USC Basketball: Trojans digging early hole in their 2019-20 resume

Don’t be fooled by USC’ Basketball’s winning record – the Trojans are already positioning themselves outside of the NCAA Tournament field.

USC Basketball appears to be on the right track in Year 7 of Andy Enfield’s tenure in Los Angeles. They’re 6-2 in the early days of the season, their best record through eight since they started 14-0 in 2016-17.

Dig just beneath the surface, however, and it becomes clear the walls are already beginning to cave in on USC.

Of their six victories so far, precisely none of them have come against major conference opponents. USC has beaten Florida A&M, Portland, San Diego State, Pepperdine (barely) and Fairfield (barely). The Trojans’ best win of the season was against Nevada, but those are not Eric Musselman’s Wolf Pack of two years ago.

Meanwhile, the only teams of potential Quadrant I substance USC has played are Temple (close loss) and Marquette (not so close loss). The loss to the Golden Eagles was particularly appalling, as the Trojans were never in the game and they allowed the indomitable Markus Howard roast them for a whopping 51 points.

Granted, Howard can make any defense in the country look foolish. That’s kind of his thing. But it speaks to a larger problem USC may have this season: the lack of a bonafide star who can go head-to-head with the best player on a rival team.

Their best player so far this season is freshman Onyeka Okongwu, who has the best chance of developing into that needed star by the time the postseason rolls around. He’s averaging 17.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, rising up the ranks of best freshmen performers in the nation.

Senior forward Nick Rakocevic has been solid as well, sporting averages of 13.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. That being said, both of those numbers are actually slightly down from his junior season.

Beyond those two, it’s hard for Enfield to put a lot of trust into his remaining players right now.

As for chances to boost their postseason resume, USC should look towards Pac-12 play. The conference should have a couple of elite teams in Oregon and Arizona, as well as a couple of teams in the next tier in Colorado and Washington. The Trojans face all of those teams in the regular season twice except Oregon (who they only get in Eugene), so there are at least seven opportunities to get signature wins within the conference.

USC still has a couple of good opportunities left in nonconference play as well. They’ll finish off their Orlando Invitational trip on Sunday evening against Harvard, who may not be a Quad I team, but are the favorite to win the Ivy League and played Maryland close on Friday. USC’s following game is a nationally televised contest at TCU on December 6; TCU’s lone loss of the season was an overtime thriller on a neutral court against Clemson. USC also plays LSU in the Hall of Fame Classic at the Staples Center on December 21.

So Andy Enfield’s team isn’t dead yet. But if the USC Trojans are going to make their third NCAA Tournament under Enfield – and first since 2016-17 – they’re going to have to start capitalizing on their chances.