subject: 2011 Usc Ncaa Basketball Season Outlook [print this page] Recap Recap
USC experienced a decent season in 2010-11 having a 19-15 record along with a 4th place finish in the Pac-10. During the Pac-10 tourney the Trojans advanced to the semifinals, thenproceededto go down in the play-in game of the NCAA tournament to VCU.
USC achieved results by becoming a superb defensive team. USC held their opponents to under 41% from the field shooting and also to less than 64 points each game.
The loss of Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stepheson is going to be difficult to substitute. Vucevic averaged more than 17 points per game and brought down more than 10 boards per game. Stepheson was the team's 2nd best rebounder at 7.2 per game and also contributed just under 10 points.
2011-12 Overview
Kevin O'Neill has been the Trojan head coach for a couple of years and has offered the followers with teams that play hard and get better as the season progresses. This season's group has a great deal of production to replace, but O'Neill does have Jio Fontan, Maurice Jones, and Garrett Jackson returning. In addition to a solid recruiting class the Trojans brought in transfers Aaron Fuller and Dewayne Dedmon.
Backcourt
Southern Cal will be strongly relying on their backcourt duo of Fontan and Jones. Fontan sat out the first semester last season, but came in to pace the group in assists and finished 2nd in scoring at more than ten points every contest.
Jones was third on the team inoffensewith 9.9 points per game, dished out 110 total assists, and established the school record with 69 steals as a freshman. His achievements helped to receive a place on the Pac-10 All-Freshman team.
Bryon Wesley is a 6'5" freshman perimeter player who's anticipated to help around the offensive side immediately. Alexis Moore is an additional freshman who really should see time and contributes well on each side sides of the floor. Junior college transfer Greg Allen can be a solid defender and can shoot the three.
Frontcourt
The Trojans 3 post players should be Aaron Fuller, Dewayne Dedmon, and James Blascyk. Fuller was compelled to sit out the 2010-11 year immediately after transfering over from Iowa. In his sophomore season in Iowa City he was honoroable mention on the All-Conference team with just under 10 points and almost 7 boards every game.
These players will probably be pushed in practice by a few transfers who will sit out this season. Ari Stewart came over from Wake Forest and Eric Wise is a transfer from UC-Irvine.
