University Southern California Trojans
2010 USC Men's Water Polo Season Outlook
September 02, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 2, 2010
In 16 years as a head coach at USC, Jovan Vavic has seen a lot of things -- back-to-back NCAA championships, Cutino Award sweeps, heart-breaking losses, heart-stopping wins.
But he's pretty sure he's never seen this.
His 2010 men's water polo roster is missing one thing. For the first time in his memory, Vavic has no seniors in the water.
And he likes it that way.
The Trojans graduated a superb class of seniors last season after winning their second straight national championship. But he knows that waiting in the wings is a new class of talent all set to splash down at Troy alongside three of the winningest juniors in the game.
All-Americans Joel Dennerley and Peter Kurzeka and fellow junior Matt Burton won an NCAA championship in their first season as Trojans. Last year, they did it again as sophomores, with help from two more Trojan returners, Brian Boswell and Michael Rosenthal, who are now redshirt sophomores.
"I think the leadership of these guys has been outstanding," Vavic said of Burton, Dennerley and Kurzeka, who are linchpins in a Trojan defense that has been leading the nation for years. "They have great maturity and great desire to compete and continue to compete for the championship."
Headlined by Olympian J.W. Krumpholz and also starring All-Americans Anthony Artukovich, Shea Buckner, Justin Rappel, Matt Sagehorn and Jordan Thompson, the 2009 graduates entered USC considered one of the best freshman classes in the business back in 2006. Undoubtedly they left their mark on the USC program and a definite void in their departure. But... there's always a `but,' isn't there?
"If you take the top four players of that last class and the top four of this class, these guys are farther ahead. Even though we lost so many players, we have done a great job recruiting," Vavic said of his successful push to keep the Trojans in stride. "This incoming class will compare with the one of four years ago. This is that type of class."
Four players come in already boasting a hefty resume of national and junior national team experience, and a handful of others are also tabbed as impact players. It's an international flair that is coupled with proven stateside talent. Goalie Dennerley will have two more fellow Australians in the water with him as the Trojans welcome Aussies Jeremy Davie and Mace Rapsey to the fold. Both have Australian Junior National Team experience, while Dennerley is coming off a trip to the FINA World Cup in Romania with the Australian senior team. Newcomer Tobias Pruess also was in Romania for the World Cup action, as the driver capped up for Germany this summer. More international experience is added with the left-hand of Nikola Vavic in the mix as a member of the U.S. Junior National Team. He's one of three new lefties on the Trojan roster, injecting a welcome dose of perimeter options to the Trojan attack. Vavic and fellow true freshmen Rex Butler and Connor Virjee are all lefties lined up for action in 2010.
"This is a very smart water polo group," Vavic said. "All these guys have been playing water polo for a long time. The biggest thing about this class is their experience and knowledge of the game."
Further international depth comes from the addition of Croatian Ivan Kustic, who joins Davie, Rapsey and Preuss as USC's latest foreign imports. California's best encompasses a strong set of All-CIF honorees helmed by Butler, Vavic and Virjee. True freshmen Riley Burke, Max Hurst-Mendoza and Zach Lucas also were first-team All-CIF selections, and goalies Ely Bonilla and Paul Mitre were their CIF Division players of the year as they enter game action as Trojans this season, and the Trojan talent pool runs even deeper with the addition of a set of redshirts. Goalie Jimmy Friedrich is healthy to join Will Simon as a backup in goal to Dennerley. And in the field, redshirt freshmen Stephen Siri, Andy Hayes and Tommy Friedrich are highly anticipated additions to be flanked by the returning experience of Zayne Belal, Cem Carak, Billy Evashwick, Mason Hawthorne, Jon Leopold, Forest Monroe and Andrew Reego.
"We're going to be a very good outside shooting team," Vavic said. "Some of the new players are outstanding outside shooters to go along with returning guys like Rosenthal and Monroe, who are great outside shooters.
"I think that we're going to be different at two-meters because we're not as big. It's going to be a quicker two-meter game and we'll have to be versatile. We have four guys who will set for us, and four more who are very good at posting up. We are going to be a very, very tough team this year."
Players Mentioned
