Post by mhbruin on Jul 17, 2022 8:33:00 GMT -8
CHANGES
- None -
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Next are the 3rd place USC Trojans. I thought they would be very good last season, and they were about as good as I expected, until March. Then they went 1-4, with only a 4-point win over Washington. They finished with a first-round exit as a #7 seed.
They finally got the "can't lose to Mick Cronin" monkey off their back, by doing it twice. However, they have to prove they can beat Stanford after losing twice to the Cardinal.
GRADUATING
Goodwin was their 2nd-leading rebounder, a double-digit scorer, and a solid post player for them. They will miss him.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Andy Enfield has finally run out of Mobleys. Isaiah led the team in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. SC lost their two starting big men.
However, Enfield got good news when starters Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson withdrew from the draft and returned to school.
TRANSFERRING OUT
For two seasons, I wondered why Enfield played Agbonkopolo, but in his third season, the light finally turned on for him. He rewarded Enfield's patience by leaving. That kind of disloyalty seems perfect for a Trojan.
He and Anderson, took turns starting, so between them, one of SC's starters is leaving for Wyoming, where they will both likely start. They will be joined in Laramie by Jake Kyman.
Boubacar Coulibaly is not the same player as Jefferson Koulibaly who is transferring out of Washington State. Neither played enough to confuse me, and they are both leaving the Pac-12. Hurray!! They can cool their ballys somewhere else.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
Enfield played a lot of guys last season, so he returns quite a bit of experience. They also return quite a bit of shooting, with 4 solid 3-point shooters.
With the return of Peterson and Ellis, the Trojans return 2 starters. They are almost certainly going to be their best players.
If you are like me, you are trying to forget Peterson going off for 27 points against us in our loss at Galen. Fortunately, that was a career high for him. His good, but he isn't that good.
He does do everything well. He is even one of their best ball-handlers. This is a guy who was recruited by the likes of Rice and Bowling Green out of HS, and found new life through the transfer portal.
Boogie Ellis came to SC from Memphis with the reputation as a selfish player. I don't think he lived up to that. However, he was pretty inconsistent last season. He could score 27 in one game and then score 3 points in the next. They will be expecting a lot from him this season. He might be the key to their season.
Dixon-Waters (or whatever his last name is) had a solid freshman season. If he can cut down his turnovers, he will probably move into the starting lineup.
Kobe Johnson looked like he had potential in limited minutes, but his shooting was pretty bad. He will need to shoot better to be a big factor.
Joshua Morgan was a competent backup center last season. He will probably back up freshman Iwuchukwu this season.
So far, Malik Thomas has not lived up to his Top 100 ranking.
This is a solid lineup, but with at least one big question: Who will play PG? They have some good guards, but most of them are more comfortable off the ball. Their best ball handler is Peterson, a 6-9 forward. Will he play point forward? Kobe Johnson could play the role, but can he shoot?
RECRUITS
(#9 class, #1 in Pac-12)
Kansas seems to offer just about every 4-star and 5-star recruit.
I think Iwuchukwu and White are going to be very good college players. I have my doubts about Kijani Wright.
Iwuchukwu is likely going to be the starting center. I don't know how ready he is to play a big role.
For a change, SC isn't bringing in any transfers.
CONCLUSION
USC loses a lot, but they also return a lot of good players. They add a strong recruiting class. Only UCLA has more 5-star and 4-star players.
There is a lot to like. They have talent. They return a lot of production. They will have shooting and rebounding. They have size.
- None -
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Next are the 3rd place USC Trojans. I thought they would be very good last season, and they were about as good as I expected, until March. Then they went 1-4, with only a 4-point win over Washington. They finished with a first-round exit as a #7 seed.
They finally got the "can't lose to Mick Cronin" monkey off their back, by doing it twice. However, they have to prove they can beat Stanford after losing twice to the Cardinal.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Chevez Goodwin | 34 | 34 | 25 | 11 | 6 | 1 |
Goodwin was their 2nd-leading rebounder, a double-digit scorer, and a solid post player for them. They will miss him.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Isaiah Mobley | 32 | 32 | 34 | 14 | 8 | 3 |
Andy Enfield has finally run out of Mobleys. Isaiah led the team in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. SC lost their two starting big men.
However, Enfield got good news when starters Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson withdrew from the draft and returned to school.
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Destination |
| Max Agbonkpolo | 33 | 18 | 21 | 8 | 4 | 1 | Wyoming |
| Ethan Anderson | 34 | 15 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Wyoming |
| Boubacar Coulibaly | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Pepperdine |
For two seasons, I wondered why Enfield played Agbonkopolo, but in his third season, the light finally turned on for him. He rewarded Enfield's patience by leaving. That kind of disloyalty seems perfect for a Trojan.
He and Anderson, took turns starting, so between them, one of SC's starters is leaving for Wyoming, where they will both likely start. They will be joined in Laramie by Jake Kyman.
Boubacar Coulibaly is not the same player as Jefferson Koulibaly who is transferring out of Washington State. Neither played enough to confuse me, and they are both leaving the Pac-12. Hurray!! They can cool their ballys somewhere else.
RETURNING
Note about classes: With the extra year of eligibility, there is no clear way to label players. If a player is in his 4th season, but will have another year of eligibility after this year, I am calling him "Jr 4".
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Boogie Ellis | 33 | 33 | 30 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 42% | 38% | 1.4 | Jr 4 | 4 | 38 |
| Drew Peterson | 34 | 34 | 33 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 47% | 41% | 1.4 | Sr 5 | 3 | 331 |
| Reese Dixon-Waters | 33 | 0 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 44% | 46% | 0.9 | So | 4 | 52 |
| Joshua Morgan | 31 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 55% | 0.8 | Jr 4 | 3 | 174 | |
| Harrison Hornery | 12 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 41% | 39% | 0.3 | So | 4 | 102 |
| Kobe Johnson | 27 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33% | 29% | 1.6 | So | 3 | 247 |
| Malik Thomas | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17% | 0.3 | So | 4 | 81 |
Enfield played a lot of guys last season, so he returns quite a bit of experience. They also return quite a bit of shooting, with 4 solid 3-point shooters.
With the return of Peterson and Ellis, the Trojans return 2 starters. They are almost certainly going to be their best players.
If you are like me, you are trying to forget Peterson going off for 27 points against us in our loss at Galen. Fortunately, that was a career high for him. His good, but he isn't that good.
He does do everything well. He is even one of their best ball-handlers. This is a guy who was recruited by the likes of Rice and Bowling Green out of HS, and found new life through the transfer portal.
Boogie Ellis came to SC from Memphis with the reputation as a selfish player. I don't think he lived up to that. However, he was pretty inconsistent last season. He could score 27 in one game and then score 3 points in the next. They will be expecting a lot from him this season. He might be the key to their season.
Dixon-Waters (or whatever his last name is) had a solid freshman season. If he can cut down his turnovers, he will probably move into the starting lineup.
Kobe Johnson looked like he had potential in limited minutes, but his shooting was pretty bad. He will need to shoot better to be a big factor.
Joshua Morgan was a competent backup center last season. He will probably back up freshman Iwuchukwu this season.
So far, Malik Thomas has not lived up to his Top 100 ranking.
This is a solid lineup, but with at least one big question: Who will play PG? They have some good guards, but most of them are more comfortable off the ball. Their best ball handler is Peterson, a 6-9 forward. Will he play point forward? Kobe Johnson could play the role, but can he shoot?
RECRUITS
(#9 class, #1 in Pac-12)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Vince Iwuchukwu | 7-0 220 | C | 5 | 23 | UCLA, Baylor, Arkansas, Kansas |
| Kijani Wright | 6-9 235 | PF | 4 | 44 | Arkansas, Texas, Florida St, Kansas |
| Tre White | 6-6 190 | SF | 4 | 47 | LSU, Kansas, Illinois, Texas Tech |
| Oziyah Sellers | 6-5 160 | SG | 3 | 138 | Arizona St, Miss St, Creighton, New Mexico |
Kansas seems to offer just about every 4-star and 5-star recruit.
I think Iwuchukwu and White are going to be very good college players. I have my doubts about Kijani Wright.
Iwuchukwu is likely going to be the starting center. I don't know how ready he is to play a big role.
TRANSFERRING IN
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| - None - |
For a change, SC isn't bringing in any transfers.
CONCLUSION
USC loses a lot, but they also return a lot of good players. They add a strong recruiting class. Only UCLA has more 5-star and 4-star players.
There is a lot to like. They have talent. They return a lot of production. They will have shooting and rebounding. They have size.
There is only one question mark about this team: Point guard. They return half of their assists from last year, but they lose their top two guys in A/TO ratio. The best returner is Kobe Johnson at 1.6, and he only played 7 minutes a game last season. If they can figure out PG, they will be very good.
However, I am not quite as impressed with SC as I was last season.
I think they will be one of the top 4 teams in the league, in part, because there are 8 teams that seem worse than the Trojans. However, I don't see them winning the Pac-12. A 3rd or 4th place finish and a #10 or #11 seed in the NCAA tournament seems about right.
Wilner writes:
4. USC (4): Our early-April position stands: “Barring unexpectedly high attrition, we see the Trojans finishing in the small grouping of teams below the top two but above the pack.” The last-minute draft reversals by guard Boogie Ellis and wing Drew Peterson ensured that USC will combine a solid returning core with one of the nation’s best recruiting classes. We aren’t ready to slot the Trojans onto the top tier, but their roster is stout enough to contend for an opening-round bye in the conference tournament.
Torvick picks them to finish 5th, just behind Stanford. (Stanford?)
247 writes:
Strengths: No Pac-12 program is bringing in more talent in the Class of 2022 than USC. Andy Enfield continues to kill it in the talent-acquisition game. Vince Iwuchukwu, Kijani Wright and Tre White are all top-60 talents. USC did not add anyone from the transfer portal, but getting Pac-12 Player of the Year contender Drew Peterson back is a huge boon for the Trojans. He was arguably their most important offensive player last year. USC's effective field goal percentage was 52.2% with Peterson in the game and that dipped to 46.9% when he went to the bench, according to Pivot Analysis.
Weaknesses: It certainly feels like USC was one solid veteran away from potentially being the Pac-12 frontrunner. It pursued Illinois sniper Jacob Grandison, but he picked Duke. We've seen it time and time again where the wrong transfer can tank a season, so with such talented freshmen coming in and Peterson and Boogie Ellis returning, Enfield could afford to be a little picky. We'll see if that was the right decision.
However, I am not quite as impressed with SC as I was last season.
I think they will be one of the top 4 teams in the league, in part, because there are 8 teams that seem worse than the Trojans. However, I don't see them winning the Pac-12. A 3rd or 4th place finish and a #10 or #11 seed in the NCAA tournament seems about right.
Wilner writes:
4. USC (4): Our early-April position stands: “Barring unexpectedly high attrition, we see the Trojans finishing in the small grouping of teams below the top two but above the pack.” The last-minute draft reversals by guard Boogie Ellis and wing Drew Peterson ensured that USC will combine a solid returning core with one of the nation’s best recruiting classes. We aren’t ready to slot the Trojans onto the top tier, but their roster is stout enough to contend for an opening-round bye in the conference tournament.
Torvick picks them to finish 5th, just behind Stanford. (Stanford?)
247 writes:
Strengths: No Pac-12 program is bringing in more talent in the Class of 2022 than USC. Andy Enfield continues to kill it in the talent-acquisition game. Vince Iwuchukwu, Kijani Wright and Tre White are all top-60 talents. USC did not add anyone from the transfer portal, but getting Pac-12 Player of the Year contender Drew Peterson back is a huge boon for the Trojans. He was arguably their most important offensive player last year. USC's effective field goal percentage was 52.2% with Peterson in the game and that dipped to 46.9% when he went to the bench, according to Pivot Analysis.
Weaknesses: It certainly feels like USC was one solid veteran away from potentially being the Pac-12 frontrunner. It pursued Illinois sniper Jacob Grandison, but he picked Duke. We've seen it time and time again where the wrong transfer can tank a season, so with such talented freshmen coming in and Peterson and Boogie Ellis returning, Enfield could afford to be a little picky. We'll see if that was the right decision.