2023 USC basketball season will bear little resemblance to upcoming 2024 ride
Last season at USC, the Trojans did not have much depth they could really count on. Reese Dixon-Waters was the one reserve who was reasonably reliable. Other than that, it was a struggle for Andy Enfield to find consistent bench minutes.
Vince Iwuchukwu was healthy for one month, but for most of the season, he was either unavailable, not healthy, or restricted to fewer than 10 minutes per game. He had only one month in which he could play 15 to 25 minutes per game, so in that regard, he wasn’t a regular bench option, just a temporary one.
Other than Iwuchukwu (for one month), USC didn’t have strong bench options. Not Harrison Hornery. Not Malik Thomas. Not Oziyah Sellers. Not Iaroslav Niagu. Kijani Wright became a better player late in the season, but he wasn’t a consistent bench producer for most of the campaign. He wasn’t a factor until February.
Because USC lacked a deep bench, Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson had to play extended minutes. Ellis played 33 per night, Peterson 36. Enfield needed them on the floor. If he had a deeper bench, they wouldn’t have played as much.
Now, however, with Ellis coming back for another season, the dynamics of the roster are going to change.
USC had one reliable bench player for the entirety of last season, with Iwuchukwu and Wright both providing roughly one solid month of bench help apiece, so maybe one could say the Trojans had one and a half bench options for the full run of the four-and-a-half-month season.
Next season, USC and Enfield will be in position to use a fully-stocked bench. We’re talking five or six players. Yes, USC could really go 10 deep.
Crazy talk? Not at all.
USC has a rotation of three bigs — Iwuchukwu, Josh Morgan, and Wright — with two wing defenders (Tre White, Kobe Johnson) and two elite guards (Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis). That’s the core seven-man rotation right now.
Forward Arrinten Page should be part of the rotation. Remember, he is a high school teammate of Isaiah Collier. That makes eight players who should get decent minutes.
Then, if Bronny James picks USC, the Trojans’ backcourt will become even deeper. That’s nine core rotation players.
Then there’s still a spot left on the roster which could be filled in the transfer portal. USC and Enfield really could work with 10 players, a 180-degree change from this past season.
If Enfield has five legitimate bench options, Boogie Ellis no longer has to play 33 minutes per night. Enfield would be able to mix and match combinations a lot more than he ever has.
One has to remember that much as a manager in baseball is influenced by the amount of options he has in the bullpen or elsewhere, a basketball coach is similarly constrained.
If bench players, like late-inning relievers, are really good, the coach is going to call upon them a lot. If they aren’t good, the coach will keep them stapled to the pine.
USC is in position to have an actual bench with three or four really good choices. Enfield could play eight to 10 players and not have anyone play more than 30 minutes per game. It wouldn’t be a philosophical change; it would be a response to having more good basketball players, and therefore being able to use more lineup combinations in various situations.
The past offers no template for the future. That’s what happens when a roster becomes significantly better and deeper. That’s the new reality for USC hoops.
