Recap
Southern Cal had a mediocre year in 2010-11 having a 19-15 record plus a 4th place showing within the Pac-10 conference. In the conference tourney they advanced to the semifinals, then proceeded to lose in the play-in game of the tourney to VCU.
Southern Cal had results by becoming a fantastic defensive team. USC held their foes to under 41% from the floor shooting and also to less than 64 points per game.
The loss of Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stepheson is going to be tricky to substitute. Vucevic averaged more than 17 points per game and brought down 10.3 rebounds every game. Stepheson was the group's second best rebounder at 7.2 each night and also contributed just under 10 points.
2011-12 Overview
Kevin O'Neill has been the USC head coach for two seasons and has offered the enthusiasts teams that play hard and improve as the season progresses. This year's team has a lot of contributions to replace, but O'Neill does have Jio Fontan, Maurice Jones, and Garrett Jackson coming back. Together with a solid recruiting class the Trojans brought in transfers Aaron Fuller and Dewayne Dedmon.
Backcourt
Southern Cal will be heavily depending on their backcourt duo of Fontan and Jones. Fontan sat out the fall semester last season, but came in to lead the group in assists and finished 2nd in scoring at 10.5 points every contest.
Jones was 3rd on the team in points with 9.9 points each night, dished out 110 overall assists, and set the university record with 69 steals as a freshman. His achievements helped to receive a spot on the Pac-10 All-Freshman team.
Bryon Wesley is a 6'5" freshman perimeter player who's anticipated to help around the offensive end immediately. Alexis Moore is one more freshman who ought to see time and plays very well on each side sides of the court. Junior college transfer Greg Allen is a solid defender and can shoot 3.
Frontcourt
The Trojans 3 post players ought to be Aaron Fuller, Dewayne Dedmon, and James Blascyk. Fuller was forced to sit out the 2010-11 year after transferring over from Iowa. In his sophomore season for the Hawkeyes he was honorable mention on the All-Big Ten team with 9.7 points and almost 7 boards every night.
These players will likely be pushed in practice by a couple of transfers who can't play this year. Ari Stewart and Eric Wise transferred from Wake Forest and UC-Irvine, respectively.
