NCAA Womens Basketball: NCAA Tournament Albany Regional

Already among the leading title contenders for the 2024-25 women's college basketball season, Southern California received a big boost when star guard Talia von Oelhoffen announced plans to join the team. The 5-foot-11 grad transfer from Oregon State posted a TikTok video Friday with ex-Stanford standout Kiki Iriafen in USC gear, and then posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter, with "let's work" and a hand-and-pen signing emoji. Twice named to the All-Pac-12 team, von Oelhoffen has averaged 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and one steal per game over 105 career games (90 starts) for the Beavers. In an interview with ESPN, von Oelhoffen called the opportunity "so exciting," adding, "the sky's the limit for how good we can be... I'm super excited to take this team into the Big Ten and beyond." Oregon State, with help from von Oelhoffen's 10.7 points per game, made the Elite Eight in the 2024 NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual champion South Carolina. The Trojans also reached the Elite Eight before losing to UConn. USC, already with a top-flight incoming freshman class, now have added von Oelhoffen and Iriafen to a returning cast that includes Rayah Marshall and potential player of the year JuJu Watkins. von Oelhoffen reportedly chose USC over Kentucky, Colorado and Louisville. She told ESPN she is eager to work on her game under USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb. "Just the opportunity to play point guard for potentially a national championship team under Coach Lindsay, who sends people to the W and is just so smart in so many ways and an amazing staff, amazing players, I loved everything about it," von Oelhoffen said. --Field Level Media