifted the burden of last season’s Elite Eight 83-70 defeat that ended Watkins’ freshman year – and Gottlieb’s best NCAA tournament run in two decades as a head coach.

In the game in Storrs, Watkins did her usual, scoring 25 points, grabbing six boards, passing out five assists and blocking three shots. Her UConn counterpart, in star power, Bueckers, had 22 – on 22 shots.

That was then.

Bueckers was the sole star in this one. And the Trojans seemed determined not to allow her that many again.

She got up just three shots in the first quarter. And yet UConn led by three, in part because of her defense, which included two steals and a handful of deflections.

And even if she wasn’t getting a high volume of shots, when the Huskies needed a bucket, there was no doubt who had all the focus – from both teams.

Even without their star, the Trojans probed for ways to stay with the Huskies and theirs. About the only successful efforts came from Rayah Marshall, a senior post who tripled her season average with 23 points, while collecting 15 rebounds.

“I was just very proud of the way that we competed tonight,” Gottlieb said. “I think you saw the heart and character of our team on display and I’m disappointed for them that we don’t get to go to Tampa and get two more games, but I’m not sad with the way this group represented themselves.”

Still, the Trojans have to be wondering what if Smith hadn’t been off, missing eight of 10 shots? What if Kiki Iriafen, their usually solid inside presence, wasn’t 3-of-15 on mostly short-range shots? What if they hadn’t faded late in the second quarter, yielding an 11-2 run that led to a 14-point deficit? What if that lead didn’t stretch to 19 before they scored in the third?

A bunch of what ifs that flow from the biggest one, what if they had Watkins?

It something that will flow through Gottlieb’s program for at least a while.

In that, she joins such notables as former Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves, who had put together an Oregon squad in 2020 that featured a handful of future pros, led by WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu. That team was 31-2 and ranked second when the pandemic canceled everything. He still wonders what might have been.

Or, even worse, the what if dealt Mark Few in the 2017 NCAA title game. His Zags were 50 seconds away from his first national title. They trailed by North Carolina by one. And forced a turnover. Except referee Mike Eades didn’t see Kennedy Meeks out of bounds in a scrum, called a jump and the Tar Heels used the extra possession to salt away the five-point win. You think Few doesn’t wish that play, reviewable now, was then?

Heck, even Geno Auriemma, Connecticut’s coach who has won 11 national titles and more games than any college basketball coach, might have at least one what if. After all, his Huskies lost the championship game to South Carolina three years ago.

With Bueckers. Who will be in Tampa on the weekend, where the next challenge is the other Los Angeles Big Ten school: top-seed UCLA.

It’s another star-studded matchup. And there shouldn’t be any what ifs