After winning its first Pac-12 championship since 2014, USC earned the top seed in the Portland Regional 3 bracket and will host No. 16 seed Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the first round at Galen Center. The winner will play No. 8 Kansas or No. 9 Michigan in the second round.
USC is making back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since 2004-06. After upsetting Pac-12 regular season champion Stanford in the conference tournament final to win their first conference title since 2014, the Trojans claimed their highest NCAA tournament seed since 1986, when Cheryl Miller led the Trojans to the national championship game as a senior.
On Sunday, Miller watched the selection show from a high table right next to USC’s players. She threw her arms in the air when USC’s name flashed across the screen as almost a dozen program alumni attended the watch party in the founder’s club at Galen Center.
Before the selection show began, coach Lindsay Gottlieb welcomed the crowd of donors, family members and alumni. The Trojans were assured of a high seed and had no question whether they would be hosting, but Gottlieb still felt butterflies in her stomach on the drive to work.
“I was nervous to continue to make you all proud,” Gottlieb told the full room.
