Post by mhbruin on Mar 26, 2024 18:52:08 GMT -8
CHANGES
====================
Last season USC finished in a three-way tie for 9th place after being picked to finish 2nd in the preseason poll. While the media went on and on about their injuries, there were other teams in the Pac-12 who had bigger injury problems. It wasn't the injuries. The Trojans weren't very good in spite of the hype about their players.
After the season the mass exit began. 10 players left including their 9 leading scorers. The entire recruiting class hit the road. As if that weren't enough, Coach Andy Enfield joined the rush, heading to SMU.
SC hired Eric Musselman who has had success in the NCAA tournament, but got out ofDodge Fayetteville after a bad season at Arkansas. He's also known for taking his shirt off after big wins, something that John Wooden never did.
Musselman's father was a head coach in the NBA, the ABA, the CBA, the WBA, college, and high school. He was not a coach in the BSA (Boy Scouts of America). Eric grew up around coaches.
Eric coached two NBA teams for a total of three seasons, without much success. Then he spent 4 years at Nevada, with three NCAA tournaments and a Sweet 16 run. At Arkansas, he took the Razorbacks to two Eilite Eights and a Sweet 16 in his first four seasons, before a bad last season at Arkansas. He is known as a very intense coach and a strong motivator.
After SC's roster and recruiting class said "bu-bye", there were a lot of empy seats on the Muss Bus, which he rushed to fill.
GRADUATING
Boogie Ellis led the team in scoring and was a 42% three-point shooter. He was #8 in scoring in the Pac-12. The last time we saw him, he was scoring 24 points in Pauley. He was twice named to the All-Pac-12 Team.
Joshua Morgan wasn't much of a scorer, but he was a force on defense, leading the league in blocks.
DJ Rodman was as good on the boards as you would expect of the son of Dennis Rodman.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Kobe Johnson withdrew from the draft when he transferred to UCLA.
Isaiah Collier was injured at the start of his freshman year. As he got healthier and more experience he started playing really well. He was on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team and will likely be a lottery pick.
Bronny James has the good and bad fortune to be the son of Lebron. It has led to huge publicity and NIL money, but also unrealistic expectations. He had a nice freshman year, coming off the bench, and he will likely get drafted because of who is father is. He will have a great seat to what his father play from the bench. Poor little rich kid.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Kobe Jonhson was on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, and he was SC's second best rebounder and was 2nd in assists. His shooting wasn't great.
Oziyah Sellers was SC's best three-point shooter, but 5 other players took more threes than he did.
The big mystery remains: Why was Kijani Wright a McDonald's All American? He wasn't an amazing high school player. He has spent two years at SC and never started a game.
Vincent Iwuchukwu is a very athletic, 5-star big man who was still pretty raw, but was starting to play better. He will probably be a star playing for Pitino.
Zach Booker and Brandon Gardner are also transferring. I don't know if they were on scholarship.
RETURNING
The roster cupboard is about as bare as Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. In three seasons, Hornery has been a lightly used sub, who has score in double figures twice. 65% of his shots are threes, and he is a lifetime 31% three-point shooter.
I think redshirt freshman Brandon Gardner also stuck around. He was a 4-star PF ranked #93 out of high school.
RECRUITS
(#14 class, #3 in B1G)
After Andy Enfield left, all of USC's recruiting class decommitted. Trent Perry still hasn't chosen a new school. Brody Kozlowski is headed to BYU. Liam Campbell may go to Stanford
Coach Musselman went looking for talent and found it at his former school. He signed two players who had previously signed with him at Arkansas.
Isaiah Elohim played for Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, so Musslman's move was great for Isaiah. He gets to keep the same coach and play close to home. One writer wrote: "Elohim is a strong, two-way guard with one of the best mid-range game’s in high school basketball. Can score in a variety of ways and is a committed defender on and off ball." I saw him in high school, and I think he is terrific. I expect him to play a lot.
Jalen Shelley is an excellent athlete with a big upside.
TRANSFERRING IN
(#13 class, #5 in B1G)
8 of these 9 transfers are seniors. Coach Musselman will have another major rebuilding job aftter next season.
Also all of them were starters at their respective schools last season. The Trojans are getting a lot of experience on their roster, even if none of it is experience playing together.
Desmond Claude was second in scoring, second in assists, and third in rebounds for the 8th-place team in the Big East.
Saint Thomas was a stat-sheet stuffer in the Big Sky. He led the team in scoring, rebounds, steals, and blocks, and was second on the team in assists.
Josh Cohen Started at St Francis (PA)
Chibuzo Agbo Jr. was the second-leading scorer for the 2nd-place team in the Mountain West.
Terrance Williams was a full-time starter and the 3rd-leading scorer for the worst team in the B1G.
Clark Slajchert had an offer from Washington State out of high school, but apparently he cared about academics and chose to play in the Ivy League. Now he is transferring to the Stanford of the West.
Rashaun Agee was #19 in the nation in rebounds per game. He was also the second-best scorer for the 5th best team in the MAC.
Bryce Pope was the leading scorer for the 2nd-place team in the Big Sky.
Matt Knowling was the 3rd-leading scorer for the second-place team in the Ivy League. Yale was led by Danny Wolf, who UCLA was interested in, but who is on his way to Michigan.
CONCLUSION
Eric Musselman came to a team with two scholarship players. Only one of them had ever played college basketball. In a fairly short time he brought in two 4-star freshmen and nine transfers. That transfer class ties with DePaul for the most transfers to any school.
It is possible to put together a good team with no returning players. Danny Sprinke did it at Utah State, taking an entirely new lineup to the NCAA tournament. Can Eric Musselman do it in the B1G? Perhaps. He has a very mature bunch of veterans. He also has five 4-star players, so he has talent.
The outlook for this season depends on those nine incoming transfers. Only two of them had preciously played for Power 5 schools. Just about everyone thinks Yale's Wolf will be able to play at this level. They need quite a few of the other six to be ready to contribute a lot at this level.
Will they be able to make the jump? Will Elohim be ready to take on a significant role as a freshman? Who shot JR? Will Martha ever find love? Tune in next season when these and many more questions will be answered.
I think Musselman will do well at SC, but his first season looks like a struggle. I think they will be right on the bubble. Then he will lose most of his roster, but he will have more time for his next rebuild.
Torvick projects the Trojans as the #19 team in the country and #5 team in the B1G. He projects a 22-9 record and 13-7 in the B1G.
==========================
ERIC MUSSELMAN, USC
Profile: The new Southern Cal coach jumped at the chance to get out of Arkansas after a disastrous season, the 59-year-old, sometimes-shirtless coaching vagabond adding another stop during his well-traveled career, this being his 16th job since 1989 and third head coaching job in less than a decade.
Musselman joins Indiana’s Mike Woodson as the two Big Ten coaches with NBA experience, though Musselman’s came from 1998-2007, a long time ago.
Style of Play: Remains to be seen as Musselman takes on West Coast talent and the sort of big-ticket players USC can draw, but at Arkansas, his teams were pressure-heavy on defense and tried to play fast on offense.
Recruiting Profile: Musselman has always been a transfer guy. That’s how he built Nevada, and it’s presumably a market USC and its NIL funding will really involve themselves in. Otherwise, SC is going to recruit SoCal, but also one-and-dones and five-star-types coast to coast. The likelihood of them recruiting very often in the traditional Big Ten footprint isn’t high. Purdue and SC likely won’t encounter one another much.
====================
Last season USC finished in a three-way tie for 9th place after being picked to finish 2nd in the preseason poll. While the media went on and on about their injuries, there were other teams in the Pac-12 who had bigger injury problems. It wasn't the injuries. The Trojans weren't very good in spite of the hype about their players.
After the season the mass exit began. 10 players left including their 9 leading scorers. The entire recruiting class hit the road. As if that weren't enough, Coach Andy Enfield joined the rush, heading to SMU.
SC hired Eric Musselman who has had success in the NCAA tournament, but got out of
Musselman's father was a head coach in the NBA, the ABA, the CBA, the WBA, college, and high school. He was not a coach in the BSA (Boy Scouts of America). Eric grew up around coaches.
Eric coached two NBA teams for a total of three seasons, without much success. Then he spent 4 years at Nevada, with three NCAA tournaments and a Sweet 16 run. At Arkansas, he took the Razorbacks to two Eilite Eights and a Sweet 16 in his first four seasons, before a bad last season at Arkansas. He is known as a very intense coach and a strong motivator.
After SC's roster and recruiting class said "bu-bye", there were a lot of empy seats on the Muss Bus, which he rushed to fill.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes |
| Boogie Ellis | 29 | 29 | 34 | 17 | 3.5 | 3.0 | Leading scorer |
| Joshua Morgan | 31 | 23 | 21 | 6 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 2.3 blocks per game led the Pac-12. |
| DJ Rodman | 32 | 28 | 27 | 9 | 5.0 | 1.3 | Leading rebounder |
| . | |||||||
| . |
Boogie Ellis led the team in scoring and was a 42% three-point shooter. He was #8 in scoring in the Pac-12. The last time we saw him, he was scoring 24 points in Pauley. He was twice named to the All-Pac-12 Team.
Joshua Morgan wasn't much of a scorer, but he was a force on defense, leading the league in blocks.
DJ Rodman was as good on the boards as you would expect of the son of Dennis Rodman.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
| Bronny James | 25 | 6 | 19 | 5 | 2.8 | 2.1 | Yes, but also in the portal |
| Isaiah Collier | 27 | 26 | 30 | 16 | 2.9 | 4.3 | No |
Kobe Johnson withdrew from the draft when he transferred to UCLA.
Isaiah Collier was injured at the start of his freshman year. As he got healthier and more experience he started playing really well. He was on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team and will likely be a lottery pick.
Bronny James has the good and bad fortune to be the son of Lebron. It has led to huge publicity and NIL money, but also unrealistic expectations. He had a nice freshman year, coming off the bench, and he will likely get drafted because of who is father is. He will have a great seat to what his father play from the bench. Poor little rich kid.
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes | Destination |
| Kobe Johnson | 31 | 28 | 31 | 11 | 4.6 | 3.3 | Also in the NBA draft | UCLA |
| Oziyah Sellers | 33 | 6 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0.6 | ||
| Kijani Wright | 28 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 0.4 | ||
| Bronny James | 25 | 6 | 19 | 5 | 3 | 2.1 | Also in the NBA draft | |
| Vincent Iwuchukwu | 31 | 11 | 16 | 6 | 3.8 | 0.6 | St. Johns | |
| Arrinten Page | 27 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 2.1 | 0.4 | Cincinnati |
Kobe Jonhson was on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, and he was SC's second best rebounder and was 2nd in assists. His shooting wasn't great.
Oziyah Sellers was SC's best three-point shooter, but 5 other players took more threes than he did.
The big mystery remains: Why was Kijani Wright a McDonald's All American? He wasn't an amazing high school player. He has spent two years at SC and never started a game.
Vincent Iwuchukwu is a very athletic, 5-star big man who was still pretty raw, but was starting to play better. He will probably be a star playing for Pitino.
Zach Booker and Brandon Gardner are also transferring. I don't know if they were on scholarship.
RETURNING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Harrison Hornery F | 26 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 33% | 28% | 1.3 | Sr | 3 | 182 |
The roster cupboard is about as bare as Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. In three seasons, Hornery has been a lightly used sub, who has score in double figures twice. 65% of his shots are threes, and he is a lifetime 31% three-point shooter.
I think redshirt freshman Brandon Gardner also stuck around. He was a 4-star PF ranked #93 out of high school.
RECRUITS
(#14 class, #3 in B1G)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Isaiah Elohim | 6-5 190 | SF | 4 | 47 | Arkansas, Kansas, Villanova |
| Jalen Shelley | 6-8 190 | SF | 4 | 59 | Arkansas, Louisville, Alabama |
| . |
After Andy Enfield left, all of USC's recruiting class decommitted. Trent Perry still hasn't chosen a new school. Brody Kozlowski is headed to BYU. Liam Campbell may go to Stanford
Coach Musselman went looking for talent and found it at his former school. He signed two players who had previously signed with him at Arkansas.
Isaiah Elohim played for Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, so Musslman's move was great for Isaiah. He gets to keep the same coach and play close to home. One writer wrote: "Elohim is a strong, two-way guard with one of the best mid-range game’s in high school basketball. Can score in a variety of ways and is a committed defender on and off ball." I saw him in high school, and I think he is terrific. I expect him to play a lot.
Jalen Shelley is an excellent athlete with a big upside.
TRANSFERRING IN
(#13 class, #5 in B1G)
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | A/TO | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Transfer Rank |
| Desmond Claude | 6-6 207 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 17 | 4.2 | 3.2 | 43% | 24% | 1.5 | Xavier | Jr | 4 | 86 | 32 |
| Saint Thomas | 6-7 200 | 32 | 32 | 35 | 20 | 9.8 | 4.2 | 47% | 33% | 1.4 | Northern Colorado | Sr | 3 | 236 | 77 |
| Josh Cohen | 6-10 220 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 16 | 6.8 | 1.7 | 54% | 34% | 1.3 | UMass | Sr | Unranked | 148 | |
| Chibuzo Agbo Jr. | 6-7 215 | 33 | 33 | 31 | 14 | 5.1 | 0.8 | 45% | 41% | 0.7 | Boise State | Sr 5 | 4 | 127 | 176 |
| Terrance Williams | 6-7 225 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 12 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 43% | 40% | 1.3 | Michigan | Sr 5 | 4 | 101 | 181 |
| Clark Slajchert | 6-1 170 | 22 | 22 | 35 | 18 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 49% | 42% | 1.3 | Penn | Sr | Unranked | 240 | |
| Rashaun Agee | 6-8 225 | 33 | 30 | 28 | 13 | 9.9 | 1.6 | 57% | 23% | 0.7 | Bowling Green | Sr 5 | Unranked | 313 | |
| Bryce Pope | 6-3 185 | 33 | 33 | 36 | 18 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 42% | 33% | 1.5 | UC San Diego | Sr 5 | Unranked | 431 | |
| Matt Knowling | 6-6 205 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 12 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 57% | 14% | 2.9 | Yale | Sr 5 | Unranked | Unranked |
8 of these 9 transfers are seniors. Coach Musselman will have another major rebuilding job aftter next season.
Also all of them were starters at their respective schools last season. The Trojans are getting a lot of experience on their roster, even if none of it is experience playing together.
Desmond Claude was second in scoring, second in assists, and third in rebounds for the 8th-place team in the Big East.
Saint Thomas was a stat-sheet stuffer in the Big Sky. He led the team in scoring, rebounds, steals, and blocks, and was second on the team in assists.
Josh Cohen Started at St Francis (PA)
Chibuzo Agbo Jr. was the second-leading scorer for the 2nd-place team in the Mountain West.
Terrance Williams was a full-time starter and the 3rd-leading scorer for the worst team in the B1G.
Clark Slajchert had an offer from Washington State out of high school, but apparently he cared about academics and chose to play in the Ivy League. Now he is transferring to the Stanford of the West.
Rashaun Agee was #19 in the nation in rebounds per game. He was also the second-best scorer for the 5th best team in the MAC.
Bryce Pope was the leading scorer for the 2nd-place team in the Big Sky.
Matt Knowling was the 3rd-leading scorer for the second-place team in the Ivy League. Yale was led by Danny Wolf, who UCLA was interested in, but who is on his way to Michigan.
CONCLUSION
Eric Musselman came to a team with two scholarship players. Only one of them had ever played college basketball. In a fairly short time he brought in two 4-star freshmen and nine transfers. That transfer class ties with DePaul for the most transfers to any school.
It is possible to put together a good team with no returning players. Danny Sprinke did it at Utah State, taking an entirely new lineup to the NCAA tournament. Can Eric Musselman do it in the B1G? Perhaps. He has a very mature bunch of veterans. He also has five 4-star players, so he has talent.
The outlook for this season depends on those nine incoming transfers. Only two of them had preciously played for Power 5 schools. Just about everyone thinks Yale's Wolf will be able to play at this level. They need quite a few of the other six to be ready to contribute a lot at this level.
Will they be able to make the jump? Will Elohim be ready to take on a significant role as a freshman? Who shot JR? Will Martha ever find love? Tune in next season when these and many more questions will be answered.
I think Musselman will do well at SC, but his first season looks like a struggle. I think they will be right on the bubble. Then he will lose most of his roster, but he will have more time for his next rebuild.
Torvick projects the Trojans as the #19 team in the country and #5 team in the B1G. He projects a 22-9 record and 13-7 in the B1G.
==========================
ERIC MUSSELMAN, USC
Profile: The new Southern Cal coach jumped at the chance to get out of Arkansas after a disastrous season, the 59-year-old, sometimes-shirtless coaching vagabond adding another stop during his well-traveled career, this being his 16th job since 1989 and third head coaching job in less than a decade.
Musselman joins Indiana’s Mike Woodson as the two Big Ten coaches with NBA experience, though Musselman’s came from 1998-2007, a long time ago.
Style of Play: Remains to be seen as Musselman takes on West Coast talent and the sort of big-ticket players USC can draw, but at Arkansas, his teams were pressure-heavy on defense and tried to play fast on offense.
Recruiting Profile: Musselman has always been a transfer guy. That’s how he built Nevada, and it’s presumably a market USC and its NIL funding will really involve themselves in. Otherwise, SC is going to recruit SoCal, but also one-and-dones and five-star-types coast to coast. The likelihood of them recruiting very often in the traditional Big Ten footprint isn’t high. Purdue and SC likely won’t encounter one another much.