It has been a remarkable college sports cycle for USC athletics in its revenue sports. The Trojans put both basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament and reached a New Year’s Six bowl in football, something done by only two other schools in this cycle: Alabama and Tennessee.
USC recruited the top-ranked prospects in men’s and women’s basketball, landing Isaiah Collier and JuJu Watkins. It retained Boogie Ellis for one more season. It just landed the top-ranked (spring) transfer portal prospect, Bear Alexander. We’re waiting to see if the Trojans can close the door and land Bronny James, who — though not the No. 1 prospect on the board — would carry value beyond recruiting rankings. Bronny choosing USC would make Trojan basketball much more of a destination program for other recruits. USC becoming “the place to be” for basketball, not just football, is exactly how Andy Enfield can build the Trojans into a Final Four-level program, a team which can expect to contend for college basketball’s biggest prizes. Let’s say more about this below: