Challenges loom large for UCLA and USC

Maryland looms as a heavy favorite to repeat as NCAA champion, Stanford again is picked to reign in the Pacific 10 Conference, UCLA’s Noelle Quinn could emerge as the national player of the year and USC ushers in a new era with a new arena and, unfortunately for the Trojans, a new list of injured players.

The 2006-07 women’s college basketball season tipped off this week, with 22nd-ranked USC opening tonight against Long Beach State in the Galen Center, the sparkling on-campus jewel that was decades in the making.

UCLA, ranked 23rd after winning the Pacific 10 Conference tournament for the first time last March, opens Sunday against UC Santa Barbara in Pauley Pavilion.

For Quinn, a 6-foot senior guard who averaged 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season, the opener serves as a warmup for several head-to-head matchups with other leading player-of-year candidates in the coming weeks.

Before Christmas, UCLA will have faced fifth-ranked Tennessee and its do-everything sophomore, Candace Parker; third-ranked Oklahoma and its lane-clogging sophomore center, Courtney Paris; and fourth-ranked Stanford and its two-time Pac-10 player of the year, junior guard Candice Wiggins.

“I think it’s fitting for Noelle Quinn to go against the best,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said, referring to a tough schedule that also could include a second-round game against second-ranked North Carolina in the Rainbow Wahine Classic at Honolulu over Thanksgiving weekend. “She deserves that.”

As the only member of the Bruins’ so-called Triple Threat still active in Westwood -- teammates Lisa Willis and Nikki Blue moved on to the WNBA after last season -- Quinn said she won’t be intimidated by the challenge.

“I feel very comfortable that expectations are going to be high for me,” she said, “and of course I want to meet those expectations.”

Junior Lindsey Pluimer, a two-year starter, is back after averaging 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds last season for a UCLA team that was 21-11 overall and finished third in the Pac-10. But none of the Bruins’ other returnees averaged as many as six points or four rebounds. Still, Olivier said she was so excited about the development of 6-6 freshman Moniquee Alexander and returning post players Amanda Livingston and Chinyere Ibekwe that she moved the 6-4 Pluimer to the perimeter.

“It’s nice to have post players in there mixing it up,” Olivier said. “It’s nice to have people with size and aggressiveness.”

It’s even nicer for Olivier, of course, to have Quinn.

“She’s always been so good that I didn’t think she had another level,” the coach said. “But she has shown us another level, so I think this year’s going to be a lot of fun just in watching her do the things she’s capable of doing.”

At USC, which like UCLA reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last March, Coach Mark Trakh has remained upbeat despite a laundry list of debilitating injuries that probably kept the Trojans out of the preseason top 20.

Why?

“It’s great to bring recruits on campus and not have to avoid showing them where we play and where we practice,” said Trakh, happy in the Trojans’ new home, even if it will function only as a rehab center for several players this season.

USC, 19-12 last season, boasts its own player-of-the-year candidate in Shay Murphy, a 5-11 senior guard who averaged team highs of 17.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 steals last season and, like Quinn, is an enthusiastic on-court leader.

But many of the players that were expected to fill in around Murphy dropped off the depth chart and onto the injured list this fall.

Point guard Camille LeNoir, who averaged 12.7 points and a team-high 4.1 assists as a sophomore last season, will sit out the season because of a hip injury. Brynn Cameron, USC’s leading scorer as a freshman two years ago, is taking maternity leave for a year. Jacki Gemelos, who averaged nearly 40 points a game at Stockton St. Mary’s High last season and was regarded by many as the high school player of the year, will redshirt because of a knee injury.

And that’s only a partial list.

Versatile senior Allison Jaskowiak, a starter in 23 games last season, and senior center Markisha Lea are sidelined until next month because of knee injuries. And senior center Chloe Kerr, who averaged 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds last season, has been slowed by a hip injury this fall, as has senior forward Jamie Funn.

On the plus side, Trakh welcomed one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, and he’ll be counting on his three available freshmen -- guard Aarika Hughes, guard Hailey Dunham and guard-forward Morghan Medlock -- to contribute right away.

“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Trakh said, “but we’ll find a way. The team’s not feeling sorry for itself. We’re really up for the season.”

Also up for the season is Maryland Coach Brenda Frese, whose roster includes her top eight players from last season as well as two transfers, Christie Marrone from Virginia Tech and Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood from Tennessee.

The Terrapins, 34-4 last season, were an overwhelming choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press preseason poll, receiving 47 of 50 first-place votes.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com