Can USC Trojans Women's Basketball's Talia von Oelhoffen Win Point Guard of the Year?

USC Trojans women's basketball guard Talia von Oelhoffen has been named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List. She is one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the 2024-2025 season, the award is presented annually to the nation's top point guard.

USC Trojans point guard Talia von Oelhoffen/ taliavonoelhoffen / Instagram / @ taliavonoelhoffen

USC Trojans guard Talia von Oelhoffen has been named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Game and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced on Monday. 

She is one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the 2024-25 season, the award presented annually to the nation's top point guard in honor of class of 1996 Hall-of-Famer Nancy Lieberman.

5️⃣5️⃣ is must see TV(O) 📺@TaliaVono has been named to the Nancy Lieberman PG of the Year Watch List ✌️ pic.twitter.com/lC6DjIQi1Z

— USC Women's Basketball (@USCWBB) October 28, 2024

The watch list will be narrowed to 10 point guards in late January, then to five in late February and the five finalists will be presented to Lieberman and the Hall of Fame's selection committee in March, where a winner will be selected.

Von Oelhoffen committed to USC in April as a grad transfer after spending the last four seasons at Oregon State. She averaged 10.7 points, 5.0 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 for the Beavers in the 2023-24 campaign. The two-time All-Pac-12 selection helped guide Oregon State to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2021. The Beavers made it to the Elite Eight before falling to the eventual national champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Washington native spoke last week about her decision to join to the USC program.

"I think the vision coach Lindsay (Gottlieb) had for me and my fit in the program, preparing me for the next level on and off the court, just preparation for my future was a big part of it for me," von Oelhoffen said. "Obviously I'll only be here for 10 months, so just capitalizing on the court, off the court. Obviously, the opportunities in LA, the opportunity to get a master's from USC and then compete for a national championship and play a role in that."

The Trojans made a big splash in the offseason when they added Von Oelhoffen, as well as Stanford forward Kiki Iriafen in the transfer portal. Von Oelhoffen joins a loaded Trojans backcourt that features Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-American JuJu Watkins.

"They were critical grad transfers for us because they both had a lot of experience, and they've had a lot of experience winning which is very unique I think in college basketball to get transfers who have won as much as they have," Gottlieb said. "They're really dynamic players, high level players but they have been unafraid to lead which is what we want them to do. They mesh really well with JuJu, who's really growing into her leadership voice as well."

USC is coming off a historic run in the 2023-2024 season. The Trojans earned the program’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1986 and made it all the way to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994.

No. 3 USC officially opens the 2024-25 season on Monday, Nov. 4 against the Ole Miss Rebels at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France. The Trojans home opener will be on Saturday, Nov. 9 against Cal Poly.

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