Improvement Unlikely for These College Teams
Mike DeCourcy - SportingNews.com
Oct 15, 2009
Three players departed for professional basketball with years of eligibility unspent. The head coach disappeared into the Mississippi backwoods with time remaining on his contract and an NCAA investigation hovering over his program.
The only thing unchanged regarding the Southern California Trojans is they still spell their name with a capital "S" and a capital "C". Oh, and Dwight Lewis remains with the program.
USC has made three consecutive NCAA Tournaments but, following college basketball's most tumultuous offseason, seems unlikely to make it four. The Trojans plan to give it a try.
Reason for hope?
"We'll be just as good or better," says center Alex Stepheson, eligible to play after transferring from North Carolina. "A lot of people are doubting us, are down on us. I think we still have a lot of talent, and we have a lot to prove. That's motivating us."
Without forward Taj Gibson, wing DeMar DeRozan and point guard Daniel Hackett, Lewis is the only returning player who averaged more than seven points. Coach Tim Floyd was accused of paying a recruit's handler and resigned, leading to a rare summer coaching search that identified Kevin O'Neill as his replacement.
There is more talent than it would seem on the surface. Adding Stepheson could be significant. Wing Marcus Johnson is capable of making an impact with DeRozan out of the way. Wing Marcus Simmons has been in the training room more than on the court, but USC hopes he'll be healthier this year, and rugged Leonard Washington could be a solid Pac-10 power forward once he regains his eligibility to compete.
But everything has to go right, and that hasn't been the trend at USC lately.
Keys for the Trojans
"Our guys have worked extremely hard," O'Neill says. "I really like their work ethic. I like them as people. If we can just avoid the injury bug, we can be competitive.
"One of our keys will be how guys adjust to a bigger spotlight. Every one of them, they're all going to be in a bigger spotlight than they've ever been in. Sometimes that brings out the best in guys. Sometimes that messes with them a little bit."
Who else could fall?
The Trojans, who were 22-13 last season, will have company as a team trying to avoid a major plunge from 2008-09 to 2009-10.
• Providence (19-14). The Friars lost five of their top seven players, roughly two-thirds of their production. Coach Keno Davis took over a veteran team last year that was a factor in the Big East, but now he'll attempt to to rebuild in the nation's most imposing conference.
• Marquette (25-10). Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James weren't just the foundation of the Marquette program last season -- they were every bit of that for four years. The talent isn't in place yet to navigate such a profound roster change.
• Memphis (33-4). What could have been the nation's preseason No. 1 team won't be picked first in Conference USA. The Tigers have talent but, because of injuries and defections, not nearly enough depth. New coach Josh Pastner is hitting it big as a recruiter, so now is the chance for the rest of C-USA to take its shots.
Mike DeCourcy is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at decourcy@sportingnews.com.
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