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Post by alanmiller on Oct 19, 2016 15:55:10 GMT -5
Rothstein: Five mystery college basketball teams entering 2016-17Jon RothsteinByJon Rothstein
USC: The Trojans were set to be a top-15 team and compete for a Pac-12 regular season title before two starters — Julian Jacobs and Nikola Jovanovic — left school early to pursue professional opportunities. What do their departures mean for USC entering next season? Lots of uncertainty. This team boasts two legitimate NBA prospects in sophomores Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu as well as a pair of quality college guards in Jordan McLaughlin and Elijah Stewart. But can McLaughlin excel as he takes over for Jacobs as the Trojans’ primary floor general? Not based on what we’ve seen in the past. USC was in complete control in the NCAA Tournament against Providence before several ball-handling errors by McLaughlin cost the Trojans a late five-point lead. Andy Enfield needs freshman guard De’Anthony Melton to provide quality reserve minutes and fellow newcomers Jonah Matthews, Shaqquan Aaron (Louisville), and Charles Buggs (Minnesota) to all contribute. The Trojans definitely have talent, but they need McLaughlin to take care better care of the ball and be capable of leading a team if this program is to reach the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. It could be feast or famine at the Galen Center. 
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Post by mu5cle on Oct 19, 2016 17:11:10 GMT -5
Well, SC made his list. I don't have to agree with his closing sentence, feast or famine. There is so much between those two extremes.
SC has a talented roster. The question is how fast till they mesh? Will they play well together? I haven't seen Shaqquan Aaron play, but anyone who got into the rotation at Louisville as a freshman should be able to contribute immediately.
Can't the games begin, already?
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Post by cabrillojaguar on Oct 20, 2016 10:32:23 GMT -5
Made some fair points on Jordan McLaughlin regarding his floor general prowess. Another example is when USC was up by as much as 22 points on the road vs Washington and cruising but fell apart once Juju left the game with an ankle injury.
Not questioning his talent because it's obviously there, but with Juju now moved on I can't help but think the staff has appointed all the majority of the ball handling duties over to him, he'll now have a different mindset coming into the season rather than expecting to play off the ball. Let's also keep in mind (this is probably the biggest factory that nobody has mentioned) is that his first two seasons at USC, he was held out mostly during in the offseason because of his shoulder injuries. This was his first offseason where he was able to participate in basketball activities without any restrictions or injuries. With that said, his junior year could very well be a "breakout" season in terms of a more well rounded game we see from him.
I too disagree with the feast or famine comment. Regardless of the departures, the talent is still there and players like Elijah Stewart are expected to step up their production and QQ will produce as expected to no one's surprise. The team will play fast and should be able to score a whole lot of points and improve upon their 80ppg/avg as a team.
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Post by chaseinmanhattan on Oct 20, 2016 11:17:16 GMT -5
I too disagree with the feast or famine comment. Regardless of the departures, the talent is still there and players like Elijah Stewart are expected to step up their production and QQ will produce as expected to no one's surprise. The team will play fast and should be able to score a whole lot of points and improve upon their 80ppg/avg as a team. How about feast or famine when it comes to pundit projections?? There seems to be a large crop of "experts" out there -- Norlander, Wilner, Lev -- who perceive the departures of Jacobs and Jovanovic as utterly devastating. Norlander, in particular, seems to believe the departures of Jacobs, Jovanovic and Reinhardt will be tougher for SC than the departures of Ty Wallace, Jaylen Green and Jordan Mathews will be for Cal. |
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Post by eltrojano on Oct 20, 2016 13:01:11 GMT -5
We will be much better off with Buggs than Jovanovic. Buggs is a much better fit athletically for the system and I believe he knows how to pass the ball. Also, Rakovecic(?) is looking pretty good in practice from a post I saw last week. I really like his motor.
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Post by trojangrad on Oct 21, 2016 20:20:49 GMT -5
The frustrating media narrative for me is that USC has a hole at PG with Jacobs leaving. I don't think ppl are giving JMac enough credit. He played a lot of score-first basketball down the stretch last year, but that was what the team needed from him off the ball. Jacobs was not as valuable off the ball due to lack of shooting. They both had almost the exact same number of assists and turnovers last year. I actually thought Jacobs got too sloppy with the ball near the end of last year--it seemed like there was at least one ill advised alley-oop pass from him a game.
I don't think the Jacobs / JMac switch will hurt USC this year as much as the trickle down effect of losing a secondary playmaker off the dribble. JMac can replace Jacobs as the 1 without much dropoff, but there isn't really anyone to replace what JMac could do off the ball as the 2. USC will need Stewart to be much improved as a penetrator. He showed flashes last year (Arizona win comes to mind) but just didn't seem confident going to the basket consistently. Hopefully we can get some off the bounce punch from Aaron and Melton although who the hell knows with them.
I feel like I'm missing something with Buggs. Based on stats and video highlights he seems like a slightly better version of Malik Martin to me. Skinny, athletic, low basketball IQ, can shoot a little bit. He put up lackluster stats on a horrible Minnesota team. USC desperately needs rebounding / rim protection off the bench and his rebounding stats are not good. At least with Clark last year you know you were getting above average rebounding. The Jovanovic argument is tired--he made an NBA preseason roster and I don't think Buggs would be expected to.
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Post by chaseinmanhattan on Oct 21, 2016 22:03:51 GMT -5
well, Buggs has about 4 inches on Clark and about 20 pounds on Martin.
Reviewing many of our losses from last season, the overwhelming problem was lack of rim protection on defense (NJ, DC & MPM combined for 47 blocks on the season), offensive rebounds by opposing bigs (down the stretch our defensive rebound percentage was just terrible), and converting around the rim.
The issue here is that Buggs was not really a front court player for Minnesota last season; he essentially played on the wing. The big question will be whether he can contribute effectively as a stretch-4 .... and do things that he's physically capable of in terms of defending the rim and converting around the basket ... not just standing on the 3-point line looking to hit bombs.
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