Women's basketball team

[jdelta02]

USC's women's basketball team had 7 freshmen and 3 sophomores on it's roster this past season. (Note) They beat Miss. State by 37 points, 96-59 in the NCAA Tournament this past season.

(Note)
USC had picked up freshmen JuJu Watkins and Aaliyah Gales the season before then picked up 7 more freshman for this past season...fairly quickly they elevated to powerhouse level in women's college basketball. Possible a type of blueprint on how to quickly build a top program without being heavily dependent on the transfer portal. In recent seasons Miss. State's women's basketball program hasn't been able to compete at the level of the top teams in the SEC and nationally via riding the transfers they've been bringing in. Though, they did make 2 out of the last 3 NCAA Tournaments and beat Oklahoma this past season...nearly beat Texas. Now they appear to be starting to go much more the high school (similar to described of USC) route mixed with transfers as a combination, and looking to follow that up with another strong freshman class next season while still mixing in transfers as needed. Also, note Coach Purcell and an assistant were recently at an event watching Jaylah Lampley's highly rated sister Lola Lampley (#20 ESPN class of 2026). She's a leading candidate for 2025-26 McDonald's All American.