Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Dunk City Podcast. Well, hello everybody, and we are back with another episode of the Dunk City Podcast. It's been a while since we've put out a show. Of course it is May. As John Rothstein says, we sleep in May, and so things have been a little bit slow in college basketball in general, not so much with the USC Trojans during the time since the last podcast. I think we had four players committed at the time and since then we've been adding players left and right. But before we get into the latest news, let's welcome back our co-host, mark Baxter. Mark, how's it going?

Speaker 2: 0:54

I'm delighted to be back. We had a little break from each other, but it's good to be back with you, my man.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Absolutely. I've got my margarita here and a glass of water and and maybe the gummy will kick in at some point, so we'll see.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Full leg for you.

Speaker 1: 1:10

So, yeah, let's get caught up on the news. We have a complete roster for USC basketball 13 players, only one of whom who most USC fans will be able to recognize from last year, and that is Harrison Hornary. In the meantime, since the hiring of Eric Musselman, there have been 12 new players either signed or committed to sign for USC, with the exception of four of those 12. They are all seniors or grad seniors, so very experienced players, and there are a couple freshmen in there, there's a sophomore and a junior, so there are four players who could conceivably be back for another year, and in addition, there's a whole new staff. So we're going to go over that. Actually, let's check out the staff real quick. We'll go over the staff, you know. In addition, there's a whole new staff. So we're going to go over that. Actually, let's check out the staff real quick. We'll go over the staff, you know, in addition to Eric Musselman, we saw Will Conroy of the Washington staff, a former Washington player as well, hired at USC, also Quincy Pondexter, also at the Washington staff, and a Washington player, and then, of course, musselman brought with him his son Michael, and Washington player. And then, of course, musselman brought with him his son Michael, and then Todd Lee and Anthony Ruda from Arkansas, so it's a five person assistant coaching staff. And then Andre Carrera, who is a strength coach. He has an NBA and G League background. Caleb Klein is the operation assistance he was. He was also at Arkansas with Musselman.

Speaker 1: 2:42

The Trojans will play in the Maui Classic, not this season but the following season, which is cool because I don't think USC's been at the Maui Classic in a long time, if ever. I'll have to check. And of course, the Big Ten schedule has come out and it's going to be a pretty exciting one. The Big Ten opponents the Trojans will play at home, only at home, are Iowa, michigan, minnesota, michigan State. Home only at home are iowa, michigan, minnesota, michigan state, ohio state, penn state and wisconsin. Usc will play seven big ten opponents only on the road illinois, indiana, maryland, nebraska, northwestern purdue and rutgers and then they will play a home and home series with fellow new member schools and familiar foes, oregon, ucla and washington. So that is all set. Uh, we are ready. And let's talk about these incoming players. I want to rank them, actually, um, but first I'm just going to name them and then we'll go back to um, to the ranking, which will be the meat of our program. Does it sound good, mark?

Speaker 2: 3:38

yeah, um, before you start naming, just a couple of global thoughts, if I might, all right, first thing that stands out to me is just the new guys, and it would be the transfers. This would not apply to the freshmen, nor Harrison Hornry, but just the transfers that are coming in. They have a combined Buscar last year of over 750. Just over 750. Is that good? That is literally twice of what the team had last year. Wonderful. Does it mean we're twice as good? No, but it just speaks to I mentioned this when we, I think, on the last couple of pods maybe about how the new guys have so much experience, and most of them have, you know, started almost all the game or their games last, uh, last year. So there is a lot more experience, uh, you know, for whatever challenges there might be in fitting the pieces together. I don't think we're going to see that in terms of, um, uh, you know, just just experience, slash, learning, curve issues. There is a lot of on-court experience in this group.

Speaker 1: 4:45

Yeah, I think that the main challenge is going to be trying to get everyone to play together on the same page, get everyone meshing as a team. Of course, having played a lot of games, everyone's going to be looking to play, and so how can you handle the different wants and desires of the roster? That's going to be a challenge for a coach muscleman. Here are the players that we've signed or have committed and are about to sign jabuzo agbo he's a senior, 67220 out of boise state. Rishan agey, also a senior, he's a forward, six foot eight, 225 pounds, bowling green. Desmond claude he's a junior. He is listed as a point guard. He's kind of like a combo guard, though he's six foot six, 205 pounds from Xavier. He actually, I believe, was the most improved player in the Big East.

Speaker 1: 5:35

Josh Cohen, senior, six foot ten, 220 out of UMass. Isaiah Elohim, freshman true freshman, six foot five, 190, out of Sierra Canyon. Matt Noling, a senior forward, 6'6", 200 pounds out of Yale. Kevin Patton Jr, sophomore, 6'8", 200, out of USD San Diego he was actually the most recent and final piece of the puzzle. Bryce Pope, a senior guard, 6'3", 185, out of UC San Diego. Jalen Shelley, freshman out of Frisco, texas, 6'8", 185 out of UC San Diego. Jalen Shelley, freshman out of Frisco, texas, 6'8" 175. Both he and Elohim were former Arkansas Razorback commits with Muscleman Clark Slackert, senior guard 6'1" 170 out of Penn St Thomas what a name. A senior 6'7" 200 out of Northern Colorado. And then Terrence Williams, senior 6'7" 225 out of Michigan.

Speaker 1: 6:25

One thing you'll notice, mark, is uh, I believe there's nine players who are listed between six, five and six, eight. Uh, lots of wings. Uh, you know, as, uh, you know, you can go with the Tommy boy reference. Uh, you can go with the Paul McCartney reference. Uh, there's all kinds of wings reference out there. Uh, let's just say that Eric Musselman is probably going to be winging it this year.

Speaker 2: 6:51

Yeah, it's interesting and it's an interesting mix and really an interesting kind of 180 from when we were talking about last year's team going into the season, about how there was just a perfect, you know geometry and and balance between the different sizes and types of players and it seems like there's a lot of redundancies, I guess, um on this roster. But if you kind of work out from the whole um, the whole thing that I took away from those two videos about muscleman, about 200 passes a game, it makes sense you need a lot of multi-faceted, multi-skilled players that can do a lot and play almost positionless basketball absolutely this is.

Speaker 1: 7:29

we're looking at a completely different philosophy here. Uh, usc fans, of course, are lately used to uh the style of play under under coach andy enfield, who's now at smu, so it's it's like you said, more positionless. It's about energy, intensity, athleticism and just really, you know, playing with, with a lot of fire, and to me that's and just kind of sending players in waves at your opponents and just you know, trying to out outwork them. And I think that uh sort of the core philosophy here. And having just waves upon waves of wingmen to come in who are have different skill sets and a lot of them can really shoot it, a lot of them can rebound it, some, some of them can pass it pretty well. Some pretty good defenders in there and you know you're looking at guys with a lot of length, varying levels of strength, varying, but all within a certain kind of range of athleticism. No, no real crazy athletes. There's no Brandon Gardners in here that I can tell, but there's also not too many guys who are. If they're not. If they're not good athletes, then they're just really good scorers and relentlessly, you know sort of refined basketball players. So, um, I want to, I want to rank these players based on on uh, uh, you know them coming in and their impact. But first, before we do that, I actually want to go over to the message board, because I mentioned to everybody that, um, we were recording and I said, hey, can you throw in a few topics or questions to post below and then we can try to address them.

Speaker 1: 9:08

Trojan 2011 asked he was curious as to the Trent Perry situation. Of course, trent Perry, who was originally committed to Andy Enfield, musselman, did recruit him and he ended up going to UCLA along with Kobe Johnson. I think that the case with I think the case with Musselman was just, I don't think that he recruited him as hard as he as he could have. I don't think he really saw in him a guy who was his style of player, and I think that there were a lot of guys on the roster who who were sort of like you, there were some redundancies and it would have been hard for him to get the amount of playing time he wanted to get. So I think it was a situation where it was kind of a mutual parting of the ways, where I don't think Musk really went balls to the wall on that. Db2fig asked Was DJ Wagner, a serious target of ours, surprised he hasn't signed with someone by now, or has he? His phone doesn't seem to be ringing off the hook. Maybe not what he was supposed to be. I'm a big fan of DJ Wagner, you know. He came on a visit so he was a serious target. But again, I think that just seeing all those seniors and all these guys who can ball on that roster, it wasn't really an obvious spot for him to shine and he's looking for a place where he can shine.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Are the new guys already enrolled? Trojan52 asks if some have to wait until August, are they still allowed to use all the basketball facilities? Also, what is your opinion of Carrera? Seems to have the type of experience that can really help on the college level. Some of the new guys are signed, not necessarily enrolled. I don't think the summer session has started yet. I think that starts in the beginning of June or some point in July. I think that a lot of them will be ready for those summer sessions. I don't think any of them are going to wait until August, but they might be working on a few. You know transcript issues with some of them.

Speaker 1: 11:00

My opinion of Carrera you know I'm not a big I'm not a big believer in strength coaches really making that much of a difference. You're not looking at much of a variance in what strength coaches are going to tell you to do. Some are going to focus more on bulk, some are going to focus more on athleticism, some are going to focus more on skill and all that stuff, and I don't know yet what the focus, uh, the focus is going to be, uh, for, uh, this strength coach and, uh, hopefully we don't see the uh, the usual, um, the usual article which always talks about the strength coach and how he has completely turned things around in the program whenever the new guy comes in. So, uh, hopefully we can avoid that.

Speaker 2: 11:41

So, I I was about to hit on that that's yeah, we don't see that, cause there's only one, one player. That's, uh, you know, holding over from the old roster. You don't. You know, you don't get the whole new coach saying new strength coach saying I have no idea what the prior guy was doing, but it just you know. Clearly, an overhaul was long overdue.

Speaker 1: 11:57

The quote you're, you're, you would get is Harrison Harder saying last year, uh, I can only lift, I was only able to bench press 140 pounds. This year I'm able to bench press 240 pounds, you know. And he said and he says it's because of that guy. And they'll say something like you know, this time last year only eight guys could bench press 250 pounds. This year, 12 guys can. So it's just like they always do some kind of hype and it's always, like you know, it's always talking about the previous guys. If he didn't quite, you know, connect with with the team and these new guys suddenly connecting and it's kind of the same. It's kind of like, uh, every beat writer like writes one of these when a new coach comes in and you're, you're, you're likely to see that. I don't know if it'll happen with this, uh, with this basketball program, but it always happens in football for sure. So, uh, always, always, uh, always, kind of a hackneyed trope in sports writing. But so let's go into. Hopefully that helped answer some of your guys questions.

Speaker 1: 12:51

I know I didn't go into too much detail, but we got a lot to cover here. So I want to start ranking the players. I want to go in reverse order, 12 down to one, the players who I think are going to have the biggest impact at USC, which is slightly different than me, looking maybe like the best. And you know, since some of them only have one year or a lot of them only have one year, it's kind of saying who's going to have the best year next year, or who's going to have the biggest impact next year to some extent. And then there's a few guys, of course, who will have some impact next year but might have more impact down the road. All good, let's do it. So my number 12 player is, and you know, just a little caveat before we go is that you know there's a lot of all these players are. It's kind of remarkable Every one of them, except for the freshmen coming in, averaged in. Well, the most recent one didn't, but pretty much everyone averaged at least nine points a game and, aside from kevin patton jr who just came in, uh from san diego recently, uh, everyone averaged at least 12 points a game, which is, you know, everyone's used to scoring.

Speaker 1: 13:57

So my number 12 guy is terrence williams, out of michigan. Six foot seven, 225, 12 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game. The reason I'm not saying he's a bad player, but the reason I rank him 12th is because I think a lot of his skills are. I mean, a lot of people's skills are duplicative, but to me he doesn't do things as well as some other guys who are his same size on the team. And I think also that, coming from a program that really just stunk it up in the Big Ten and he really struggled down the stretch, I just I would be surprised if he came in and had a big impact. So I think he could be a key part of the team. I don't expect him to be a key player. What do you think?

Speaker 2: 14:44

Well, I don't know if you can hear in the background my neighbor's dog barking, but my inner dog is barking at you too, because I'll just say we disagree. I've got five tiers here. I've got him as a two-tier, a second-tier player, and there's only two players in tier one. Here's the reason why I'm optimistic here BP at 100, 53.0, which was second on his team. Now, yeah, he did struggle down the stretch. I think that was probably a function of just the complete dysfunction of the end of the Juwan Howard era Could be. Yeah, I think it was you, if not you, maybe somebody else on the board said that some michigan fans were happy to see that was me actually.

Speaker 1: 15:32

I saw this on the message board. They were very. They were actually like take them, you can have them well, I, here's the thing um, he was there.

Speaker 2: 15:43

He had the second highest bpo 100 of anybody on the team, actually first of anybody. That was a starter. Um, second in buscar and you know that was not an efficient offense. Um, he's one of these few that comes from a an offense that was not efficient and um pretty much their second best offensive player. If I am trying to see what their case might be against him he's, you know, for a tall guy he's not a particularly great rebounder. He actually had their lowest turnover percentage of anybody on the whole team.

Speaker 2: 16:19

I think that this just kind of smells to me like wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time and I think the change of venue can do him very well. When I take my raw numbers here for BPO 100 Buscar and I adjusted it based on a couple of factors the sports reference, just strength of schedule factor, and then from Ken Palm the offensive strength of schedule factor and usually they're pretty close and based on that, terrence Williams actually had the toughest slate of opponents faced last season and yet he he was, if of the the guys coming in, you know he's in the top top three or four of BPO adjusted last year Proven in the big 10. I, I, you and I differ greatly on this. I see him as basically just below the top two. Well, you know it's.

Speaker 1: 17:20

It's great to have a disagreement and, look, I think he I could. I'm willing to suggest that I could be completely off, but it's hard to rank guys. I think there's 12 pretty good players here and it's hard to rank them. Necessarily, when you rank someone 12th, it sounds like you're saying they're bad. I don't think he's bad. I just think that I'm looking at what kind of opportunities will he get in one year at USC at 6'7", 225. And I look around and I see 6'7", 6'7", 6'6", 6'8", 6'6", 6'8", 6'8" also on the roster and a lot of guys who can shoot better than he can and rebound better than he can. So I'm just kind of projecting out how I think that. But again, I think you make some great points about strength of schedule. In fact he's from a major program, from a big 10 program. He has familiarity with the opponents, of course they have familiarity with him, uh. So they're kind of got, they will kind of get to know, they'll know a little bit about what he's going to bring to the table.

Speaker 2: 18:22

So okay, but I rank him and, let's be honest, we agree too much. That's true. This is a good, good point of uh of contention and, like you said, there could be many.

Speaker 1: 18:30

How many tears, five tears shed if one of us, whoever's- wrong.

Speaker 1: 18:35

Yes, uh, my number 11 player is jalen shelley. Uh, freshman 68175 out of frisco, texas. He also, uh, he was over at link academy, which actually has a pretty good point guard named Jasper Johnson, who is over at Lexington. He's a four-star player, top 75, consensus type player. I actually have him 11th because I see him as I project him sort of longer term and I think he's got a lot of potential.

Speaker 1: 19:01

He's a pretty athletic guy. He's obviously pretty light in the ass right now but he is a guy who can really run and glide. He's a gliding type of slashing player. I don't think he's going to be a key factor with the team next year because, again, we talked about guys who sort of are duplicative in skill sets, but he is a really good athlete and he might be able to squeeze some playing time out there. Guys who sort of are duplicative in skill sets, but he is a really good athlete and he might be able to squeeze some playing time out there and certainly he will be a big help in sort of preparing the team for games. But I think the fact that I think he might play some minutes because Musselman's going to need to play some guys who are going to return next year, so I think he's going to want to get Jalen Shelley some minutes. I think Jalen Shelley has the potential to earn those minutes as well, and so that's why I have him ranked 11th.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Well, I'm not going to pretend to be something. I'm not. I don't have any kind of high school data. I'm not going to try to pretend to fit any in. So he's one of the two that I just have as as kind of others not considering, uh not receiving consideration.

Speaker 1: 20:12

Okay, it's like the um, what is that like the?

Speaker 2: 20:15

also receiving votes in the yeah, well, yeah, they receive no votes or also not receiving votes yeah, okay, okay, my number 10 player coming in is Kevin Patton Jr.

Speaker 1: 20:27

He just committed to USC from University of San Diego under Steve Lavin, 6'8", 200, sophomore. Really came on as a freshman Average, I think, nine points, five boards, six boards somewhere in there. For those of you who are old enough to remember he kind of, I think his physical comparison is with Josh Childress, a former Stanford star very similar body types 6'8", lanky, kind of like Jalen Shelley too, a little bit stronger than Shelley. But we're looking at somebody who is, you know, kind of both Patton and Shelley are kind of these rail thin wisps, will-o'-the-wisps who can slash and maneuver. And you know, patton's a pretty good offensive player and can do some things. And he's also a guy, only a sophomore. I like him longer term for the Trojans and I think that he's not going to do a ton this year. But I think he's the kind of guy you can bring in and get some great minutes and energy from.

Speaker 2: 21:31

So yeah, I agree with you. I have him in his own tier, the fifth of five tiers. Now he's just very different because he's the only underclassman in this group. It's, it's, it's. It's really really unfair to compare somebody's freshman season to, you know, guys coming in on their after their third or sometimes fourth season, in some of these cases because of covid um. For a little bit of reference, kobe johnson was third on last year's team in buscar with 52.7. He's the only one of all the incoming transfers that was below that. He was below that by 16 points. So he's quite a bit ways below that. So you know he's far from a finished product. The good news is he's far from a finished product and when I was looking for some of these guys that came in from non-major conferences, I wanted to see how they did against big-time programs and this is interesting when you said he came on later in the season, he really did. Usd had a stretch in December where they played at Stanford, at Utah State I'm considering the Mountain West a major conference.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Last year especially, they were pretty good, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:52

And then they hosted Arizona State, and in those three games his BP of 100 was 27.8, miserable. His Buscar over those three games was a negative 3.5. So basically, he was sub-Rico, or a Fardem as you call it. Once we get into conference play, though, though, this is what's really encouraging. Uh, you might recall who are the, the two dominant teams in the west coast conference st mary's and gonzaga right, and there are four games against gonzaga and st mary's bpl 100 100 is 53.7, buscar of 8.1. So the pieces are there. I, you know, I agree with you that it's, he's, he's kind of like the last guy into the coat check room and he's he's just going to have to wait his turn, but I, I, that's really promising. Just, you know, those are, those are two programs that you know they can compete with with, with most teams in the country, and he more than held his own.

Speaker 1: 23:50

You know it's funny. You mentioned Kobe Johnson and doesn't last year's team just seem like it was 10 years ago? Now it does, it's so long ago.

Speaker 2: 23:59

It kind of happens when they all I mean there's, you know, when the only guy is the Australian who missed, like he sat out about a third of the season.

Speaker 1: 24:08

So Terrence William, 12. For me, jalen Shelley, 11. Kevin Patton Jr. 10. My number nine player, who is also the guy who I said on our last podcast is going to be what I think is the glue guy, matt Noling Six foot six, 200, small forward, actually undersized power forward from Yale. I really like him. I I think, uh, the guy, just he kind of kind of has some innate ability and does a lot of crafty things around the rim. Uh, he has. He just shoots great percentage uh from two point. Uh, his two-point field percentage is fantastic. And I think he was even better the year before, last year, and he just seemed like the kind of guy who is going to be uh, just there when you need them.

Speaker 2: 24:55

And I think, uh, I think he's he's going to be a real key to the team potentially. I agree, um, you know, I I had his stats kind of puzzled me and then when you said he's a glue guy, that that really kind of connected the dots. So what I wanted to see with with the glue guy here was, you know, as as last year, was his. Let me look this up real quick. Last year was his third season, um, and at yale pardon me, what I wanted to see his home and away splits. And you know his home numbers are just ridiculous BPO 100 is 67.4 but away 54.8, which is really solid. That's where just a lot of a lot of guys wilt in neutral 57.2.

Speaker 2: 25:41

Yale had a. They had three kind of big time games. You know he was pretty mediocre against gonzaga um, just outright bad at kansas. I had forgotten about this, I forgot that yale actually beat auburn in the tournament, um, yeah, and in that game mr noling's bpo 100 was a, was a robust 61.9, yeah, um, he did not turn the ball over um, only seven points. But you know, as, as I've said, when you can pass and if you don't turn the ball over and if you take decent shots, you are a very efficient player and I can see, I can see in a, in a in a conference season that's going to be largely unknown. I can see him playing a role in road games, especially one or two that just kind of keep us together, and I think there's going to be a road game. That's a Matt.

Speaker 1: 26:36

Nolan game. Absolutely. He's going to do the little things that the team needs to have done in these tight situations. I think Take charges loose balls, get big baskets, get a, a key rebound that kind of.

Speaker 1: 26:48

I have him in tier three yeah, so he's my number nine, my number eight player, uh, bryce pope, six foot three, 185 uc, san diego, uh, average 18 points a game, big score, high energy. Guy slasher has sort of a jackknife delivery, a little unorthodox, uh. But I think now we're getting into really, once we started with, you know, once we got to Nolan, we're looking at, I think, a nine man rotation, like a consistent nine round rotation, 10 through 12. You know, we'll see, maybe there'll be, maybe there'll be a 10 person. You know, 10 man rotation, man rotation, um, but uh, bryce Pope, uh, just kind of the epitome, I think, of what uh Musselman is looking for, which is a, just a guy who could get out there, score aggressive, take it to the rim, get fouled.

Speaker 1: 27:39

Uh, you know, not an incredible shooter, but just a score, high energy score and just you know, he's going to keep coming at you and I think that, again, you know we're going to the Big Ten here. It's not like we're not going to the Big 12 or SEC. There's still a lot of plotters and stuff in the Big Ten. So I think Bryce Pope is more than athletic enough. I think he's going to be. I mean, just by dint of the fact that there's not a ton of guards on this roster, he's going to be a key figure in the guard rotation.

Speaker 2: 28:17

Yeah, I've got him in tier four with a couple of other players. My concerns are the same as yours Not the most efficient guy, but a scorer. Maybe the? I got the name wrong last time, so help me out. Maybe the Caleb? Yeah, the Caleb Love.

Speaker 1: 28:39

I referred to Bryce Love mistakenly. Yeah, Caleb Love, yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:41

Maybe a little bit of the.

Speaker 2: 28:43

Caleb Love of UCSD, yeah, pretty much Big Buscar, not so efficient, and those, the. The thing that concerns me we talked about this on the last part are the, the home road splits, you know, just the shooting um 29 in in road games, uh, from three. Now he takes care, really good care, of the ball, so it's not like he's going to kill you um, just with, with, just atrocious, play it just, you know, the shot selection. That's. That's where I need to see, or sorry, the outside shooting and maybe the shot selection and maybe if, since he's not so prominent and it's not gonna be such a volume guy, he can, you know he can improve his efficiency in terms of scoring because he takes care of the ball all right, uh, so he is, uh, number eight and then number seven.

Speaker 1: 29:28

I have rishon agey. Six foot eight, 225 out of bowling green. He is, uh, he averaged 13 points per game, 9.8 rebounds shot, 57 percent. Uh, he, you know there's only one ball to go around. I don't know how many shots he's going to get, but if he dedicates himself to being, uh, just a rebounder, defender down low and a finisher, and he can do that, he's a bruiser, um, and you know he's not bad down the blocks, he's. You know he's a little sloppy with his footwork, but but I think that, um, you know he's been through the battles and I think he's going to be definitely. Obviously there's not a lot of size in this team, so you're looking at, he is listed. As listed, he's the second tallest player, probably tied for the second tallest player.

Speaker 2: 30:14

So, given his status as a high-volume rebounder, I think he's going to be probably the first big off the bench. Yeah, this is an interesting situation here and one thing that sticks out to me on two pointers he, first of all, he's got to stop shooting three pointers, that's just, you know, career 23. So hopefully that he's over that. Uh shot 58.7 from two though, um, which is nice. That that speaks, you know, as you said, to just a guy that can finish. Uh, really good rebounder, 14.4 rebounds per 40 minutes last season. That would have easily led our team last season not efficient um, bpo 100 last season of 49.9, which isn't horrible. But, as you see, a lot of time with big men, it's because of a high turnover percentage, almost 15% for him.

Speaker 2: 31:13

My thought is and if I'm dreaming up a scenario, best case scenario for him, he was let me look in here he was second on his Bowling Green state team in number of opportunities. Just too much usage for how efficient he is on a bad team. So I think there was just, you know, kind of break glass in case of emergency guy and they broke the glass a lot and they just, you know, it wasn't great, it wasn't awful. I think that basically, you know, if he's able to pick his spots better and he buys into picking his spots better, I think he can be a lot more efficient. Know, if he's able to pick his spots better and he buys into picking his spots better, I think he can be a lot more efficient, and probably that high turnover rate is because of the high opportunities as well. If he's truly just finishing and not doing too much more, he could, he could be. You know, he could have a really good impact inside and, like I said, he's going to be our best rebounder.

Speaker 1: 32:06

I have no doubt about that yeah, no, I think that's that's a great way to look at. I don't think he's going to be relied upon to score 13 points per game. I'd be shocked if he scored that many points per game, but I wouldn't be shocked if he got nine rebounds per game because, because he's going to be really asked to get down there to box out to you know, just get those boards and start that break, start the secondary break, get out, get that all going. Uh, he's going to be relied upon because he's, you know, he's going to play a lot because he's, um, right now, really one of two uh, actual bigs uh who are, you know, who are uh on the roster right now. Everyone else who's close to his size are either wings or guards. So rachon ag is my number seven. And now we get to our number six player, the guy who I think will essentially be the sixth man, um isaiah elohim, freshman, six foot five, 190, sierra canyon. He uh was my cover boy for my recruiting page uh, way back last summer because I thought that he might end up at USC.

Speaker 1: 33:09

I was a big fan of Elohim in high school. He did have some injuries his senior year, I believe, but great looking player just explosive, great athleticism, great body, can hit mid-range shots. I just really I think he's got a pro body, he's a pro type of player, the kind of guy who I think is an NBA-style player and I think that a lot of people are sleeping on him and I think that again, you're looking at the need to play him because he could be the future of the program here. So he's going to get some time and I think he's, he's, he could be the future of the program here. So he's going to get some time and I think he's the most athletic and most talented of the, of the underclass, of like the real, like the freshmen and sophomores who are on the team there's only three. So I think he's, he's going to be, I think he's essentially the guy who's going to make the biggest impact a month amongst the the freshman and sophomore class.

Speaker 2: 34:11

Yeah, again, as a high school player last year. I'm not going to pretend to have any data on the guy, but you do make a good point in that, with a bit of a paucity of guards here, I think that there's a good opportunity for him to get a lot of minutes this season.

Speaker 1: 34:31

I've been watching him since he was a freshman sophomore and just a really good player and is refined and more refined than people I think understand. So good player. Looking forward to seeing him play for USC. My number five player.

Speaker 1: 34:50

Now we're getting into guys who I think will be five starters Clark Slackert, 6'1", 170, guard, university of Pennsylvania, 18 points per game Again.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Energizer Bunny, good ball handler, aggressive scorer, crafty, you know the kind of, you know like those Santa Clara type guards, just a tough guy, tough as nails and can shoot it, can shoot it like crazy and I think, being the shortest guy on the team, six foot one, being the smallest guy, I think that, um, that he brings, uh, his, he's sort of a change of pace with the roster right. So so if usc's putting a bunch of six foot seven, six foot six wings out there and maybe the other team is trying to counter that, or maybe the other team is going with their, their big lineup, then you get a little Clark Slacker that you're kind of darting around. So I think he's going to be the de facto point guard starting out the season. He's more like a combo guard, but between him and Desmond Claude. Those would probably be the two main ball handlers from what I project. Who knows what actually happens in the off season, but right now I got him as my number five player.

Speaker 2: 36:06

Yeah, I'm of two minds when it comes to him. He was by far the most efficient and most productive player, going by BPL 100 and Buscar last season On a good pen offense. You know, as a team they had a BPL 100 of 51.2, which is really impressive. The guy can absolutely shoot 53.8 percent from two last season, 42.2 percent from three which just makes me drool and over 82 percent from and I've seen you drool.

Speaker 1: 36:36

It's not, it's not pretty folks it's, yeah, yeah, it's not.

Speaker 2: 36:39

Just don't try it at home, kids. Um here, here's where I get really concerned. Um penn had three big time opponents last season Villanova, kentucky and Houston, and these are that's. That's not just kind of typical group of mid-majors, I'm going to be the first to admit. But it's, it's. It's a really tough group, but boy, he was really, really bad against those.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Well, he got hurt against Houston.

Speaker 2: 37:02

He only played like six minutes, I believe, and then yeah okay, that's the thing, and I think he, and I think he scored 17 points against Kentucky, if I'm not mistaken Inefficiently so though, right, I will say this Right 25% turnover rate and now you point that out and 22.7% turnover rate against Villanova. So, as I look, that's what's really killing his numbers against those two. So maybe, if he's off the ball more this season, maybe that's kind of the secret sauce to get him going, because he can shoot and there's always a place for guys that can shoot. Now are they? I don't know if you remember this name, are they Ryan Appleby or are they more multifaceted?

Speaker 1: 37:42

This is deja vu. We talked about Ryan Appleby the last game and I didn't remember him then.

Speaker 2: 37:50

I remember that I didn't remember him. Now, there you go. Okay, so you're, you're close, you're on your way to, I'm on my way to, some cognizance of mr appleby, I haven't gone back and and and looked at his, uh, his tape.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Uh, that's like number 8 000 on my list of things.

Speaker 1: 38:01

But I'll get to it, don't, don't bother, yeah um, yeah, there's, no, there's no, true, there's no true point guard um on this team, uh, but I think, uh, slacker is, is a, is a scorer in addition to a shooter and I think he can handle the ball and I think, um, you know, we're not going to have a true distributor on the team, but we're going to have a lot of guys who are uh, who are able to handle the ball, and I think him and uh, desmond claude are just slightly better than most of these guys, so they're gonna get most play with the ball. Um, which brings us to our number four player, and I have josh cohen, uh, six foot ten, 220 pounds out of umass average 16 points per game, seven rebounds per game shot, 54 percent from the field. Tallest player on the team, uh, save for har Hornary who I guess is also around 6'10". Josh Cohen, you know, is going to play, I would imagine is going to start just based on his size, although I could see, certainly see some lineups that are just pretty much one through five, six foot five, six foot six through up to six, seven to six, eight, and that's it.

Speaker 1: 39:10

But Josh Cohen's most likely going to start at the five and he's a very unorthodox scorer. It reminds me a lot of my brother. Actually, my brother was a Division II college basketball player, played in Australia, roommate of Steve Lavin down at Chapman college in Orange County. But the kind of player who, if he had been coached better, would probably not be as good of a player, so to speak, because they would have fixed the bad shot and Cohen just sort of throws up the slop, gets the shot off and it goes in. So he's kind of one of those players who's sort of just a scrappy post player, you know, does his share of Kevin McHale, moves and just you know, has great touch around the rim and gets the ball up and it goes in. So I think that he'll fit in pretty well in the Big Ten. He's a good offensive player and I think that he'll be a good asset for the squad. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:11

I've got him in Tier 3 with Noling. Very efficient BPO 100 at 54.9 from big man. This makes sense for a guy that can really handle the ball. He's not the big guy, that's athletic, that looks like he can dribble him. He can actually handle the ball. Turnover percentage of less than 8 last season yeah, he's not the big guy, that's athletic, that looks like he can dribble him. He can actually handle the ball. Yeah. Turnover percentage of less than eight last season Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 40:32

Not much of a rebounder for a big guy. Yeah, not bad. But 9.8 rebounds per 40 is. I've seen better. I saw a lot of that last season, I'll put it that way. Yeah, but really efficient. He had two big-time opponents last year. Was not that great against Georgia Tech. Was really good against West Virginia. I think they played them. It looks like it was some kind of tournament or something. They played him on a neutral site, west Virginia. So what's interesting to me too is that Muscleman had already recruited him to Arkansas, so he saw something in him that said, ok, this is not a stretch to play in the Big Ten, as basically Musselman saw him playing at the SEC. Yeah, I love the big men that can handle the ball and pass. I'm just super, super partial to that.

Speaker 1: 41:23

Yeah, no, he's good, he's good. He's going to be a good player for the trojans. My number three player, desmond claude, uh, junior, six foot six, 205 pounds from xavier, 16 points per game. I think he was most improved player in the big east. A little bit different style than some of these other players. He's not this hard charging bundle of energy, he's kind of just a smooth dude. He's not going to overwhelm you with athleticism or nothing, but he's going to make some timely shots. He's going to use his body, use his length, always stay on the move and play within his offense and get good production. Pretty good shooter. He's probably going to handle the ball a lot for the Trojans. I don't know if they're going to call him a point guard or not, but I think he's going to be bringing the ball up more often than not. Pretty decent defender from what I've seen and again, just what Musselman likes. Length, 6'6". Can present some matchup problems and, yeah, good player for the Trojans and excited to see him.

Speaker 2: 42:23

Yeah, you and I agree here. I have him in Tier 2 along with Terrence Williams and along with terrence williams. Um, and along with terrence williams, uh, they had literally the same strength of of opponents uh, defense faced last season. So it's a reason I'm, I'm, I like it. You know, bpl 100 to 48.7 is a little low but, um, you know as a young point guard that that's certainly excusable and did have a high boost scar of 82 over the season which would have placed him second on our team last season he didn't really play a lot of point guard.

Speaker 1: 42:57

last year didn't really play any real point guard, but he's kind of projected to be a primary ball handler for SC.

Speaker 2: 43:06

Well, and he had over three assists per game.

Speaker 1: 43:09

So for not being a point guard, he's pretty savvy with the ball, then yeah, he's a pretty good passer, yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:17

Sorry to your point about being smooth. Last season, you know he brought his turnover percentage down from 17%, over 17% as a freshman to 10 as a sophomore, which is really solid for a guard. Sure, I like it. You know the Big East is, it's a very good conference, obviously, obviously. Uh, it might be, you know, if there's any kind of fair analog to the big 10 in terms of, like you know, combination of some athleticism and some plotting plotters, that might be the big east. Um. So I think that you know he's proven at the level with, you know, a good amount of upside too yeah, he was a nice pickup.

Speaker 1: 43:58

Uh, my, my number two player. Now we're getting to, I think. The player who I think sort of epitomizes what musselman's trying to do chibuzo agbo of boise state, six foot seven, 226, 13.6 points per game, five rebounds per game, 41.7 from three. Again, this is a guy who is pretty muscled, pretty strong player. You know, athletic slasher not the most refined player, but he's gonna. You know he's gonna. He's a, you know three and D type. He's gonna. You know he shoots great from outside. He's gonna take it down to the hole, get to the line. You know rebound, play some defense, bring you all the energy that you need, and again, he's just alongside. You know, claude and AG and Noling and Patton and Williams these are all guys 6'7", 6'8" who are just used to scoring, used to shooting. They get out and rebound the ball and it's going to be like it's going to just having a lot of like interchangeable parts and if some of the parts aren't working, you just bring in the next part.

Speaker 2: 45:18

And I think Agbo was a really great pickup for Musselman. Yeah, agree, I have him in tier one as well, and probably number two, number two, if we're gonna get to that level of specificity. Um, here's the thing. That is just absolutely nuts. He, over the past two seasons, has shot I don't want to do the math in my head, so let me just do my excel here real quick. He shot 350 three-pointers and he made uh, 41 of those, which is just ridiculous, and that isn't a good conference to the mountain west conference. Yeah, um, that is what I think you and I would call a knockdown shooter absolutely.

Speaker 1: 45:57

You know you've got him, you've got slackert. Um, uh, you've got him, you've got Slackert, you've got Terrence Williams, I think a 39% three-point shooter. Claude's a pretty good shooter. There's just a lot of good shooters on the team. So you got, you got. The outside element is well-represented with Agbo and Slackert and Terrence Williams, and so, and then again, and Terrence Williams, and then again that length, the ability to guard multiple positions, the ability to play down low if you have to, kind of all the things that Musselman's looking for. So again, sound like a broken record here, but great pickup for the Trojans.

Speaker 2: 46:41

Well, when you have redundancy, you're going to have redundant comments right, exactly. One other thing on Agbo Improved his two-point shooting from 39% two years ago to 50% last year. Which is huge, which is huge 11%, my gosh.

Speaker 1: 46:58

Now, for me going in, there really was never any doubt as to who would be number one on my list. Talking saint thomas from northern colorado. Uh, six foot seven, 200 average 19.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game. Watch a lot of tape of him. Wow, what a great offensive repertoire he's got. Uh, he can pretty much do it all. He can shoot it, he can drive it. Uh, he can pretty much do it all. He can shoot it, he can drive it. He can play down the post, he can hit mid-range stuff. He's got a vast array of moves and little things he can do to get the shots off. And of course, he gets down there and rebounds. I don't know if he's going to average nearly 10 rebounds a game in the Big Ten, but you know that he has the ability to do it. You know he understands how to do it. So you're looking at even if there's not a dominant rebounder on this team, you're looking at a lot of guys who might be getting like five, six boards a game.

Speaker 1: 47:56

I love St Thomas. I think he's a starter. I think he's potentially the team's lead in score. This is a guy who knows how to score. There's a lot of guys coming in who are all prolific scorers in college, who are experienced scorers in college. He's also a guy who made a huge jump from the year before. I think he only averaged. I think it might have been six points per game, but he made a huge jump. So he's. This is a guy who's on the upswing in his career. Uh and um and gosh. What a what a great name. With that name, how can he fail?

Speaker 2: 48:33

yeah, how can?

Speaker 2: 48:34

you doubt him that would just be a really nice name to have if you're trying to market this team, um, just Just at your disposal. Absolutely when to start with him, and there's kind of two cases to be made here. First, what I love Almost 87% from the line last season Increases BP at 100. He actually took a step down from Loyola Illinois two years ago. I think something happened there. He only played 14 games, went down to Northern Colorado. Bp at 100 increased from 38 to 53. Turnover percentage improved from 20% to just over 12%. Good rebounder, as you said. Good two-point shooter as well 57% from two points last season. Not an awesome three-point shooter, but my gosh, I can definitely work with that.

Speaker 2: 49:35

And if you watch his tape, oh, my gosh, what a joy to watch, yeah, and he played for a good offense too. There was a lot of offensive efficiency on scene 1, 2. My gosh, what a joy to watch. Yeah, and he played for a good offense too. There was a lot of offensive efficiency. I'm seeing one, two, three, four. The four best players on the team had BPL 100s at 52 or higher. Wow, so he was a really good team.

Speaker 2: 49:53

It's not like he was a one-man show or it needed to be. And yet his Buscar last season basically 120, just blows away the rest of the incoming transfers. And that actually can work two ways, because he's making a huge step up from the big sky. And if he's this volume and he's that gifted, but say he's just not quick enough getting his shot off, I could see there being a big impact, but not in a great way, where big volume and he's here to really take the next step, and I hope he does. But if it's not working out, can he kind of just shrink to a secondary role in the games where it's not working? Working or as he's making an adjustment? That's my concern. Um, that's where your coach is very, very important obviously yeah, uh, these are.

Speaker 1: 50:51

These are great points, and I, I think that, um, obviously, you know he doesn't play at a high level competition, but he's dominating at that level of competition. So, um, and, and, when you watch him on tape you can see what he can do. A lot of the stuff he can do is going to translate. Um, you know he's not, uh, you know it's not like he's he's jumping over guys in that league, you know what I mean. It's not, it's not just a matter of him him being just a better athlete kind of thing. Uh, he's a really good basketball player, and, and, and a good enough athlete. You know, uh, he's, he's definitely a good enough athlete to play, uh, in the big 10 and certainly, uh, eric, most of them think so. So, uh, there it is. Uh, it's St Thomas is is my number one. Uh, incoming player. I think.

Speaker 1: 51:37

Um, thomas Agbo, claude Cohen and Slacker Slackert that's who I see as the starting five to start the season. Of course, the player I'm least sure of starting would be Slackert. There could be Bryce Pope, it could be Terrence Williams, you could see Rayshawn Agee being in there instead of Agbo, potentially. It just depends on. Maybe it depends on who are playing depends on how the uh the workouts go in the off season. Who's you know who's healthy, who uh picks up what muscleman wants to do fastest? Uh, these are all factors to take into account, um, when trying to determine who's going to make the biggest impact, and and these are things, unfortunately, that we can't really know for sure, so we have to kind of conjecture, uh, but we are hoping, uh soon to get some uh assistant coaches maybe the player or two on a future podcast, so maybe we can shed some light on that yeah, no, I agree this.

Speaker 2: 52:37

As you said, and as we said at the top, a lot of it's going to be a function of you know who fits individually into what Musselman's trying to do. And then collectively, you know, your five best is not always your best five, as they say.

Speaker 1: 52:50

And that's true and this is a real challenge, and it was. You know, musselman didn't do a great job last year of dealing with kind of the same situation with a roster full of transfers at Arkansas. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't work out very well and just from a global perspective, looking at it as a basketball fan, it's going to be very different than what most USC fans are used to, and I don't think this is a matter of saying, you know, being an old guy saying get off my lawn, right. This is the changes going on in college athletics are are momentous, somewhat radical. These are changes that would be hard to adjust to, even if you were new to the sport, right, if you were only been watching the sport a couple years. The sport is very much different, very different than it was even a few years ago. So, um, and I'm really curious what you usc basketball fans are going to, um are going to feel like, uh, going to Galen and kind of seeing players who you've never seen play before and don't really have any clue as to what they're about. Now, on the one hand, it's going to be fun to discover that as the team, as the games go on, as the season progresses. That's kind of going to be a different way to get exposed to these players.

Speaker 1: 54:22

In the old days, people sort of maybe some of the hardcore people followed the recruiting and sort of knew who was supposed to be good or there was talk about. Or maybe you saw a freshman from the previous year who played a few minutes. You're like, oh, this guy's going to be good once he gets his minutes and that was kind of the fun of sort of being a real adherent to what's going on in the program. Now for the casual fans, for the ones that are just showing up at the stadium and don't really know for sure who's on the team, nothing's going to change for them. But for the hardcore fans, the kind of people who show up on message boards, I think it's going to be a bit of a challenge to, in this different era, to uh, to sort of connect with the team. Um and and you know I've been thinking about this and let's say this, let's say this is a very good usc basketball team, let's say they do very well, will it feel the same? Will it be the same, will it have the same feeling of kind of satisfaction as a fan that you get, knowing that these were just kind of guys hired for one year for the most part, and who came not because they saw something in USC academically or with the program, necessarily because it's a new program. But you know, obviously Musselman brings a lot of cachet and adds a lot to the program and it's going to be fascinating to find out if this approach can work.

Speaker 1: 55:54

Now I think there really wasn't a whole lot of options to do otherwise, because you're going into the Big Ten your first year. You don't want it to be a disaster. You got to come in and put fans in the seats to see what's going on with the program. You want to have some level of success. So you bring in guys for one year. But it's going to be a challenge, I think, for Musclemen to go in and start bringing in guys who are, you know, younger guys, you know local players and who that the fans can connect with long term. But again, it's hard to do that because guys leave, guys transfer out and you know I know in the early going there's been of this kind of transfer porter era there's been a lot of. The ratings have done very well for both college football and college basketball. But I wonder is how long that is sustainable. I know that's a little bit of a filibuster, but just wanted to get those thoughts out. What do you think?

Speaker 2: 56:56

Yeah, two points. Number one I agree. One of my favorite things about college sports, and especially college basketball, because you see these guys up close, they're not playing under a helmet is to see them grow and to see what they are in their first few games as a freshman, to what they become in their final year of the program, what they become in their final year of the program. Having said that, you know I will always place my feelings below what an athlete feels what is best for them because they are the talent, and they are the ones that are providing us this entertainment and the joy, and I will always put them ahead of my feelings.

Speaker 1: 57:40

Sure, but I think it goes back to like I think this is a great time to be an athlete, right, a college athlete. Oh yeah, it's the golden age, right. It's not necessarily a great time to be a fan, or it's a great time to be a casual fan, right?

Speaker 1: 57:54

Like it's not a great time to be a hardcore fan, because all the things that you get into as a hardcore fan recruiting and, yeah, yeah, you know just the stuff about you know player development and guys within the program and all that stuff all that stuff is like out the window now in a way right and agree and and so it's like you look at, you know, you go to gala center and you're're looking these and you're still trying to figure out who these guys are.

Speaker 1: 58:22

It's it's actually very similar to the pre-internet era. Uh, where, uh, you know the street and smiths, where, where it's like I didn't know it was gonna be a football team, I I'd go over to the local pharmacy and I'd always be checking the newsstand. It's like 1988 or something 87, and I'd finally see, like street and sm's and I'd go and like, look at the recruiting list to see who USC, I'd find out who was on the team, you know, and uh, but nowadays it's like we, we know who's who's going to be on the team, like when they're sophomores in high school. But that is not the case in college basketball anymore. Uh, necessarily, even if, even if it was the case, or to the extent that it is still the case, there's no permanence and you certainly feel like a damn fool if you expect a player to be at a school for three years anymore.

Speaker 2: 59:14

Correct. I want to make one point about that. Then I want to have a spring of surprise on you. Sure, my point about that is in its infinite lack of wisdom, the NCAA. The only rule they have about NIL is that you cannot tie it to a specific school for some stupid reason. If they just undid that restriction, it would be a completely different dynamic. Having said that, here's a surprise. I want to spring on you a surprise question time, and I am not sure how I even feel about this okay, bring it on, all right um.

Speaker 2: 59:47

are you more confident going into as of today I know that we need to see pre-season, but going into a big 10 season? Are you more confident with this roster that we have out of this as of this moment or the roster roster that we were looking at as of the end of the Pac-12 tournament, with who we thought would be returning and then with incoming freshmen?

Speaker 1: 1:00:10

You know it's funny, I was thinking about that and obviously the roster under Musselman is, on paper, more talented and would certainly project to do much better in the Big Ten, at least this year. But you know, I think it's kind of you know it's kind of a. There's no doubt that this year's team is going to do better than the infield team would have done, without a doubt, better than the infield team would have done, without a doubt. But you're still going to kind of be starting back to square one the next year right.

Speaker 1: 1:00:53

Maybe there's just a deferred hiccup, if you will, yeah, maybe, maybe it's sort of again, I think, going back to like the analogy of how you handle an economic recession, or like how the 2008 downturn was handled. Right, it's do you let unemployment hit 20% and bottom out so that you can, you know, get back to faster growth, or do you, like, try to limit it so that you have, like, you know, you limit it but your growth is more tepid over a longer period of time? You know, kind of thing, and it's like, yeah, we probably would have had more of a disaster in year one with Andy Enfield. I uh, there I disagree with those who think we would have been last in the big 10. I think people will say that didn't, don't really know, don't really know what's going on in the Big Ten and haven't watched much of the Big Ten and just are making assumptions about teams rosters, when there's like no one knows what a roster is going to look like, you know, in March for the following season. So there's a lot of assumptions being made, but certainly it was going to be a challenge, even with Kobe Johnson returning and some of those guys returning, if all those guys had returned and adding Trent Perry. It would have been still a challenge, right, and I'm sure there would have been some incoming transfers who knows who they would have been but it was going to be a challenge. It was not going to be probably not a tournament team, but it might have been better built going into the following year then, whereas this year's team is going to do much better this year. But again, you're looking at, uh, having to most likely completely rebuild the following year and you know, muscleman shows that he can do it. But but what if? What if these guys? You know it's like what if these guys don't mesh or don't gel right? And you just got to keep finding the right combination of guys until you do, but you only get so much time to do it. So it's a high-risk, high-reward type situation. But he is starting to make some inroads, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:03:00

On the high school recruiting front, he has been getting a lot of attention from some good players. One of them Sadiq White, who's a five-star 2025 player out of Charlotte. He looks like he's taking USC pretty seriously. Davian Hanna, who's a 6'5 combo guard out of Nicollet, milwaukee. That's the same high school as Kobe Johnson. He's looking at SC Still. Aj DeBansa, you know who's the number one player in the 2025 class out of Napa Prolific Prep.

Speaker 1: 1:03:30

There's lots of really good players in the SoCal sort of orbit, but I just don't know how quickly Mus is going to be able to get in there. I haven't heard anything much about it. They're still very early, obviously, but, uh, I think after we get through the summer evaluation periods, uh, we're going to know a little bit more about how the class of 2025 is looking for us. See, but he's going to really need a great class, a great high school class, I think too, cause you just can't, you just can't bring in 12. You can't bring in, like you know, nine, uh, grad transfers every year, or nine you know nine transfers every year. You just, I know you can, but I don't think you should.

Speaker 1: 1:04:12

I don't think it's a good idea. I think it's you. You want a more healthy ratio and, and I think with you know, nil, I think you can get guys and keep guys, get a system where you can find guys, get them and keep them in the program. But you just don't want to have to. You want to build a culture, right, and to some extent, the culture's got to exude itself to the fan base and it can't just be this mercenary culture. Now, I guess Kentucky fans didn't have any problem with, basically that whole one-and-done culture. They were, all you know, happy to win a title and to have all those big years. But you know, I don't know, I just don't. It's going to be a shock to USC fans, I think, going through this huge roster turnover every year. So, anyway, anything else, uh, we didn't cover that. Um, you want to talk about?

Speaker 2: 1:05:12

Uh, no, just um, I think that we should, uh, just maybe just upload my stats, my metrics here to the site as well, as kind of a complimentary reader. Yeah, we can do that. There's a bunch of numbers.

Speaker 1: 1:05:23

Sure, yeah, send them over. Um, we'll, uh, we'll put them up tomorrow. Uh, we'll, we'll have the podcast up on Thursday and um, yeah, hopefully, like I said, we'll, we're going to try to. We're trying to get uh, an assistant coach, uh one of the players and potentially an older player to talk about some old SC stuff. Been working on that. If any of you new USC coaches are listening, I hope you enjoyed our talk. We look forward to talking to you and, yeah, I hope everyone's having a good summer. Mark, do you have any plans coming up?

Speaker 2: 1:06:01

No, All right summer Mark do you have any plans? Coming up. No, alright, imagine that the numbers guy with just a nerd's plan to do nothing. How about that?

Speaker 1: 1:06:09

Sounds great. I'm just going to sit back and drink my margaritas. It is May Margarita May, alright. Well, everyone, thanks for tuning in to this week's show. We hope you enjoyed it, we hope you enjoyed our rankings and we hope that you guys have a great summer and come back for our next episode and check things out on our website, uscbasketballcom. Join in the discussions there and, yeah, we'll see you in a few weeks, if not sooner, depending on the news and I'll say, fight on and send it over to you, mark.

Speaker 2: 1:06:45

As always, everyone fight on.