The potential path to a national title for the USC Trojans as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament

The USC Trojans earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and sixth time overall as Lindsay Gottlieb’s program looks poised to make a deeper run than last year’s dash to the Elite Eight.

JuJu Watkins has been spectacular this season and is the likely National Player of the Year. She led the Big Ten in scoring at 24.6 points per game and finished top-five in steals and blocks per game. Forward Kiki Iriafen finished No. 4 in scoring in the Big Ten at 18.2 points per game and led the conference in offensive rebounding.

Here’s a look at what USC’s run to a national title could potentially look like.

USC is the fourth No. 1 seed, putting the Trojans in the Spokane region and hosting the first two games of the tournament.

The Trojans will open up against UNC Greensboro, which won the SoCon tournament championship as the No. 1 seed. The Spartans are in the tournament for the first time since 1998 after posting the best regular season in program history with a 13-1 conference record. They are led by guards Jayde Gamble and Nya Smith, who averaged 11.8 and 11.0 points, respectively, this season. Forward Khalis Cain led the team in rebounding with 8.9 per game and had 43 of the team’s 97 blocked shots this season.

That game will tip off on Saturday, March 22 at Noon PT.

A win there would set the Trojans up for a second home game against the winner of No. 8 Cal and No. 9 Mississippi State.

USC has two familiar foes in the bottom half of its bracket. Should the Trojans make another run to the Elite 8, it would likely be No. 2-seed UConn waiting for them. The Trojans and Huskies met earlier this year back east with USC earning a 72-70 win. It was UConn that knocked USC out of last year’s NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight with an 80-73 win as Paige Bueckers scored 28 points and Aaliyah Edwards had 24. Bueckers is back again and joined by outstanding freshman Sarah Strong, who is averaging 16 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. Bueckers and Strong both scored 22 points during the regular-season loss to USC. Strong had a game-high 13 rebounds and four steals.

No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 Iowa are in the bottom half of the bracket as well. The Hawkeyes gave the Trojans one of their two regular-season losses this year.

The Trojans likely Sweet 16 matchup would be some form of Wildat – either No. 4 Kentucky or No. 5 Kansas State. A Kentucky matchup would see the Trojans take on outstanding guard Georgia Amoore (19.1 points, 6.9 assists per game). Kansas State should have star center Ayoka Lee (15.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 blocked shots per game), though she’s missed time this season due to a foot injury and subsequent reinjury.

Should USC make a run to the Final Four, it could offer a fourth edition this season of the crosstown rivalry against the UCLA Bruins. The Bruins earned the overall No. 1 seed after being the Trojans in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. USC swept UCLA during the regular season and a rematch in the Final Four would be must-watch. On the opposite side, No. 1 seeds South Carolina and Texas would be expected to reach the Final Four. Texas will likely have to contend with No. 2 TCU or No. 3 Notre Dame on its way. South Carolina’s other top seeds are No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Maryland.