Tough Six Months for USC
It has already been nearly six months since VCU started their amazing run to the Final Four. Many forget that the Rams started that run by beating USC in the “First Four.” It was nice for USC to make the tournament, and losing to an eventual Final Four team does help ease the pain, but USC still failed to make it into the tournament proper.
But the good news for the Trojans was that the future looked bright. It has been getting dimmer ever since. First off Nikola Vucevic left school early for the NBA. After leading the team with 17.1 points and 10.3 rebounds, that was a tough loss for Coach Kevin O’Neill. The graduation of fellow forward Alex Stepheson pretty much cleared out the frontcourt. One forward who could have stepped up his game was Curtis Washington. Washington only played in three games as a freshman, but he is an athletic 6-10 forward who can play some solid defense. The Trojans did not need him last season, but they sure could have used him in 2011-2012. However, an injury will likely sideline him for the season.
Washington’s injury did not make big headlines, but when Jio Fontan tore his ACL during the team’s trip to Brazil, it hit home. Fontan was supposed to be the new leader of the team after averaging 10.5 points and 3.9 assists last season. His absence not only means the frontcourt has to rebuild, but the backcourt has some retooling to do as well.
Coach O’Neill has some talent on his roster, but this is a very inexperienced group who last March were looking at getting back to the NCAA Tournament. Now making the big dance is a longshot and reaching the NIT is a much more realistic goal.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
