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Katin Reinhardt doesn’t pass up a second chance to attend USC

Two years after backing out of his initial verbal commitment to USC, Katin Reinhardt has decided to give the Trojans another chance.

The UNLV transfer told Scout.com on Thursday he will attend USC, a decision he came to after visiting the campus and the coaching staff on Wednesday. Reinhardt confirmed the news via his Twitter page Thursday morning.

Although Reinhardt will have to sit out all of next year before playing the 2014-15 season as a redshirt sophomore, his ability to score in multiple ways and his outside shooting prowess should make him worth the wait for USC. Reinhardt was a consensus top 75 recruit from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. and he averaged 10.1 points per game as a volume-shooting freshman at UNLV.

That Reinhardt is leaving UNLV caught many by surprise this past weekend because of the freedom he was given to shoot at will with the Rebels. He told Scout.com UNLV viewed him as mostly as a catch-and-shoot threat and he's hoping to prove he can be an asset playing on the ball more frequently as a combo guard in new USC coach Andy Enfield's up-tempo system.

“We watched film for about 45 minutes and coach Enfield showed me their style of play and how I would fit in," Reinhardt told Scout.com. "He said that he doesn't want me to be pigeonholed into one thing; I would be a playmaker, and I felt very comfortable with that."

The 6-foot-5 Reinhardt is a better shooter than he showed at UNLV, where he took more shots than everyone besides lottery pick Anthony Bennett but only made 35.1 percent of his threes. He should fit in well in USC's offense-oriented system, but his defense has room for improvement and he'll have to prove he can create for his teammates off the dribble.

The knock on Mater Dei products recently has been there tendency to transfer at the first hint of adversity. Eight of the nine Mater Dei prospects in the Rivals 150 since 2007 have attended two or more colleges, a list that includes Taylor King, David and Travis Wear, , Keala King, Tyler Lamb and Gary Franklin, among others.

The scary news for USC is only a couple of those guys have become productive players at their second school. Reinhardt certainly has the talent to buck that trend.