College Hoops Top 50

Last year: 15-18; 8-12, Ninth in the Pac-12, No Postseason

Head Coach: Eric Musselman (First Year; had been 111-59 at Arkansas, with three NCAA Tournament appearances)

Projected Starting Lineup

G Desmond Claude – 6’6″, 205 Junior

G Bryce Pope – 6’3″, 185 5th-year Senior

G Saint Thomas – 6’7″, 220 5th-year Senior

F Terrance Williams II – 6’7″, 225 5th-year Senior

F Josh Cohen – 6’10”, 250 5th-year Senior

Experienced Reserves

G Clark Slajchert – 6’1″, 170 5th-year Senior

W Chibuzo Agbo – 6’7″, 225 5th-year Senior

W Kevin Patton, Jr – 6’8″, 200 Sophomore

F Matt Knowling – 6’6″, 200 5th-year Senior

F Rashaun Agee – 6’8″, 225 5th-year Senior

F Harrison Hornery – 6’10”, 230 Senior

Freshmen

G Wesley Yates III – 6’4″, 200 (Redshirt)

W Isaiah Elohim – 6’5″, 200

W Jalen Shelley – 6’8″, 190

So, a few things have changed for the Trojans. Short version? All but two people who played a minute for last year’s USC team have gone, as has their former coach, and Southern California, despite its name, is now a member of the Big Ten Conference. 

No big deal. Moving on…

Eric Musselman, famed proponent of the transfer portal and subject of growing discontent among the Razorback faithful, swooped in from Arkansas after Andy Enfield bolted for SMU. USC’s new head coach has followed a familiar blueprint for his debut with the Trojans. Virtually every player who will suit up for him this year is a transfer from somewhere else. The question is, will that approach work any better now than it did then? 

Side-question: with so many new faces and no key pieces back from last year, what will USC’s rotation end up looking like, and who will everyone else look to when all the chips are down? Experience will provide the answer, and it will be fascinating to watch things play out. 

A couple of big, playmaking perimeter stars look like the strongest contenders to be Musselman’s main men. Last year, Desmond Claude broke out in a big way for Xavier. Though the Musketeers struggled as a team, Claude became an indispensable part of their offense. At 6’6″, Claude sees the floor well and has the natural passing talent to coordinate Musselman’s offense. There’s little that the Muss Bus so enjoys as finding a favorable matchup in ball screens and then relentlessly driving downhill into that matchup. Claude is the type of dude who should flourish in such a system. 

“It honestly felt like a perfect fit from the first call … coach Musselman has a proven track record over the past several years of helping big lead guards make the jump to being NBA-ready guards,” Claude told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello this summer. 

The Big East’s Most Improved Player last winter, Claude ranked eighth in the league in scoring and sank the third-most free throws. He ended up operating as a pick-and-roll ballhandler for 6.7 possessions per game, per Synergy Sports, which was a higher number than all but Georgetown’s Jayden Epps and Marquette’s Tyler Kolek. Those situations accounted for 36% of the plays that Claude was involved in, and on pick-and-rolls he posted a solid .885 points per possession. Musselman will hope to see Claude cut down on his turnovers, but with a full, intentional offseason spent as one of his team’s primary ballhandlers he should be more comfortable in the role. If Claude can improve some as a shooter, it will help even more. He’s made just 25.3% of his triple tries through two seasons, and though Claude was solid (40.1%) on high volume from mid-range last year, he hasn’t yet proven to be a spot-up threat. The skillset is there, and Musselman can chisel away at Claude’s rougher edges, the Trojans will have a star to build around. 

Part of a cohort of highly-productive guys looking to translate their reputations at the mid-major level to the Big Ten, Saint Thomas was arguably the best player in the Big Sky last winter. He put up video game numbers at Northern Colorado, leading the league in rebounds, placing second in scoring, and ranking fifth in assists. Once a lanky kid who couldn’t get it all figured out at Loyola Chicago, Thomas has become strong around the lane, a powerful driver, and Thomas fought through an immense amount of defensive attention as the Bears’ do-everything guy. Never one to miss a chance to sell guys on his ability to get them to the NBA, Musselman has boosted the confidence of Thomas before he’s even played a game. 

A few of the guys making a jump up to the power conferences are pure shooters, and USC is going to be counting on them to cash in on the feeds that their playmakers create. From his redshirt season in 2019-20, when UC San Diego was still in Division II, right through to the Tritons’ first winning season at the Division I level, Bryce Pope was a key piece for UCSD head coach Eric Olen. Now, having accomplished so much as a Triton, Pope is ready to test himself in the Big Ten. A two-time All-Big West pick, Pope was among the league’s top scorers each of the past two seasons. He’s a volume scorer; Pope attempted 512 shots last winter, and only 19 players in the country launched more. 

While he’s a deep threat, Pope can be a bit streaky, and he will need to hit triples at an effective rate with the Trojans, as it’s unlikely that Pope will see the same 27.9% usage rate he’s enjoyed the past couple years with UCSD. Inside the arc, Pope is much more likely to get his shots on the drive, while he’s very much more a spot-up guy from the land of trey. More than anything, Pope is smooth and confident working inside from the perimeter, and he’s been a strong 44.1% shooter from mid-range over his last two campaigns. With his length and savvy getting good looks off the bounce, Pope should bring valuable secondary scoring to the Trojans. 

Having played on two NCAA Tournament squads in his two years at Mountain West contender Boise State, Chibuzo Agbo has faced some legitimate competition and splashed triples on ’em anyway. A big, long, fluid wing, Agbo hit 142 triples and made them at better than a 40% rate while he was a Bronco. In his Boise debut, Agbo made 40.2% of his triple tries, but shot just 39.2% from everywhere else. Last winter, Agbo became a much more reliable and productive scorer inside the arc. The former 4-star prospect converted 54.8% of his looks near the rim and 42.9% of his mid-range attempts, per Bart Torvik. With great length on the perimeter and a good sense for working around screens and finding his spots, Agbo wasn’t always the top option for the Broncos, but he often dealt knockout blows from the arc. He should find a familiar fit with USC, and the consistency he offers is an exciting upgrade for a Trojan side which, outside of Boogie Ellis, often struggled to reliably hit outside shots. 

His production may have been cut short by injury last winter, but Clark Slajchert was still the second-leading scorer in the Ivy League with an 18-per-game average. The bum ankle which cost him all of January and then some didn’t stop Slajchert from returning to play some of his best basketball of the season in March. Over Penn’s final six games, Slajchert averaged 21.5 points on 46.3% shooting from downtown, including a 32-point effort against Brown. That performance marked his third time hitting for at least 30 in the 22 games he played, and Slajchert is highly efficient about getting his buckets. Despite the defensive attention which comes with bring the clear-cut top option on a team, Slajchert slashed 48.7/42.2/82.4 last year en route to earning All-Ivy League honors. To hear Slajchert tell it, USC is getting more than just a walking bucket; they’ve acquired a team-first guy who wants to win. 

“I want to be a contributor, I feel like I can help every team, I want to make sure I have the same vision for myself as the coaches do and help a team win. I think I can do that by playing minutes for a real successful program, whether it’s high-major or mid-major.” Slajchert explained to City of Basketball Love this spring. “Being part of something bigger than yourself is what we all do it for, and that feeling only comes when you’re having success and winning games.”

There is some exciting youth coming into the program, as well. In his debut for San Diego last season, Kevin Patton, Jr showed off a very intriguing range of skills. The West Coast Conference All-Freshman selection started 16 games for the Toreros, and only got better as his rookie year went on. A lanky wing with excellent size and length, Patton is also a fluid athlete with a good handle. Over San Diego’s final 16 games last season, Patton averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks while shooting 35.4% from the land of trey. There’s really nothing he didn’t show some aptitude for in his debut, and the smart bet is that Patton will rise quickly in the near future. 

The Trojan post has been extensively renovated, but Musselman has brought in an intriguing group of veterans to compete with the only guy who’s returning from last year’s rotation. The biggest fella USC features this year will be Josh Cohen, who is coming off a first-team All-Atlantic 10 season at UMass. Before that, he was the Northeast Conference’s Player of the Year in 2022-23 at Saint Francis (PA). At both stops, the thing that’s stood out most about Cohen is how wonderfully efficient an offensive player he is. Over the past three seasons – since he became a starter for the Red Flash – Cohen has averaged 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on 57.0% shooting from the floor. In fact, he departed Saint Francis as the NEC’s all-time leader in field goal percentage.

It’s not only that he’s got great touch and smooth footwork under the basket, though Cohen absolutely has those attributes. He is a face-up threat whose range is expanding, and Cohen supplements those skills with good work on the offensive glass. From 15 or so feet and in, Cohen has shown that he can be a dominant force, and he’s got the strong 46.5% percentage on 424 career mid-range shots to prove it. To take advantage of all the defenders he occupies, Cohen has also become a smart passer. It’s possible that USC has enough playmakers and savvy cutters to run an inverted offense at times – you know, in case Musselman wants to mix it up from attacking over and over with his guards. Last year, Cohen began shooting three’s, too; he canned 11 of them at a 34.4% rate after only trying two deep shots across his three seasons with Saint Francis. The biggest question by far is whether Cohen, who is not a tremendous rim protector or possessed of special quickness, can hold up defensively in the Big Ten. 

It took a few years, but Terrance Williams II started to really figure things out last year. Though he had been a helpful contributor and even a starter across his first three seasons, Williams carried career averages of 4.5 points and 3.7 boards into last fall. In his fourth year, Williams became a genuine triple threat at the forward spot, rattling home 52 deep balls at a 39.7% clip. With his stretch skills and feel for operating on offense, Williams could prove a nice fit next to Cohen. The former Wolverine, who was on hand to see pretty much the whole rise and fall of Juwan Howard in Ann Arbor, MI, has played in the Elite Eight before, but saw the Maize and Blue go 8-24 last winter. After four seasons at Michigan, Williams is the longest-tenured Big Ten player USC will have, and that familiarity with the league should come in very handy for the Trojans as both the new player and his new team look to get firmly back on track.

Southern Cal was not strong on the glass last season. Former Bowling Green forward Rashaun Agee was brought in to help sort things out. In many leagues he may have been the best rebounder around, but Agee was stuck in the Mid-American Conference with Akron legend Enrique Freeman, so he had to settle for a bunch of second-place statistical finishes. Even so, Agee bested Freeman on the offensive glass, snagging 126 friendly misses to rank first in the MAC and 11th nationally. A tireless worker whose production has every bit as much to do with desire and tenacity as it does measurables, Agee piled up 48 putback tries as well. He posted 17 double-doubles on the year, and Agee was a rock on defense, as well. He’s mobile and plays with physicality, and Agee blocked 58 shots in 63 games at BGSU. He improved considerably as a free throw shooter, going from 57.1% as a sophomore to 68.0% last winter. Most of Agee’s efficiency numbers improved as his role expanded last year, and he found a strong symbiosis with now-NC State guard Marcus Hill on the pick-and-roll. If Agee can keep up the good work inside and on the boards and finish the feeds he’s rewarded with, he will earn a valuable chunk of the minutes for USC. 

Former Yale star Matt Knowling has NCAA Tournament success on his résumé, and it’s recent. He joined Slajchert on the All-Ivy League team and was instrumental to Yale’s thrilling win over Auburn in last year’s Big Dance. He’s something of a skilled power forward in a wing’s body, and instead of offering much in the way of outside shooting, Knowling is a talented passer. The Bulldogs moved the ball very well around now-Michigan center Danny Wolf, and Knowling was key to that attack, often operating around the elbow as a second-level facilitator. An old-school post-up threat, Knowling devastates perimeter players if he can get them into the paint. He’s also effective facing up for short jumpers, but the bread and butter of what Knowling does as a scorer comes from about eight feet away from the basket. It remains to see how his offensive approach will translate to the Big Ten, and whether Musselman will make best use of Knowling’s talents. 

The lone returnee to USC’s post is Harrison Hornery, an Australian forward who played the most minutes of his career last year but will have to fight for his role this winter. A stretch big whose game is built upon his jumper, Hornery has unfortunately seen his percentage from distance fall in each of his first three seasons. He was better than ever before on the glass last season, though and Hornery has a bit of a feisty streak at times. He’ll need to show it – and more consistent offensive production – to become a larger piece of Musselman’s rotation. 

As if all of those experienced players weren’t enough, the Trojans are welcoming a trio of 4-star freshmen. One of them, Wesley Yates III, redshirted at Washington last year and…brace for the strangeness…will be staying in the Big Ten. Yates is the cousin of Quincy Pondexter, who was a coach at Washington up until this past season. Now that they’ve both hopped onto the Muss Bus, they’ll be looking to stack more victories than they did as Huskies. A talented scoring guard with high-end athleticism and court vision, Yates can also create for his teammates. 

While Yates sees minutes on and off the ball, USC’s pair of true freshmen are exciting wings. Isaiah Elohim played at Sierra Canyon, the same prep powerhouse which Bronny James attended, and like James, Elohim has been sidelined more often than he would prefer over the past few years. A series of injuries have made things difficult for Elohim, but when he’s on the floor, he’s a big problem for the other team. A powerful driver who can score from anywhere in or around the paint, Elohim should give the Trojans another guy who’s tough to match up against. Jalen Shelley is even bigger, and followed Musselman from Arkansas to SoCal. He’s a very capable scorer and gets his buckets all over the halfcourt, but Shelley must play with a higher-revving motor. 

There will be something of a honeymoon period in Los Angeles for Musselman, but given the frustrations with his predecessor, Andy Enfield, it may not last long. Acquiring talent has not been a problem for the Trojans – getting results that are consistently on par with the pro potential of its roster has been. With a team full of guys who are playing together for the first time, Musselman will have to do one of his best coaching jobs of all. Will that mean an NCAA Tournament appearance in his debut? It’s too early to tell, but there will almost surely be headlines aplenty keeping the country up to date as an all-new Trojan team takes the floor.