Last season, USC men's basketball put itself on the map by going undefeated in nonconference play, earning a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and pulling off two comeback wins while there.Yesterday, head coach Andy Enfield confirmed that guard Shaqquan Aaron would return for his redshirt junior season, keeping last year's roster nearly intact for 2017-18.
The return of Aaron, Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah Stewart, Bennie Boatwright, Chimezie Metu and all of USC's underclassmen, plus the addition of three incoming freshmen and Duke transfer Derryck Thornton, has the national media buzzing about the Trojans.
FOX Sports slotted the Trojans at No. 5 on its way-too-early Top 25, noting that USC returns its top eight scorers from last season.
According to The Big Lead, which also listed USC at No. 5, "nobody had a better two months than the Trojans and coach Andy Enfield."
The Trojans went from unranked in ESPN's way-to-early Top 25 to No. 13 in its post-NBA Draft deadline Top 25. Writer Myron Medcalf noted that USC is the only team on the West Coast that will return a nearly identical roster from last season, as Arizona, Gonzaga, Cal, Oregon and UCLA all lost significant contributors from last season's squads.
Sports Illustrated also has USC at No. 13. Lindsay Schnell wrote that the Trojans' scoring talent "could enable USC to push Arizona for the league title," and explained that the Trojans could get a big boost if rising sophomore forward Nick Rakocevic -- the unsung hero of USC's comeback win in the NCAA First Four -- has as big an offseason as Metu did last year.
After a 26-10 season, the Trojans certainly have high hopes for 2017-18 -- a season that includes a tilt against Oklahoma at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 8 and a slew of Pac-12 powers at the Galen Center.
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