Stanford's Kiki Iriafen drove to the basket and USC's Clarice Akunwafo defended in the second half Friday night at Stanford University. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES — It all started with a single TikTok for Talia Van Oorhoffen, a transfer from Oregon State University. It seems innocent enough on the surface, but it has had a huge impact on the world of women's college basketball.
On Friday, Van Oorhoffen posted a video of himself dancing to Glorilla's “Yeah Glo!” — standing next to Stanford transfer Kiki Iliafen, both wearing USC jerseys. With the tag “Los Angeles,” the situation was clear. This was clearly their visit to his USC. And suddenly it became clear that Iliafen, who was one of the best players in the sport a year ago, could team up with JuJu Watkins to form one of the most dynamic duos in the country.
“What are we thinking???” von Oelhoffen captioned the post. @ Sign Iliafen.
At least Iliafen was thinking about Troy. On Saturday night, she made a bombshell to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski about her commitment to USC. This is a major move that positions the Trojans to be instant national title contenders in 2024-2025. After scoring 19.4 points and 11 rebounds per game as a junior at Stanford and dropping 41 points in Stanford's second-round win over Iowa State, Iriafen was told by coach Lindsey Gottlieb that he was nearly unstoppable. Gave a pick and pop duo. Watkins is a rising sophomore.
For Iliafen, this is a return home as he played high school baseball at Harvard-Westlake. Sure, TikTok may have seemed like a bombshell in hindsight, but Iriafen's intentions may have been set all along. As The Next Hoops' Talia Goodman reported, she initially entered the portal with a “no contact” tag. That means she likely already had her final destination in mind.
Despite the graduation of key jack-of-all-trades senior Caitlin Davis, USC's frontcourt was still in a good spot in 2024-2025. Marshall and backup Clarice Akunwafo return under center, and the Trojans already have two freshmen, Florida's Vivian Iwuchukwu and Virginia's Laura Williams, whom coach Gottlieb calls “super athletes.” Needless to say, he also mentioned 2024 treasure Kennedy Smith's ability to play on the wide. Or lower.
But a few weeks ago, I was asked by the Southern California News Group whether they expected to replace the leadership of departing key seniors like Mackenzie Forbes, Kayla Padilla, and Davis, either through roster growth alone or via the portal. When asked about this, Gottlieb said, “No one is going to sit by and watch.” ”
“Everyone is striving to be better,” she said. “South Carolina is trying to get better. UConn is trying to get better. UCLA, USC, we're all trying to get better.”
“We believe in the returning players and their development process, but we'll certainly look at whether we can add a veteran presence at the same time,” Gottlieb continued a few words later.
They lock it down on Friday, and the combination of centers Watkins, Iliafen, Marshall and an immediate freshman like Smith could elevate USC directly into the tier of South Carolina and UW that Gottlieb talked about. Dew.