USC Basketball: Why Desmond Claude is the most important team transfer for 2024-25

Last season was unquestionably a disappointment at USC, though things are drastically different this year. The Trojans saw Andy Enfield depart as head coach with most of the roster leaving shortly thereafter. In comes Eric Musselman, fresh off plenty of success at Arkansas, and a quest to lead USC not just back to success but in making a good impression as new members of the Big Ten.

There’s no part of this roster that will return following a dreadfully underwhelming 15-18 finish. Despite that 9th place finish in the Pac-12’s final season, USC did see brilliant play from Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier, a pair of exciting guards that were very productive for the Trojans. There was talent up and down the roster, but there’s certainly a lot of talent new to Los Angeles via the Transfer Portal.

We don’t have time to detail every addition that Musselman and his staff maneuvered but they rebuilt a rotation in these last few months. They added some great frontcourt scoring with Northern Colorado forward Saint Thomas and former UMass center Josh Cohen. Plenty of veteran talent was added to the mix, including Bryce Pope from UC San Diego and former Michigan forward Terrance Williams. There’s also youth, with former Washington freshman Wesley Yates hoping for greatness with the Trojans.

The key piece for the Trojans comes in the form of Desmond Claude, a combo guard originally from Connecticut who had quite a run last season at Xavier. A Big East All-Freshman during a decent start to his career, Claude really exploded onto the scene as a sophomore, averaging 16.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. While the season wasn’t stellar for the Musketeers, Claude was named Most Improved Player in the Big East.

Adding a player of this caliber is a win for any program, with Claude really demonstrating his talent over the last year. He’s not revered by any means as a long-range shooter, but gets the job done driving to the basket and also has solid ball handling and distribution skills. In all likelihood, we’ve yet to see Claude at his very best and USC may just give him the chance to showcase that talent.

The initial issue is that this is a team completely rebuilt in the offseason. Sure it’s full of talent and potential, but you have to wonder just what the Trojans will get from various positions on the court, especially with a flurry of players transitioning to the Big Ten. Claude stands to reason as the most ready for that adjustment and it wouldn’t be shocked to see his offensive numbers on par or even more impressive in his junior year.

While it’s not needed in his game, if Claude can develop that outside shot he might become one of the Big Ten’s most unstoppable guards. Regardless, he has a chance to be a special backcourt player in this league based on what we’ve seen in the last twelve months with the Musketeers. Will he continue that rapid upward trajectory in these new surroundings? Did Musselman and his staff assemble enough cohesive talent to compete right off the bat in the Big Ten?