When Lindsay Gottlieb thinks back to the start, before USC was about to become the biggest thing in women’s college basketball — and maybe college basketball overall — her mind travels to a phone call three and a half years ago. She had just taken the job at USC, inheriting a once-elite program that hadn’t been relevant in a quarter century. Gottlieb and her family were in New York, visiting the Central Park Zoo, when her cell rang. On the other line was Jazzy Davidson, a budding 14-year-old star in the class of 2025.
“I really connected with her,” Gottlieb recalled.