Pac 12 Preview: USC

Last Season:
22-13 overall and 11-7 in league and of course won the Pac 12 tournament. USC lost in the opening round of the NCAA. Average Attendance was 1,010.


The Coaching Staff:
Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is in her 2nd year at USC and her 9th season overall as a Head Coach. Cynthia has made post season, 3 times NCAA and 5 WNIT, 8 straight seasons. She had a storied career at USC and playing Professional that placed her in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Beth Burns is in her first year as an Assistant after a very successful run as the Head Coach at San Diego State. Beth worked on Tara’s staff for a year prior to San Diego State and was an Assistant for Tara at Ohio State. Beth was Head Coach at San Diego State for 8 seasons then Head Coach at Ohio State for 5 years and following a year a Stanford she went back to San Diego State for 8 more seasons as the Head Coach.

Jualeah Woods is in her 2nd season as an Assistant at USC and also a former USC player, a four year starter and 2 year team captain. Jualeah spent 9 years at San Diego State as an assistant to Beth Burns and her final year as the Head Coach. She has been an Assistant at Cal and Oregon State.

Taja Edwards starts her first year at USC coming from Cal State Fullerton where she coached for a year.


The Schedule:
USC plays the Washington and Arizona schools once each. The non conference schedule is very weak with only South Carolina figuring to be a top 25 team. Of course that one is tough, as South Carolina should be top 10 or better team and that’s the first game for the Trojans. After South Carolina comes St Mary’s and Oklahoma State. To be fair last season USC lost to both Oklahoma State and St Mary’s.



The Losses:
Cassie Harberts started every game at Center and scored 15 points and gathered in 7 rebounds per game. Cassie led the team playing 33 minutes per game.

Desiree Bradley scored 5 points per game and was 2nd on the team with 35 threes shooting threes at 40 %

Kate Oliver was the back-up Center and played forward scoring 2 points and getting almost 2 rebounds in 9 minutes per game.

Deanna Calhoun also played some Center but only played 20 games due to injuries. Deanna averaged just 5 minutes and has graduated in three years. She will continue playing at Hawaii.


Additions:
USC had the # 15 recruiting class in the nation, behind Pac 12 schools UCLA (1), Stanford (10) and Cal (14). All four recruits were Top 100 on either ESPN or Prospects Nation. Two were top 50.

McKenzie Calvert is a 5-9 Frosh Guard, # 16 ESPN and # 72 PN. Calvert was a one-time commit to Baylor at a young age. She is an outstanding scorer and was a HS honor student who hopes to major in Pre Med or Pre Law.

Kristen Simon is a 6-1 Frosh Center/Forward who may well be the starting Post this season. Simon was ranked # 32 and 48. She is very strong in the Paint. Coached in HS by Vanessa Nygaard.

Amy Okonkwo is a 6-2 Frosh Forward ranked # 90 and 120.

Chyanne Butler is a 5-6 Frosh Point Guard. She was ranked # 72 on PN. A three star on ESPN.

Also coming to USC last year from Virginia Tech is5-10 Redshirt Soph Guard Alexis Lloyd. Lloyd averaged 3 points per game as a frosh at VA Tech and was ranked # 81 out of HS.



The Team:
Jordan Adams is a 6-1 RS Soph and the returning starter for the first 2/3 of the season at Point Guard. Jordan was a McD All American and ranked as high as # 7 in HS. She suffered a season ending injury as a Frosh after just 8 games and was hindered by it this past season. She averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds and was 2nd on the team in assists. If fully healthy she could star.

Ariya Crook is a 5-7 Sr Guard who was the starter last year. Ariya’s career goal is being a detective. Last year she led the team with 16 points per game. She also led the team in threes by a lot with 69 and a career high 36%. Ironically she shot just 37% overall from the field, however that too was a career high. Ariya was a McD All American.

Alexyz Vaioletama is a 6-1 Sr Forward who started every game last season averaging 9 points and 8 rebounds. She led the team in steals. She was ranked # 14 out of HS and like Crook and Admas a McD All American.

Kiki Alofaituli is a 6-1 Sr Guard/Forward and started 2/3 of the games last year. Kiki averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds. She was ranked # 26 out of HS.

I believe Frosh Kristen Simon will start at Center.

Others who started last season include 6-1 Sr Forward Kaneisha Horn who averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds in 12 minutes of play, shooting just 32%. Horn played at Alabama for three seasons graduated and is in a USC Masters program. She is USC’s 4th McD All American.

Brianna Barrett is a 5-7 Jr Guard who started 15 games averaging 7 points and led the team is assists. Brianna has 26 starts in her 2 years.

Courtney Jaco is a 5-8 Soph Guard who played in HS with Simon. Jaco scored 4 points per game in 13 minutes as a frosh. However in her brief play she hit 25 threes at 36%.

Drew Edelman is a 6-4 Soph Center and Destinie Gibbs is a 5-11 Jr Guard. Both of Gibbs’ uncles played in the NFL. Edelman is from Sunnyvale and Menlo HS and plans on a career in medicine.



Predictions:
USC has really good depth with the four good frosh and the returnees. But they return only 41 points per game from last season. Picking up the offense and scoring will be the key for playing time. The Trojans have a big hole at Center, solving that will be the key for success for the team.



2015 Recruiting:
6-3 Fairfax forward Marguerite Effa, ranked 134.

2017 Commits:

6-2 Post Ayanna "Yanni" Clark, LB Poly, Ranked # 4 2017.