Game, next season, etc.

[LeftNoDoubt]

While it obviously sucks to lose in the first round, I am optimistic. I am not going to say OJ isn't ready, or Taj isn't ready, or even that Davon isn't ready, but I think the first round loss might make OJ want to stay more. He said is is staying as of now, but i believe if we made a final 4 run, he would leave. He would have proved that he can take a team deep into the tourney. If OJ doesn't think he is ready to leave, won't Taj and Davon realize that they aren't ready? Is Davon doing well enough in school to want to come back for one more year? Imagine how incredibly good we will be next year if OJ, Taj, and Davon stay. Depth, talent, EXPERIENCE, etc. Maybe I am crazy and digging into everything too far, but...

Fight On!!!
One more year! One more year! One more year! :scb:

[trojantraitor]

While it obviously sucks to lose in the first round, I am optimistic. I am not going to say OJ isn't ready, or Taj isn't ready, or even that Davon isn't ready, but I think the first round loss might make OJ want to stay more. He said is is staying as of now, but i believe if we made a final 4 run, he would leave. He would have proved that he can take a team deep into the tourney. If OJ doesn't think he is ready to leave, won't Taj and Davon realize that they aren't ready? Is Davon doing well enough in school to want to come back for one more year? Imagine how incredibly good we will be next year if OJ, Taj, and Davon stay. Depth, talent, EXPERIENCE, etc. Maybe I am crazy and digging into everything too far, but...

Fight On!!!
One more year! One more year! One more year! :scb:

I hope you're right. But then I had similar thoughts last year about Young, Pruitt, and our prospects for this year.

[LeftNoDoubt]

Gabe had school issues, and Nick made it clear he was ready to go. Plus, we made it to the sweet 16 and to the tourney 2 years in a row.

[trojantraitor]

Gabe had school issues, and Nick made it clear he was ready to go. Plus, we made it to the sweet 16 and to the tourney 2 years in a row.

No doubt. But there seems to be some reason every year that we have to start largely from scratch. You can't build a program without at least some continuity.

[HopHead34]

I think we can operate under the assumption that 2/3 of the guys are gone. OJ plus Davon?

Welcome to the world of modern college BB. They should institute a three year rule like football.

[scjeremy]

Would you stay in school knowing you'll be a first round pick and likely in the top 10? There's no way OJ will stay in school.

[LeftNoDoubt]

I think top 5 he leaves, but don't think he is top 5.

[BD1969]

......, I CAAAN JusT SeE ThE TeMPTaTioN, BEinG TOOOU GREaT, SaD
TOOU SAAAY!!!


:bash: :football: AMEN!!!!!!!!!BD#9 :scb:

[CardStunts]

I think we have to be realistic and figure at least 2 of the 3 are gone. I could see OJ staying since he seems to generally like school, but both he and Davon have shown enough potential to go to the league(that's all you need nowadays), both still have stuff to work on though.
Hopefully Taj will realize he needs to work on a consistent 15 ft. jumper as well as showing better hands if he hopes to make it at the next level, he isn't going to be playing center in the NBA and at this point he hasn't shown the ability to score away from the basket. If he stays and Diarra's play allows him to move to the PF position next season he'll be able to show what he's capable of at his natural position.
One thing to remember about this team is that it is extremely young and while we may lose the top talent, the supporting cast is getting more experienced and we are getting deeper every season. It hurt this season to lose Nick and Gabe and Lod because we didn't have any depth behind them, but now we have some returning players that are gaining experience who will be able to contribute leadership to the new guys, that makes a big difference, especially in tournament time.
It's going to take Floyd a couple more recruiting seasons until we have the nucleus to withstand early departures, until then we just have to live with the roller coaster ride.

[lividtrojan]

i hate to admit it, but i'm not that excited about hackett and lewis. they will improve more over the next couple of years, but they are role players. angelo could have some bigger upside in my opinion. he is super quick, and has a pretty good outside shot.

injuries hurt this year a lot. 'sc could have had pretty good depth, but losing diarra, cunningham, and simmons was tough. and then hackett was obviously not right for most of the season. a 8-10 deep team may have been able to run more which should have been a strength of this season, but with lack of depth it was too risky.

[CardStunts]

i hate to admit it, but i'm not that excited about hackett and lewis. they will improve more over the next couple of years, but they are role players. angelo could have some bigger upside in my opinion. he is super quick, and has a pretty good outside shot.

injuries hurt this year a lot. 'sc could have had pretty good depth, but losing diarra, cunningham, and simmons was tough. and then hackett was obviously not right for most of the season. a 8-10 deep team may have been able to run more which should have been a strength of this season, but with lack of depth it was too risky.

Some may think I'm crazy, but Hackett reminds me of Grant Hill when he was at duke. He always got hype, but never really did much until he was a senior. I think we could see the same type of progression with DH.
Lewis needs to shoot a bazillion jumpers and realize his role is to knock down big shots at opportune moments, if he can do that he'll fill a role this team lacks.

DH and DL along with Johnson, Wilk, Simmons ARE role players(every teams need them and we are severely lacking), they are the guys who need to support the big 2 or 3 and with a little more experience should be able to help with the transition when we lose our best guys after one season.

[Conquestluvr]

I think it should be made clear that there is no virus going around the USC campus that only affects men who are 6'10" and weigh over 260 lbs.

One would think over the last 40 years that such as virus does exist, because players of this size have been avoiding USC like the plague.

The absence of these big men have been USC's greatest obstacle for four decades, and they are sorely needed to get to the final four and win it all.

I repeat, THIS TROJAN VIRUS DOES NOT REALLY EXIST!

No big guys coming in next year. What a shock!

[BD1969]

......, COnQuesT-LoViN'-MaN!!! I HavE BeEN PoInTInG ThiS OUUUT,
FoR SEVERAL YeAr'S, AssZ WeLLL!!! FoR SomE STrAngE REaSoN, U.S.C.
BaSKeTBaLL, JusT NEVER SeEmS TOOU HAvE ThE "BIIIG-MAAAN",---ThaT
ThEY DOOU InDeEd NeED!!!!!!


:bash: :football: AMEN!!!!!!!!!BD#9 :scb:

[BD1969]

......!!! IttT'S 62-51,---3:11 TOOU GOOO, AnD WVu, HaSZZZE The BaLL!!!!!!


:bash: :football: AMEN!!!!!!!!!BD#9 :scb:

[ErikMcKinney]

6'10", 260 pound big men don't exactly grow on trees at the high school level, and if they do exist, they are being recruited by just about every school in the country. The USC basketball program doesn't get these players for the same reason that Oregon State doesn't pull in 6'5", 230 pound quarterbacks with laser, rocket arms. You just don't go to USC to play basketball.

Of course that's all starting to change now, and O.J. Mayo's (and Davon Jefferson's, for that matter) decision to go to USC this season will have a big impact in future recruiting. We've already seen it with Demar DeRozan deciding that he doesn't need to leave LA to play basketball. Sure, he's not a "big" guy, but there just aren't that many of those guys to go around. Next year, Renardo Sidney will be the best "big" guy in the country and the Trojans look to be in a great position to get him right now. The year after that, Jeremy Tyler will be the best big man and the Trojans are right in on him as well. I'm sure there will be tons of people complaining that these kids all might be one-and-done, but you can't complain that great big men aren't coming to USC and then complain that they do come and leave after one year.

Remember, the Trojans had 7'1" Robert Swift signed heading into the 2004 season and instead, he was chosen with the 12th pick in the NBA draft.

Now that USC has shown that it can be a home for elite prospects, those big men will begin looking at USC as a viable destination. That just hasn't been the case in the past.

[BD1969]

......, AnD U.S.C'S NEUUUW BaSKeTBaLL FaCiLiTieS, SHOULD REEEALLLY
HeLP, InnN ThE FutUre, TOOU LAnD, SoMe BIIIG-MeN, AssZ WeLLL!!!
GOOO U.S.C. TROJAN'S!!!!!!


:bash: :football: AMEN!!!!!!!!!BD#9 :scb:

[USC_Dynasty]

I take comfort in that a first round exit is a rebuilding and down year for USC. At one point, that would be an up year. As for OJ, well I don't think anyone can really predict what he will do. He's always marched to the beat of his own drummer and is thus, hard to predict.

[BD1969]

......SAAAY, ThaT OJ IssZ AbOuT A 75-80% SurE ThinG, TOOU
MOOUUUVE OnnN, TOOU ThE NBA,---AnD EsPeCIaLLLY, IFFF, HiS GRaDeS,
ARRRE SuB-PaR!!!!!!


:bash: :football: AMEN!!!!!!!!!BD#9 :scb:

[Conquestluvr]

6'10", 260 pound big men don't exactly grow on trees at the high school level, and if they do exist, they are being recruited by just about every school in the country. The USC basketball program doesn't get these players for the same reason that Oregon State doesn't pull in 6'5", 230 pound quarterbacks with laser, rocket arms. You just don't go to USC to play basketball.

Of course that's all starting to change now, and O.J. Mayo's (and Davon Jefferson's, for that matter) decision to go to USC this season will have a big impact in future recruiting. We've already seen it with Demar DeRozan deciding that he doesn't need to leave LA to play basketball. Sure, he's not a "big" guy, but there just aren't that many of those guys to go around. Next year, Renardo Sidney will be the best "big" guy in the country and the Trojans look to be in a great position to get him right now. The year after that, Jeremy Tyler will be the best big man and the Trojans are right in on him as well. I'm sure there will be tons of people complaining that these kids all might be one-and-done, but you can't complain that great big men aren't coming to USC and then complain that they do come and leave after one year.

Remember, the Trojans had 7'1" Robert Swift signed heading into the 2004 season and instead, he was chosen with the 12th pick in the NBA draft.

Now that USC has shown that it can be a home for elite prospects, those big men will begin looking at USC as a viable destination. That just hasn't been the case in the past.

I am realistic enough not to expect the same insurgence of big men as the established basketball programs, but to not have any in 40 years seems to violate the laws of probability.
Even when the Trojans have gone against other average programs down through the years, we hear about how they will have to contend with the other team's 6'11" and 270 lb player(s), . Washington, WSU, and Cal seem to get a number of tall big trees.
KSU has them, Wisconsin has them. Many average programs have them. I therefore don't understand why we do not get at least our share.
I am not saying these big men have to be superstars. They just have to be good enough to give us an inside presence to take some pressure off our forwards. Yet we do not even get the slightly above average big bodies.
I am also not one who would complain about a "one and done" big man. One year is better than no years.
I hope you are right that this turns around. Common sense says it should. But I will believe it when it happens, and it hasn't happened in 40 years.
Admittedly, we did have some good fortunate with bigger guys in 2001-2 with Scalabrine, Clancy, and Bluthenthal, even though we lacked the true big guy. But usually our depth over 6'-6" is minimal. Such is the case this year. There was no one who played agressively enough of any size to bail out Taj and Davon, so it is not only the lack of that one big man, it is lack of quality depth above 6'6" that seems to give 90% of our opponents the size advantage in the post.
Give me two or three more guys like Taj and Devon, and I can live without the giants. Five of these guys, instead of two would get us to the final four.

[USC_Dynasty]

Just imagine how far Jeff's dunk squad could have gone with a little more depth and a big man. Then again with the Dookies in the striped shirts, we'd have probably lost anyway.