Is any part of the USC women's basketball roster overrated? That's an interesting question as we wait for the much-anticipated 2026-2027 season to begin in a few months. Grappling with that topic requires nuance and care.
The first thing to be said is that the starting backcourt is not overrated. JuJu Watkins and Jazzy Davidson? That's as good as it gets. Kennedy Smith isn't overrated. She is hugely important to this team and showed it last season, both when she played and when she missed games. USC was worse without her. Saniyah Hall and Sitaya Fagan were top recruits. They might be "overrated" only in the sense that their current ratings are so high and we haven't seen them play college ball yet, but in truth, we can't really render a verdict until they take the court in a USC uniform.
If we are going to say any part of this USC team is overrated, the first thing to say is that it's frankly premature. Let's see some live ball in November. However, if we are going to directly address the question, which fans certainly have an interest in learning about, the best way to approach the matter is this: It's less about one player, more about the collective. USC didn't have JuJu Watkins last season, so the whole roster was negatively affected for that reason. Now, the new roster will benefit from JuJu's presence. It's less about individuals playing like stars, more about individuals working well with JuJu and Jazzy and Kennedy to form a complete team.
Broadly viewed, we don't know who or what is overrated about this team. It's principally a November question. However, we can say that since USC had virtually nothing from its frontcourt for large portions of last season, and since the bench was not as impactful as Lindsay Gottlieb hoped, those are the two areas where USC certainly needs to improve. It's not that the frontcourt and bench for this upcoming season are flawed, only that they have more to prove to themselves, the team, and the fan base than JuJu, Jazzy and Kennedy do. That's a nuanced way to view USC women's basketball as the season comes closer.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: We don't know if USC WBB is flawed, but we know where it's less proven
