Pac 12 Preview: USC

Last Season: 17-13 overall and just 9-11 in Pac 12 play.

The Coaches: Mark Trakh has returned to USC for his 3rd season after six seasons as the Head Coach at New Mexico State. Mark coached 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 in his 23nd season as the Associate Head Coach. Glover joined Mark at New Mexico State two seasons after several years coaching in both the NBA and the WNBA.

Aarika Hughes returns for her 3nd season 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.

Erin Grant starts her first year at USC. Grant was an All American at Texas Tech and has coached at Memphis, New Mexico and Texas Tech

Yes this is way strange but it’s the USC 2019-20 team. They have 9 players not returning or graduated and 9 new players.
Losses:
Aliyah Mazyck graduated after averaged 15 points.

Minyon Moore averaged 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds plus a 2.6:1 assist to turnover ratio. Moore graduated in three years and will play for Oregon.

Mariya Moore graduated after averaging 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

Ja’Tavia Tapley averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds. Tapley grad transferring to Arizona after graduating in three years

Cheyanne Wallace was a grad transfer to USC. Last season she averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds.

Asiha Jones averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds. Jones transferred to Virginia Tech.

Jill Archer, Kyerstin Galloway and Danijela Milisic seldom played. Archer transferred to Georgetown. Galloway and Milisic are no longer on the roster.

That’s 59 points gone.


Additions:
Stephanie Watts is a 5-11 Guard Grad transfer from North Carolina. Watts is a former McD All American and last season averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assist. She also made 82 threes at 37%.

Aliyah Jeune is a 6-1 Wing and a Grad Transfer from Morehead State. Last year Jeune averaged 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Jeune stared her career at Rutgers where she played 2 years and averaged 8 points per game as a Soph.

Endyia Rogers is a 5-7 Frosh Guard from Dallas. She was ranked # 39/36.

Angel Jackson is a 6-5 Frosh Post from NorCal ranked # 24/37.

Kyra White is a 5-10 Frosh Guard from Texas ranked # 94

Madison Campbell is a 5-11 Guard from Fresno area ranked # 124.

Alyson Miura is a 5-9 Guard from Oregon ranked # 85.

India Otto is a 5-9 Frosh Guard from Winward HS.

Alissa Pili is a 6-0 Forward from Alaska ranked 75/41.



The Schedule:
Virginia, Texas A&M, Nebraska and Alabama all at home.
USC plays only at Stanford and Cal and hosts only Oregon and Oregon State. A big break here playing the top 3 teams only once each.



The Team:
Desiree Caldwell is a 5-8 soph Point Guard from Texas ranked # 14 out of HS but only averaged 19 minutes and 3 points.

Kayla Overbeck is a 6-1 Sr Froward originally from SoCal who transferred after 2 seasons at Vanderbilt. Last season at USC she averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds

Shalexxus Aaron is a 6-1 Redshirt Soph Guard from SoCal who played her first three years of HS in Washington. Aaron was ranked # 57. Her brother is on the USC Men’s Basketball team. Last season Aaron averaged 7 points and made 42 threes at 42%.
17 points return.



Predictions: A strange team with only three new players however nine new players and a number of them are very good. Can USC mold into a team is the question, however lots of talent.



2020 Recruiting Commits:
None
In the Hunt for:
Angel Reece, 6-3 Wing MD ranked # 2
Jordyn Jenkins, 6-2 Forward from Washington, ranked # 42
Elauna Eaton, 5-11 Guard from KS ranked # 47
Eylia Love, 6-1 Wing from KS, ranked # 64
Anaya Boyd, 5-11 Guard from GA ranked # 31