The history of USC basketball would have been very different if the Trojans’ best teams had been able to play in the NCAA Tournament. Yet, they weren’t.
Younger fans might have a hard time understanding that sentence, but it’s true: USC’s two greatest teams ever were not the 1940 and 1954 Final Four teams. The 1971 and 1974 teams merit that distinction. Yet, the NCAA Tournament had roughly two dozen teams back then, not the 68 we have today. USC would have been a No. 1 seed in 1971, and at least a No. 2 seed in 1974. Yet, only the champion of a conference went to the Big Dance back then. In the Pacific 8 Conference, that champion was — of course — John Wooden’s UCLA program. It locked out the best USC teams of all time.
The Trojans didn’t get the publicity or recognition they deserved back then … and they aren’t remembered in history the way they should be. If they had made the Final Four, the past 50 years of USC basketball might have been very different.
Some of the names on this list of all-time-great USC basketball players might be familiar. Many might not be. We wanted to make sure to honor both the best players on the 1971 team and the best players on USC’s other great teams throughout the years.
Enjoy this presentation of the all-time USC Trojans men’s basketball roster.