24. USC TrojansÂ
Likely departuresÂ
- Chad Baker-Mazara (18.5 ppg and 4.2 rpg)
- Ezra Ausar (14.8 ppg and 6.5 rpg)
- Kam Woods (8.8 ppg and 4.1 apg)
- Jaden Brownell (5.1 ppg and 1.9 rpg)
Likely returnees
- Rodney Rice (20.3 ppg and 6.0 apg in 6 games)
- Jacob Cofie (9.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg)
- Jordan Marsh (7.3 ppg and 1.9 apg)
- Alijah Arenas (14.1 ppg and 2.1 apg in 14 games)
No team was affected by injuries more than USC, who needed players not even on the roster to start the season to finish things out. The biggest loss was Rice, who was one of the best players in the first month of the year, to go down with a season-ending shoulder injury. Assuming he’s back, building around him and a sophomore version of Arenas would be a dynamic backcourt for Big Ten teams to deal with.
There will need to be some improvements among the supporting cast, with a fair amount of misses in the portal a year ago. But with the building blocks set up, Coach Eric Musselman doesn’t have to get 12 new bodies again to be competitive.
Plus, the program has a top-10 incoming recruiting class, led by top-10 overall prospect Christian Collins, along with Adonis Ratliff, a 6’11 big man ranked in the top-20 overall in his own right.