Welcome to “Huge Ten offseason at a look,” a team-by-team take a look at the convention at first of the summer time. We’ll study roster motion for every Huge Ten roster and provides an early outlook for every Huge Ten program for the 2024-25 season.
Beforehand: Penn State, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Rutgers, Northwestern, Michigan
At this time: USC (15-18 general in 2023-24, 8-12 in Pac-12 play)
Andy Enfield jumped ship earlier this spring, leaving USC after 11 seasons for SMU. It was a wise transfer to get a contemporary begin for Enfield, who had reached the NCAA match in three straight seasons earlier than final. The Trojans employed Eric Musselman as Enfield’s substitute and now have 12 new gamers for subsequent season.
USC roster motion
Gamers returning with eligibility remaining: Harrison Hornery
Gamers departing because of exhausted eligibility: Joshua Morgan, DJ Rodman, Boogie Ellis
Gamers who left early for the NBA draft: Isaiah Collier, Bronny James
Gamers who departed by way of the switch portal: Brandon Gardner (to Arizona State), Arrinten Web page (to Cincinnati), Vincent Iwuchukwu (to St. John’s), Kijani Wright (to Vanderbilt), Kobe Johnson (to UCLA), Oziyah Sellers (to Stanford)
Gamers arriving by way of the switch portal: Clark Slajchert (from Penn), Bryce Pope (from UC San Diego), Saint Thomas (from Northern Colorado), Chibuzo Agbo (from Boise State), Josh Cohen (from UMass), Matt Knowling (from Yale), Rashaun Agee (from Bowling Inexperienced), Terrence Williams III (from Michigan), Desmond Claude (from Xavier), Kevin Patton Jr. (from San Diego)
Gamers arriving by way of highschool: Isaiah Elohim (247Composite prime 50), Jalen Shelley (247Composite prime 60)
No Huge Ten program had extra roster turnover than USC. The Trojans return only one scholarship participant from final season in Hornery, who averaged 3.3 factors and a pair of.8 rebounds final season. USC has stuffed all 13 scholarships for subsequent season with 10 incoming transfers and two freshmen.
What to love about USC
If USC goes to be formidable in yr certainly one of its Huge Ten tenure, it’s going to want Claude and Pope to excel instantly. Claude arrives from Xavier, the place he averaged 16.6 factors, 4.2 rebounds and three.2 assists final season. His 3-point taking pictures, nonetheless, was a wrestle (23.9 p.c).
Pope, in the meantime, averaged 18.3 factors final season at UC San Diego and Musselman is hoping that his scoring prowess interprets up a stage.
Within the frontcourt, the Trojans landed a number of gamers with beginning expertise in Williams II, Agbo and Cohen.
What to query with USC
The frontcourt depth is suspect with Cohen and Hornery as the one two gamers taller than 6-foot-8. Cohen arrives from UMass, the place he averaged 15.9 factors and 6.8 rebounds. However he’s simply 6-foot-10 and 220 kilos and he’s not a lot of a defensive presence. That might be problematic in a Huge Ten stocked with bodily publish gamers.
The Trojans want good ground spacing round Claude to succeed in their ceiling as a staff. Slajchert made 42.2 p.c of his triples final yr at Penn, however the Huge Ten is a completely completely different stage. Agbo made 40.9 p.c of his 3s at Boise State and is a possible X-factor, as is Thomas, who averaged 19.7 factors at Northern Colorado and will present a substantial scoring punch.
USC’s outlook for the 2024-25 season
Right here is USC’s Huge Ten schedule for subsequent season:
Dwelling: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, WisconsinAway: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, RutgersHome/Away: Oregon, UCLA, Washington
Bart Torvik presently has USC inside the highest 25 of his preseason rankings for subsequent season and Joe Lunardi has the Trojans as a No. 9 seed in his early bracketology projections.
Musselman isn’t any stranger to constructing profitable groups from the portal, however his transfer-heavy staff at Arkansas final season was a flop. There’s no assure he can efficiently put all the items collectively in what must be an ultra-competitive Huge Ten.
(Photograph credit score: USC Athletics)
Filed to: 2024-25 Huge Ten preview, USC Trojans
