Catching Up – Basketball
by Paragon SC on Jul 7, 2008 5:00 AM PDT
in USC Basketball
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PrintI hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We are going to get back on schedule with a rundown of some of the things that have been reported over the last few days starting with basketball.
USC’s 2008-09 Basketball schedule (tentative) has been released. You can download the Pac-10’s team review (.pdf) at All Things Trojan. Its' obvious that SC has a lot of ground to make for with the loss of both Jefferson and Mayo. They lead the team in scoring last season so SC has a lot of ground to make up in 2008 Demar DeRozan will help with some of that.
A couple of notes for the team overview:
STRENGTHS - Backcourt is solid with junior Daniel Hackett (8.6 ppg/3.8 rpg/ 3.24 apg), junior Dwight Lewis (10.8 ppg/2.4 rpg), and sophomore Angelo Johnson (4.5 ppg/1.36 apg). Hackett led the squad in free throw percentage (.823), while Johnson’s the teams top returner in terms of three-point field goal percentage (.403)...McDonald’s All-American DeMar DeRozan should make an immediate impact and will be expected to help provide an offensive punch from a talented group of freshmen...
CONCERNS - Gibson will need to avoid foul trouble. He topped the league with 115 fouls and eight disqualifications...
Injuries plagued the Trojans last season and the frontcourt players will need to stay healthy in order to assist Gibson on the interior...
We really didn't make note of this last month but Tim Floyd signed Stone Ridge Prep's Nikola Vucevic.
Vucevic, who averaged about 12 points and seven rebounds during his senior season, said he also had scholarship offers from Nevada and Hawaii. The native of Montenegro, who arrived in the United States last October, said USC coaches had been watching him "all year" before he signed late last month.
Wolf makes note that Vucevic will play multiple positions:
Basketball recruit Nikola Vucevic (6-9, 230) is projected to play three positions (small forward, power forward, center) right now for USC. He is not expected to redshirt.
Hopefully he will have an immediate impact.
There is still no word on Alex Stepheson though it now appears that Arizona State is now in the mix.
Tim Floyd also signed Evan Smith from Calabasas High School. Looks like he will play the the 2 or 3 position.
Chad Ford has a brief write-up on next seasons in coming recruits. he lists Demar DeRozan as one of 4 players that he expects to be sure lottery picks.
Finally there is still no word on weather Brandon Jennings with play for UA or head over to Europe. I had forgotten that, due to some bad blood between the two that Malik Story's commitment lead to Jennings de-commiting from USC. Story is headed to Indiana who is going through a mess of their own. So SC is out two pretty good players regardless of the relationship between the two because they had trouble academically qualifying. Just goes to show that we need to be careful when recruiting these high-risk players.
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2008-2009 Basketball
It should be another exciting year for USC basketball as the Pac-10 overall is looking to be down. Although I think UCLA and ASU will both be better than SC this upcoming season, I think Floyd should not have much trouble finishing third or higher. I mean who is going to contend? Washington State returns a few good players (Rochestie was their most efficient offensive player and Baynes was their best post player), but the loss of Weaver, Low, and Cowgill will sting. Arizona looks to be like the only team that could conceivably beat out USC for a spot at the top of the conference as they have the talent (Budinger/Wise/Hill), but you could have said that the last two years and they have had a tumultuous off-season to say the least.
Anyways, we still have football season before I should even be thinking about basketball. However, being a college basketball fan who enrolled at USC, I was certainly NOT expecting for the team to have this kind of success while I have been here. Certainly the program has its share of issues (Pruitt/Young/Stewart not finishing classes, Mayo scandal, Jefferson weirdness), but I think Floyd is taking USC in the right direction.
With the Pac 10 down this year
I was hoping to see USC play a little tougher schedule than they are. They’re at Oklahoma which is good, but after that their next toughest game is Georgia Tech who will likely miss the NCAA tournament. With Taj, Hacket and Lewis returning it’s not as if the team will be ultra young and need a weak schedule. If the Trojans lose to Oklahoma, it could screw them over big time because their resume will be devoid of a quality OOC win.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jul 8, 2008 12:44 PM PDT reply actions
Agreed!
I completely agree with you ryebreadraz. Even though USC is also apparently going to run in to Missouri and Xavier in some tournament, I think they could have stood to schedule a few tougher opponents. Especially considering that Arizona is looking like they’re headed for an especially tough season. They have talent up front, but with Negedu de-commiting, Jennings headed to Europe, and a huge turnover in assistant coaches they may not make the tourney depending on how tough the Pac ends up being this year. Anyways, with ASU and UCLA being the only teams that I am certain will be strong in conference, USC should have looked OOC for some tougher opponents. It should be fun to see what UCLA does with all their mix of young and veteran talent this year.
Also, for anyone who may not know, I think Daniel Hackett is playing for the Italian National Team this summer so the best of luck to him.
by Laughing Stock on Jul 9, 2008 8:04 PM PDT up reply actions
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