The Andy Enfield era has been very good to USC basketball. Enfield has exceeded expectations. Pat Haden’s hire in 2013 has turned out better than most people thought. Rocky periods still exist, but the program has clearly evolved and grown beyond its uncertain beginning and its wobbly 2018-2020 period when no one was sure that Enfield would succeed.
Doubts about Enfield five years ago were legitimate. Enfield has answered most of those doubts, but there are two clear flaws he still has to reduce if not eliminate if he is to take USC to the top tier of college basketball.
The flaw we will focus on here does not require a lot of explanation. It’s a very simple thing: Enfield — who was himself a very good shooter in his playing days (making this discussion quite ironic) — has not consistently recruited elite shooters to USC.
Here’s the thing about shooters: They aren’t good if they hit shots in practice. They’re good if they can hit shots in live games when playing defense at the other end of the floor and withstanding the rigors of two-way basketball. That’s a shooter: The fatigue and strain attached to playing a full basketball game don’t take away the shooter’s legs or the technique and precision in the shooting stroke.
Enfield said before the season that he liked the shooting on this team. He mentioned Oziyah Sellers as a talented shooter.
Sellers barely plays, and when he does play, he doesn’t make 3-pointers.
He might hit tons of shots in practice, but that’s not a good shooter — not to the extent that it helps USC on the court. That’s the point. Shooters deliver in games. USC hasn’t had those kinds of players very often. Bennie Boatwright was one of the few.
USC simply needs proven shooters.
With Isaiah Collier coming into the program as an elite point guard next season, the hope is that elite shooters will recognize the potential opportunity to play with a floor general who will create tons of high-quality looks. Enfield has to be able to make a successful sales pitch and convince at least one top shooter to join Collier while the dead weight on the current USC bench transfers out of the program to create the open roster spot.
Enfield has fallen short in the pursuit of top shooters. If he can address this flaw, USC will become exponentially better in the years ahead.
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