Portland, Ore. — Sometime around the beginning of the NCAA tournament, Southern California coach Lindsay Gottlieb was home watching TV when an AT&T commercial came on the screen featuring USC star freshman JuJu Watkins.

“(I) see Joel Embiid (of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers) in a commercial and all of a sudden there is JuJu,” Gottlieb was saying Friday morning.

“And I’m like, ‘When have you seen the reigning MVP in a commercial with a kid that our teammates just made sit in the back of the car because she drew the short straw on the way over here?”

Watkins, just 18 years old, is truly a freshman.

On the dais for interviews ahead of Saturday’s Sweet 16 games at the Moda Center, home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, Watkins announces that a member of USC’s coaching staff is “on my butt” about defense. Her teammates in the room with her, McKenzie Forbes and Rayah Marshall, dissolve into gales of laughter. Watkins giggles at their response.

And yet on the court, from Los Angeles all the way to Storrs, there are freshmen who have made an impact this season in women’s basketball and who have been poised and even somewhat spectacular in their first NCAA tournament.

“It is remarkable,” Gottlieb said. “As a fan of the game watching players across the country, we get a front-row seat to JuJu every day, what she handles, what she does as a freshman. There’s been players in important roles on really good teams that have continued to perform ... to be as young as they are and terrific as they are, it’s really something that’s impressive.”

No. 1 USC meets No. 5 Baylor in the semifinals of the Portland Regional 3 at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Moda Center, with No. 3 UConn facing off against No. 7 Duke at 8 p.m.

On the ESPN.com list of top 25 players remaining in the Sweet 16 of the women’s tournament, Watkins (26.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.4 steals per game) is third. Notre Dame freshman Hannah Hidalgo (22.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 5.6 apg, 4.6 spg) is fourth.

Madison Booker of Texas (16.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 5.1 apg) is fifth, giving the freshmen three of the top five spots. South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley (12.2 ppg, 2.2 apg, 1.7 spg) makes the list at No. 10.

UConn, meanwhile, is 31-5 overall, ranked 10th in the country, with two freshman starters. Ashlynn Shade, from Noblesville, Indiana, was the Big East Conference Freshman of the Year and KK Arnold, from Germantown, Wisconsin, was also named to the team, both representing the Huskies.

Shade, living an Indiana native’s dream playing in the NCAA tournament — think “Hoosiers” — has combined for 45 points in the first two rounds with a total of 10 3-point field goals, helping will the Huskies to Portland.

And the 72-64 win over Syracuse in the Sweet 16 perhaps turned on Arnold’s 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. The Huskies led 67-64 when UConn star Paige Bueckers threw it to Arnold on the left side and Arnold responded by rattling in the back-breaker.

Shade was named the Big East Freshman of the Week five times this season, Arnold six. The Huskies have two more newcomers in freshman Qadence Samuels and redshirt freshman Ice Brady.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been in that situation where (the freshmen have) had to do so much, play 40 minutes game after game,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose roster has been hit with six season-ending injuries.

“It’s not easy for them. Normally your freshmen are there, they play, and then when things start going sideways you get them out, they get a breather, they get to regroup a little bit. But for them it's nonstop. Man, I know I’m probably missing some, but I remember Ann Strother and Barbara Turner back when they played with Diana (Taurasi) and they started as freshmen (in 2003). We ended up winning a national championship.

“Every once in a while you get two freshmen that are forced into the starting lineup and you just keep your fingers crossed and hope that they have it in them.”

Watkins, a Los Angeles native who was ranked No. 1 in the high school graduating class of 2023 by ESPNW, said that deciding to stay home and the atmosphere at USC has allowed her to remain comfortable with her budding stardom.

“The great environment that I’m in, my teammates always pushing me to be better ... everyone just wants the best for me,” said Watkins, who trails only Iowa’s Caitlin Clark among the NCAA scoring leaders.

“I think that has allowed me to really strive to be great and be in a place where I feel accepted. I just feel like I’m able to be the best version of myself.”

UConn’s Arnold, the sixth-ranked recruit coming out of high school, played with Watkins — and other members of what is now the nation’s dazzling freshman class — at USA Basketball’s U16 FIBA Americas championship and she and Shade played along side Watkins in the 2023 McDonald’s All-American Game.

“All great things so far from the Class of ’23,” Arnold said Friday.

Arnold, though, can attest to the fact that she’s been kept humble by her teammates throughout her freshman season.

“No, no, of course, they still call me a freshie,” Arnold said with a laugh. “Of course the little things, they call me ‘fresh legs,’ so everything. Of course, no, I’m still embracing this freshie experience.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com