University Southern California Trojans
Players Mentioned
Committed During Coronavirus
July 29, 2020 | Men's Basketball, USC Ripsit Blog, Features
Five players on the USC men's basketball 2020-21 roster have yet to meet head coach Andy Enfield and his staff in person. They've gotten to know their voices over phone calls and what they hang on their home office walls during Zoom meetings, but not the command of their presence in a room or the feel of their handshakes. The players know Trousdale Parkway from Hollywood movies and pictures on social media, but not yet the student-athlete facilities and academic buildings scattered around campus.
They entered the transfer portal from their respective schools after the COVID-19 pandemic cut the 2019-20 season short and the USC men's basketball roster dwindled down to just three scholarship returnees for the upcoming season. Roster changes are natural for all teams during the offseason, but as it happens, the Trojans' turnover called for seven new faces to fill voids on the Galen Center court.
Two-thirds of the names adorning the backs of USC jerseys will be new next season, including incoming freshmen Evan Mobley and Boubacar Coulibaly. Grad transfers Tahj Eaddy, Isaiah White and Chevez Goodwin will immediately be able to play, while eligibility remains in question for transfers Joshua Morgan and Drew Peterson.
USC's transfers committed in the past few months as the global pandemic brought normal operations to a halt in the U.S., including the rules and regulations around recruiting. Visits were no longer allowed under strict stay-at-home orders in California, leaving the players to get a feel for what to expect from videos of the Galen Center facilities sent by the coaches. Recruits usually walk around meeting the athletic trainers and strength coaches, but this year, those introductions happened via Zoom after players committed.
Eaddy, White and Goodwin made their transfer decisions without the typical visits that entail in-person meetings with Enfield, his staff and the players' families, as well as opportunities to get to know their potential teammates, but the players each expressed a solid level of comfort with the program regardless of the lack of normalcy.
When asked how they chose the USC men's basketball program amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, the three grad transfers echoed each other with their confidence in the coaching staff.
"[Enfield] was just straight up about how I have to go there and work to get what I deserve," White said. "Other people were just promising me stuff. I liked that Coach Andy was laying it out for me and letting me decide. He was honest about what he thought about me, what was going on with the team this year, about what happened last year."
Goodwin credited his commitment to his conversations with Enfield and assistant coach Chris Capko and called the collective staff, including associate head coach Jason Hart and assistant coach Eric Mobley, "genuine and humble."
"The confidence that I have in Coach Enfield is what made it easy for me. It was a no-brainer," Eaddy said.
Enfield and his staff approached this uncharted territory of recruiting as they would any other offseason. They had detailed and honest conversations, albeit virtually, with players and their families about USC, the basketball program, and what the guys were looking for as student-athletes.
For Eaddy, a guard who averaged 12 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game in three seasons at Santa Clara, his pride in his academic accomplishments led him to check out USC, and the potential for him to contribute to a winning season sealed the deal. With Jonah Mathews gone and graduated, the coaches saw room for Eaddy to contribute significant minutes as a point and off the ball.
"That was a big thing for me –– Coach expecting me to do big things for him," he said. "Them instilling that confidence in me made it a little bit easier."
On top of building a strong relationship with Enfield over the few weeks of recruiting, Eaddy was drawn to Enfield's background as a shooting coach in the NBA and his experience with coaching smaller guards at the collegiate level to get to the league, like former USC point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who averaged 7.6 points and 19 minutes per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves last season.
Eaddy has spent time on and around campus with friends who go to USC, and he played in the Galen Center during a pre-season scrimmage last year, giving him a familiarity with USC's atmosphere. While living in the Bay Area for undergrad, he fell in love with the west coast enough to pass up the opportunity to play for his home state at UConn.
White, on the other hand, chose USC to be close to his family after averaging 8.5 points per game last season at Utah Valley. The Rancho Cucamonga native grew up going to USC football games and had a feel for the Trojan spirit.
"I thought about my family who hasn't seen me play in a minute, since I've been in Utah the last few years," White said. "I thought it'd be cool if they could come to some home games and see me play at least for my last year."
It helped that Enfield spent a lot of time talking to White's mom on the phone, making sure the whole family felt comfortable with the decision.
USC was the first school to reach out to Goodwin, a 6-foot-9 power forward who averaged 11.9 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game at Wofford. He used USC as a standard for other schools to measure up to, but Georgia, Houston, Xavier and Auburn couldn't give Goodwin what he wanted –– a place to be successful and hopefully win championships. He wouldn't leave his home state for just any program, but he was willing to move to the other side of the country for the right fit.
While Goodwin is confident USC is that right fit, he's anxious to get to campus.
"Usually by this time you'd be on campus, and you get to meet them and hang out with them," Goodwin said of his new teammates.
It remains unknown when the team will be on campus, but he's not worried about the guys gelling together because everyone has the same goal –– to put the team first and find ways to win games. They've started building off-court chemistry over FaceTime calls, group chats and Xbox. The team plans to continue finding ways to overcome obstacles.
"There's a learning curve whenever you have that much roster turnover, and we hope to be able to pick things up quickly," Enfield said. "They still have to develop a chemistry between them because they're new to each other and they've never played together, but it should be a lot of fun to watch."
There's still plenty of uncertainty around when they will be able to move into their apartments, study in JMC, eat team meals after practice or work out as a group in Galen, but when they can, they will be ready for it.
