NCAA Basketball: Duke Blue Devils and USC Trojans lead Sunday Mailbag
By Bryan Mauro
What is the outlook for USC in the Pac-12? – Ben Andreatta @BennyAnTheJetss
The Pac 12 doesn’t appear to be very good at least in the early going. Early losses by Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and USC all show that the league may struggle this year. It also needs to be said that the season is early and the Pac 12 still has some of the country’s most talented teams with Arizona State and Oregon. USC has one of the best freshmen in the country this year in Evan Mobley and it appears the Trojans are going to go as far as the freshman takes them.
In my rankings I had USC ranked just outside the top 50 and fifth overall in the Pac 12. Mobley was the top freshman in the country by many publications and so far he has played like it. He has the ability to dominate a game on both the offensive and defensive end. The Trojans have shown well on defense so far and have protected the rim as they are on the verge of having a very elite frontcourt with Mobley and his brother Isaiah.
Early on this season, the Trojans are one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Their ability to clean up the misses and their prowess for getting second-chance buckets with offensive rebounds is going to be a huge factor in the Pac 12 race.
USC is a very dangerous team when their frontcourt is playing well and they are a good rebounding team. Their early destruction of BYU this season showed what type of team they could be. The one thing that seems to be the potential downfall for the Trojans this year is their inability to play well against physical teams.
In the loss to UConn, the Trojans were not the aggressor and they were out-toughed underneath and it reflected in the final score. USC had trouble scoring all night long. They have the pieces to dominate and they need to go into every game with that mentality to reach their full potential.