USC is No. 16 in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings for next season
The college basketball season is officially over after the UConn Huskies became national champions with a victory over the San Diego State Aztecs.
Believe it or not, we can discuss the 2023-2024 season. The USC Trojans lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson watched their college careers come to an end.
However, the Trojans look terrific early on for next season, and they landed at No. 16 in the way-too-early top 25 rankings by Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
“Andy Enfield will have one of the nation’s most exciting players running the show next season, in elite recruit Isaiah Collier,” Borzello wrote. “The No. 3 recruit can score, facilitate and make shots from the perimeter and is good enough to carry the Trojans. Enfield also brings back three starters from an NCAA tournament team, and Vincent Iwuchukwu will be fully healthy for an entire season, the team hopes.”
The Trojans can’t wait to see what Isaiah Collier brings to the table, and Vincent Iwuchukwu should get a massive increase in usage if he is fully healthy and medically cleared to play maximum minutes. The projected starting lineup, per Borzello, is Collier, Iwuchukwu, Kobe Johnson, Tre White, and Joshua Morgan.
So, the Trojans essentially replace Peterson with Iwuchukwu and Ellis with Collier, so Andy Enfield’s team should be right back in the mix next season, and that doesn’t include whatever happens in the transfer portal. If USC can add an elite shooter who isn’t a defensive liability, watch out.
