Pac 12 Preview: USC

Pac 12 Preview: Southern Cal

Last Season: 14-16 overall and just 5-13 in Pac 12 play. This has resulted in a new coaching staff.


The Coaches: Mark Trakh has returned to USC after six seasons as the Head Coach at New Mexico State. Mark coach for 5 seasons at USC before New Mexico. New Mexico State lost just 2 league games in the past 3 seasons. Mark started as a Head Coach at Pepperdine in 1994.
Jason Glover is the Associate Head Coach. Glover joined Mark at New Mexico State last season after several years coaching in both the NBA and the WNBA.
Aarika Hughes returns to USC where she played. Hughes coached for 5 years at New Mexico State. She was a HS teammate of JJ Hones and Colorado assistant Alex Earl.
Blanche Alverson is like the other assistants in their first year at USC after 2 seasons at New Mexico State.


Losses:
Lauren Higgins would have been a Soph Wing but has transferred to UOP. Last season she averaged 4.4 points while starting 15 games. She was a top recruit out of HS.

Courtney Jaco averaged 10.6 points and made 68 threes at 40%. Her 68 threes were more than the next 3 combined.

Ivana Jakubcova averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.
Alexis Lloyd averaged just 9 minutes a game.

Ayanna Clark who should be a frosh and at one time the top player in her class is not listed on the roster.

Destiny Littleton who scored about 5,000 points in her California HS career was released with the coaching change and is at Texas.



Additions:
The big addition is 6th year Grad Student Jordan Adams, see more under The Team.
Shalexxus Aaron is a 6-1 Frosh Guard from SoCal who played her firsdt three years of HS in Washington. Aaron was ranked # 57. Her brother is on the USC Men’s Basketball team.

Mariya Moore is a transfer from Louisville. She is a 6-0 Wing and must sit out this season. Her sister Minyon is a starter on this team. Mariya averaged 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for Louisville last season and is their # 13 all time leading scorer. She is a huge addition.


The Schedule:
Purdue and Texas A&M are the only standouts on the schedule. They play the Arizona and Washington schools once each.



The Team:
Kristen Simon is a 6-2 Sr Post who averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds starting every game last season. She led USC is both areas.

Sadie Edwards is a 5-10 Sr Guard who started her career at UConn. Sadie averaged 9 points per game, starting 22. She was a McD All American.

Minyon Moore is a 5-8 Soph guard who started at Point Guard last season. Minyon led the team is assists 4 per game and scored 12 points per game.

Jordan Adams is a 6-1 6th year Grad student at Guard. Jordan was only able to play 5 games last season, averaging 9 points. She was recruited to USC by new coach Trakh.

Aliyah Mazyck is a 5-9 Jr Guard who averaged 7 points per game last season in only 18 minutes.

Ja’Vavia Tapley is a 6-3 Soph Forward who averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds.

Asiah Jones is a 6-3 Soph Forwards who averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Marquerite Effa is a 6-3 Jr Post who played 82 minutes in 14 games last season.

Candela Abejon is a 6-1 Jr Guard from Spoain who played just 5 games last year.

Dani Milisic is a 6-4 Redshirt Soph Post from Australia;’ Last season she played just 6 minutes a game and appeared in 2.3 of the games. An interesting stat: she had 7 rebounds in 128 total minutes.



Predictions:
Really hurt badly by 3 great players who won’t be with the Trojans . Maybe Clark will at the semester, but I don’t know her situation.
Thin but with a couple of very good players. Still hard to see them in the top 6.



2018 Recruiting: No Commits yet. However they have had and will have some outstanding visitors.