{"id":41622,"date":"2025-07-28T03:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T03:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41622\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T03:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T03:01:09","slug":"hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-between-paige-azzi-sarahs-iconic-trio-to-uscs-2026-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41622\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoops Fans Boldly Reject Comparisons Between Paige, Azzi, Sarah\u2019s Iconic Trio to USC\u2019s 2026 Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Although elite recruiting is nothing new to USC women\u2019s basketball, the most recent round of commitments has caused a stir on social media. Now that they have Saniyah Hall (2026), the Trojans have three of the previous four No. 1 overall recruits, Jazzy Davidson (2025) and JuJu Watkins (2023) being the other two.<\/p>\n<p>While the excitement in Los Angeles is genuine, most of the college basketball fans are not keen on comparing the USC trio to the one that previously played for UConn, featuring the legendary Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, and Sarah Strong. The similarities between the two programs\u2019 recruitment processes were brought to light by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DMl9H7wN8JL\/?igsh=MXljbDZkM3BzcW85\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Behind The Arc\u2019s<\/a> Instagram handle.<\/p>\n<p>The post drew immediate reactions from fans worldwide, with the majority disagreeing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNOT EVEN CLOSE WYM \ud83d\ude2d,\u201d one fan said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145734\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-300x60.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"68\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot even close \ud83e\udd26\ud83e\udd26\ud83e\udd26 come on now. Big names yes, it\u2019s not the same,\u201d another added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145738\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-3-300x69.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"370\" height=\"85\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese USC girls all play similar positions. They need a big so bad on their team,\u201d another pointed out.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-145739\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-4-300x112.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"112\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis only works when the players are very efficient\u2026 JuJu is a 42% volume shooter. Terrible efficiency,\u201d one fan argued.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-145740\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-5-300x185.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcept the coaching is different,\u201d another replied.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145741\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-6-300x69.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"92\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll that to beat Sarah Strong,\u201d one commenter joked.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145736\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-2-300x60.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"380\" height=\"76\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo they play three different positions like the UConn girls?\u201d one user asked.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145735\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-1-300x73.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"382\" height=\"93\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo\u2026 they all play 2\/3,\u201d someone responded.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145742\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hoops-fans-boldly-reject-comparisons-07-28-25-7-300x66.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"87\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Why USC\u2019s Trio Faces Higher Expectations Than UConn\u2019s Did?<\/p>\n<p>USC\u2019s new trio appears to be top-tier on paper. However, fans pointed out in the comments section that victory is not always guaranteed by star power alone. The standards that USC must meet go beyond talent.<\/p>\n<p>While USC\u2019s trio has yet to play together, Bueckers, Fudd, and Sarah have already contributed to long March runs and matured in their positions.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a significant difference in coaching. UConn\u2019s Geno Auriemma is known to shape elite recruits into a championship-caliber team. On the other hand, Lindsey Gottlieb is respected, but hasn\u2019t reached her potential yet.<\/p>\n<p>USC will enter its second season in the Big Ten, which will put the team\u2019s physicality, defense, and coaching depth to the test. It will be interesting to see if Watkins, Davidson, and Hall can develop an offensive chemistry and if Gottlieb faces trouble with rotations.<\/p>\n<p>The ceiling is still extremely high. Top rankings weren\u2019t earned by these players by chance. But it will take more than just buzz for USC to go from viral post to program-defining dominance. It will require support and success.<\/p>\n<p>College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/collegefootballnetwork.com\/football\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/collegefootballnetwork.com\/football\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">football<\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/collegefootballnetwork.com\/mens-college-basketball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/collegefootballnetwork.com\/mens-college-basketball\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">basketball<\/a>, and more!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although elite recruiting is nothing new to USC women\u2019s basketball, the most recent round of commitments has caused&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-41622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}