University Southern California Trojans
Talented Starting Five Bolstered By Added Depth
November 17, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2000
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Southern California showed last season that depth and health means a great deal in determining how far a team can go.
The 23rd-ranked Trojans hope to showcase that depth this season when they open the 2000-01 campaign against Bradley at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
USC returns all five starters from a squad that finished just 16-14 overall last season despite starting 6-1 in the Pac-10. The Trojans faded down the stretch and missed a postseason bid, mostly because of devastating foot injuries to power forward Sam Clancy and sixth-man Jarvis Turner. The loss of both players exposed The Trojans' lack of a bench and sent the team to an eventual 9-9 record in the conference.
"We weren't as deep as we would have liked last year and the injuries hurt us," head coach Henry Bibby said recently. "When two of your top six guys go down, it hurts."
Heading into the season the 6-foot-7 Clancy is healthy and, along with 6-9 center Brian Scalabrine, will give Bibby a formidable frontcourt presence. Scalabrine led the Trojans in scoring, averaging 17.8 points, while Clancy was third on the team with 15.5 points per game despite missing the last 10 games of the year.
Also back for the Trojans are forward David Bluthenthal and guards Jeff Trepagnier and Brandon Granville.
Bluthenthal was fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 13.9 points, and led the club in rebounding, pulling down 8.3 per game, while Granville averaged 13.1 points and eight assists per contest.
Gone for the Trojans is Turner, who provided valuable defensive help. But in his place, significant minutes should go to sophomore Nate Hair, who averaged 4.2 points in 27 games, and sophomore Kostas Charissis, who started 12 games, averaging 1.7 points.
But while USC brings a great deal of experience to the floor, Bradley returns only two starters from a team that went 14-16 and was knocked out of the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
Senior forward Eddie Cage and senior guard Jerome Robinson will anchor the Braves offense this season. Cage averaged 7.4 points and four rebounds, while Robinson averaged 6.2 points and two assists.
The other five returners for the Braves combined to average just 6.9 points and 5.5 rebounds between them.
