LOS ANGELES — On the late April weekend that turbo-charged USC’s program, Talia Von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen danced around one another, two graduate transfers with the same motivation and same thought process who nonetheless didn’t want to show their cards.
A week earlier, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb had called Von Oelhoffen, asking the Oregon State transfer guard if it was all right for Iriafen to tag along on a visit to USC. Of course, Von Oelhoffen replied, because this was merely the best power forward in the nation. So for an entire Friday, Von Oelhoffen tried to feel Iriafen out. Didn’t work. Iriafen, the subject of intense transfer-portal scrutiny after graduating from Stanford, didn’t budge.
“We both, like, kinda didn’t want to step on each other’s toes,” Von Oelhoffen smiled in reflection.
But they both committed the next day – at the time, unbeknownst to each other – to carve out a piece in the budding dynasty they sensed building in Southern California.
“It’s like, ‘How can I have a piece in this, and help USC get back to where USC basketball has been?’” Iriafen said in early September.
They’ll both have massive roles to play on a USC program that’s suddenly facing national-championship hopes, as Von Oelhoffen’s veteran ballhandling and Iriafen’s dynamic finishing join with sophomore star JuJu Watkins.
Plenty has to go right, though, to see that through. Here’s a few key questions for these 2024-25 Trojans:
In the past month alone, the All-American signed a multiyear contract extension with Nike, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, and inked a massive deal with Gatorade. Eleven of USC’s final 12 games of the season will be aired on national television or Peacock streaming services. In a post-Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese world after the 2024 women’s NCAA national title-game averaged 18.7 million viewers, Watkins is arguably the brightest star the game has to offer – and her spotlight is set to explode.
Through it all, though, Watkins has come into her sophomore year a better player, Gottlieb affirmed.
“I think to doubt her ability to handle it all,” Gottlieb said, “is to not really understand who she is.”
Marshall is perhaps the piece easiest to overlook in this USC puzzle, a veteran who was the program’s second-most important player in their run to the Elite Eight last year.
She cut some offensive workload in 2024-25, her shots per game dipping from 13.1 as a sophomore to 8.8 last year. And it’s likely Marshall continues to sacrifice this season, playing in the frontcourt next to Iriafen, a high-volume scorer at Stanford.
Defensively, it’s an ideal pairing of length, the 6-foot-4 Marshall a more natural rim-protector. Offensively, though, they’ll need to find a fit just as the 6-foot-3 Iriafen did with Cameron Brink last year at Stanford.
Gottlieb said in late October that USC would play “a couple of freshmen in significant roles,” and they really have no other choice.
Freshmen make up nearly half (seven of 15 total) of the roster, after Gottlieb imported the top 2024 recruiting class in the nation. On the surface, it could introduce growing pains to a program built elsewhere to win now. But Gottlieb was bullish on Etiwanda High product Kennedy Smith, a versatile wing who the coach said will “play a lot of minutes,” and praised the readiness of Idaho’s Avery Howell after she spent a summer as an alternate with Canada’s 2024 Olympic team.
“Probably got her more ready for college basketball,” Gottlieb said, “than she could’ve even imagined.”
