This past week, USC added one more player to its roster. Brandon Gardner slipped away from St. John’s and came to the opposite coast of the United States to play college basketball.
We wrote this about Gardner, focusing on a few obvious questions:
“First, how much playing time can Gardner reasonably expect on a roster which is loaded with depth? Bronny James, Isaiah Collier, Kobe Johnson, and Boogie Ellis have the backcourt and wings locked down, but USC has depth in the frontcourt as well with Vince Iwuchukwu, Joshua Morgan, Kijani Wright, Arrinten Page, and D.J. Rodman. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. What can Gardner realistically hope for?
“Second, is Gardner more valuable for 2025 than 2024? That might be the true value of this pickup. Gardner is in position to learn quite a lot this season, but mostly from the bench. When Bronny, Collier, Boogie, Morgan, and Iwuchukwu all leave after the 2024 season (or at least, that’s the industry expectation), USC will need bodies. Gardner figures to be a core part of the 2025 USC rotation. That’s probably his true importance to Enfield and the Trojans.”
While you think about those questions, stop and realize how much depth and quality Andy Enfield and his staff have assembled. The USC roster has changed a lot from late March, when we offered our original projection of what the 2024 roster would look like.
We are now in a position to offer an updated (and more accurate) projection of what the USC hoops roster should look like. Compare this roster to Arizona’s roster. USC and Arizona are believed to be the two best teams in the coming Pac-12 season: