The Trojans are in a state of flux entering the conference.
With USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington set to join the Big Ten, we’re going to explore what each of these additions means to the Big Ten men’s basketball landscape. How do their fans feel about their head coach? Who has joined and left the program this offseason? Where are they projected to rank in the conference?
Up first: the USC Trojans.
USC joins the Big Ten in a true Year Zero of a new head coaching regime. After finishing in the top-three of the Pac-12 for four straight years, the Trojans finished a disappointing ninth this past year with a 15-18 record. This led to head coach Andy Enfield leaving to take the SMU job.
The 2023-24 Trojans were led by a trio of guards in Boogie Ellis, Kobe Johnson and Isaiah Collier. The Trojans employed an 11-man rotation throughout most of the season which included leading rebounder DJ Rodman and Bronny James.
Enter: Eric Musselman.
Following Enfield’s departure, USC brought in former Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman. The coaching change essentially caused a roster flip overnight, as USC lost six of its 11 rotation players to the transfer portal — Kobe Johnson (UCLA), Arrinten Page (Cincinnati), Vincent Iwuchukwu (St. Johns), and Oziyah Sellers (Stanford).
Kijani Wright and Bronny James have yet to find portal destinations, as the latter more famously is exploring his NBA Draft potential. With Ellis and Collier presumably off to the NBA Draft, it will be a clean slate for the program.
Musselman has been busy, however. He’s brought in nine additions from the portal to offset the losses. Guard Desmond Claude joins the Trojan backcourt from Xavier as their top rated transfer after scoring 16.6 points per game last season. They also brought in forward Saint Thomas from Northern Colorado, along with wing Chibuzo Agbo Jr. out of Boise St.
Elsewhere, the Trojans brought in guards Bryce Pope (UC San Diego) and Clark Slajchert (Penn). In the frontcourt, Musselman reeled in Matt Knowling (Yale), Rashaun Agee (Bowling Green) and Josh Cohen (UMass). Most notably to Michigan fans, former Wolverine Terrance Williams II has also committed to the Trojans.
USC’s new roster will need time to mesh, similar to Michigan, as essentially the entire roster is brand new. It can be hard to tell just how a brand new roster will work out before seeing it in action.
Torvik has the Trojans as the fifth-best team in the Big Ten next season and at No. 22 in the country. For context, Torvik has Michigan at sixth in the conference and No. 26 in the country. It’s worth noting that despite all the transfers, USC has the highest amount of experience, per Torvik. This should help them in 2024-25, but may mean even more roster attrition after Musselman’s first year at the helm.
Historically, USC men’s basketball has always played second-fiddle to the football program. USC has never won a national championship and has made the Final Four just twice (1940, 1954). The Trojans have been significantly more relevant since 2000, but that has translated to just three Sweet 16s (2001, 2007, 2021) and just two Elite Eights (2001, 2021).
The program has produced quite a few high-caliber NBA players in recent years including Evan Mobley, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Taj Gibson and Brian Scalabrine. However, they have also been embroiled in a few scandals, most notably the playing of an ineligible O.J. Mayo in 2007-08 that caused them to vacate all their wins from that season.
As a whole, USC basketball would have been a middling-to-below-average Big Ten program had it been in the conference since it’s inception. However, USC is on the upswing, as Musselman is a well respected coach and has brought in a talented transfer class. What happens this season is yet to be seen, but there is certainly optimism in Los Angeles for the trajectory of the program.