USC, UCLA meets in the title match Big Ten after dominating the conference of the first season

Indianapolis – The USC subclasses smiled, arrested and turned to their trainer with a whisper.

The first year student Avery Howell and the second year student Malia Samuels had answered all the questions posed to them following their performances of the fourth quarter who won the horses of Troy first for the Big Ten 2025 national championship match. For their final question, they needed a decisive pass.

Did they have a preference between UCLA and Ohio State for whom they wanted to face in the title match?

“It will be a no,” said the USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb from Gainbridge Fieldhouse while the second semi-final was underway. “Whoever wins, we will be ready to play.”

Ask almost anyone else and they would have answered immediately. It’s the same thing it would have been in September. The USC and the UCLA are not only two of the country’s best teams with national lists that continue a title, but they have shined after decades of weakness. They have candidates for the national player of the year, Juju Watkins of the USC and Lauren Betts of the UCLA, surrounded by better transfer lines on the short lists of the player of the year.

He does not surprise the traditional PAC-12 powers will come together for the title Sunday (4.30 p.m., CBS) in what proved to be a complete takeover of the big ten. Including Washington and Oregon, the four former PAC-12 teams qualified for the conference tournament at 15 teams, forcing Purdue, Northwestern and Penn State to watch from their home.

Los Angeles’ programs have exceeded them.

The USC regular season champion lost a single conference match against Iowa on the road before the post-match jersey retirement ceremony in Caitlin Clark. The Trojans advanced the Big Ten tournament in a victory in the semi-final of 82-70 against Michigan.

UCLA has lost two games all season, both against the USC. The players and coaches of the Bruins were not silent to want to see the USC again.

“From the start, I was quite categorical about it,” said the UCLA head coach, Clari Close, after exploding Ohio State, 75-46, in the second semi-final. “I think I was questioned on this subject just after our match that we lost with us (March 1). And I said, absolutelyI would like another opportunity.

The last fight of the 2025 series of Los Angeles – and the third in 23 days – arrives in the middle of different circumstances.

None of the two will have a home advantage in the field or in the crowd. UCLA and USC contingents were strong in two days for programs based on more than 2,000 miles. They pale compared to the concentrations of Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan here in the heart of Big Ten Country. And in a newly filled city, more WNBA and neutral women’s basketball equipment in Paris the landscape than that of the most recent stars of the conference.

Optimal rest and preparation are subjective for both. It will be the third match in three days, and the calendar already seems to have wreaked havoc on the USC. The departure center Rayah Marshall missed the quarter-finals with an illness and Watkins looked slower and cut itself off at the end of the semi-finals. Trojan horses have played closer competitions, ahead of the Indiana of five in the quarterfinals. The UCLA, which had to work for a victory over the Nebraska in the quarters, entered its bench deeply with the victory over Ohio State in half.

The Big Trop Trophy waiting for the winner in a day for history books is almost secondary in a weighted level match.

It is their last chance to add a cherry above their curriculum vitae of the NCAA tournament with a logjam of programs which jockey for the seeds n ° 1. ESPN and its hoop statistics projected the two teams keeping the heads of standard n ° 1 in their range before the semi-finals of the conference tournament. Notre Dame has probably wasted her luck by not reaching the ACC title game, while Texas, South Carolina and Connecticut are also the best candidates.

Global seed n ° 1 is always to be won, creating a difficult decision for the NCAA women’s basketball committee in the coming week. The USC winning three on the UCLA could prove the difference in a higher position. The UCLA finding its place against the only team for which it is lost would brighten up its prospects after having firmly holding first place in its undefeated race.

This is all the noise in the background of the current reality of the UCLA.

The Bruins have played badly in their two biggest games this season, allowing Watkins to score 68 points in total while pulling 45%, blocking the shots and packaging the rest of the statistics. The Trojan horses dictated the game at home and on the road.

“If you are a real competitor, you want to be tested against the best and you want to have the opportunity to conquer your previous adversities,” said Close. “This is exactly what we get. This forces you to widen deeply and find new growth levels. »»

Betts, the fulcrum of the Bruins, played below its seasonal standards with ineffective shots and disappeared defensively.

“Everyone was held individually responsible and we have had many meetings,” said Betts. “We have obviously really felt really on how we played them the last time and how we presented ourselves, and we never want to feel this again.”

While the tournament clashes in the interval were fun and all – a young team from Michigan upset and upset and the Iowa group almost crushed the party in the new house of Caitlin Clark highlighted the week – this is what the masses aspired on Sunday of the championship.

The USC, with two victories in what could end up being a series of four games if they meet in the NCAA tournament, can remain silent on this subject. UCLA called her shot for everyone.