The two USC basketball programs have No. 1 recruits, but are going in completely different directions. Coaching matters.
There’s a reason why Lindsay Gottlieb was an NBA assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers. There’s a reason why Gottlieb had a chance to potentially become a female NBA head coach, something Becky Hammon might also become in the future.
Lindsay Gottlieb is an elite basketball coach — not an elite women’s basketball coach, just an elite basketball coach, period. She knows ball. When Mike Bohn pulled her away from the Cavs and the NBA to sell her on a vision for USC women’s basketball, the Trojans’ future immediately made a 180-degree turn. USC didn’t just hire a good coach; it hired a rock star coach, one of the best in the game.
Now we are seeing why. USC is 8-0 after a blowout of UC Riverside on Sunday. The Trojans are ranked in the top six in the nation. They will likely be unbeaten heading into the start of the Pac-12 season on December 30. The season is still young, but USC’s odds of getting a top-four seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament are better than 50-50 at this point. The Trojans are going to lose several games in a loaded Pac-12, but as long as they get their share of wins, they will be a high seed in March Madness.
They have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2024. JuJu Watkins, only a freshman, is going to get better. She will have better players around her in future seasons, but this team — right now — is already very good. Gottlieb and lead assistant coach Beth Burns have taken a No. 1-ranked recruit and used that centerpiece — JuJu — to build a high-quality team and a program with a very strong foundation.
On the other side of basketball at Heritage Hall, USC men’s hoops also has a No. 1-ranked recruit, Isaiah Collier. He is surrounded by talented players who have played in the NCAA Touranment. Boogie Ellis has played in multiple NCAA Tournaments. Kobe Johnson has played in multiple NCAA Tournaments. Andy Enfield helped Boogie and Kobe achieve something of note in previous seasons. To Enfield’s credit, USC has become a school which expects to make the NCAA Tournament every year. That expectation didn’t exist when Enfield came aboard a decade ago. Enfield has improved the USC program.
However, Enfield’s ceiling as a coach and program developer might be far lower than we all hoped.
Whereas Gottlieb is so clearly maximizing the talents and capabilities of JuJu Watkins and is transforming a No. 1 recruit into the central presence on a loaded, thriving team at USC, Enfield has utterly failed in his attempt to build a similarly strong team around Isaiah Collier.
Not only is Enfield failing to do what Gottlieb is doing; it’s not even close. It’s not even a situation where one can see progress even while results aren’t emerging. No. There isn’t any sign of progress, which is the ultimate reason for concern in the world of USC men’s basketball.
The problems which existed before Collier came aboard are the problems which still affect USC men’s basketball: too many turnovers, too many 3-point shots (and misses), too many missed free throws, not enough easy baskets, not enough ball movement.
We said for years that if Enfield could simply land an elite point guard — his new version of Jordan McLaughlin — it would all come together for USC. Against Kansas State on November 6, Collier was a beast and USC looked like a team ready to do something special this season.
While injuries certainly slowed this team’s development in November, this past week was marked by the arrival of Bronny James, who played his first game for USC. Vince Iwuchukwu looks better and healthier. The roster was getting healthy. The team had more practice time together. After a tough November plus a December 2 loss to Gonzaga, we were supposed to see this team round into form, become more cohesive, and begin to show what it was capable of heading into Pac-12 play on December 28. No, the results weren’t great for this team in the first month of the season, but now with guys getting healthy, we were supposed to see “the real USC.”
Nope. Instead of improvement, USC remained stuck in familiar territory, with the turnovers, the missed foul shots, and the inability to play consistently good basketball for more than 15-20 minutes in a game. USC blew a 15-point lead at home to Long Beach State, with Collier, Boogie, and Kobe — a hyped backcourt before the season began — struggling throughout the contest. Bronny played well in limited minutes. Iwuchukwu played his best game of the season.
USC still lost. At home. To Long Beach. In front of a packed Galen Center.
There is simply no reason for the men’s basketball product to be this bad with this much talent. USC men’s basketball, like USC women’s basketball, has the No. 1 2023 recruit in the country on its roster. Yet, the process and results for these two teams could not be more different.
Lindsay Gottlieb’s successes magnify Andy Enfield’s failures, and vice-versa. USC has its rock-star coach in the women’s game, and it might soon need to look for a rock-star coach in the men’s game.
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