USC Sports Talk

Watching the NCAA tournament game between the USC basketball Trojans and the Michigan State Spartans all I kept thinking was that the Spartans were getting a lot more calls then were the USC Trojans. That's to be expected I guess when you're playing on the East Coast and you're a west Coast team...

How else do you explain star USC center Taj Gibson fouling out of the game on a rinky dink over-the-back call?

I digress...

The USC Trojans basketball team has a lot of questions to answer this off-season. The following players could be leaving USC for the NBA draft:

• Taj Gibson
• Daniel Hackett
• DeMar DeRozan

Those three players right there were most of their offense this past year and freshman stud DeMar DeRozan accounted for much of the spark USC had late in their season in the Pac 10 and NCAA tournaments.

Taj Gibson is a junior and he's 6'9, he's athletic and he can block shots and he's been a starter at USC for three seasons now and I have to believe the NBA will come calling  and in the first round at that. I'd love to see Gibson come back but I don't see how he can after the season he's had. If Gibson leaves after this year he'll be a spot player in the NBA at best...

He'd make a much better player in the NBA if he came back for his senior season and learned how to keep his feet on the floor when he gets into foul trouble (instead of trying to block every shot that come his way) and if he'd box out more consistently... He doesn't board enough for someone who has his size, athleticism and length and any team that drafts him will have to work with him on these facets of his game.

Taj Gibson would be much better suited coming back to USC for his senior season for several reasons. The biggest reason being the fact that he was held to 3 points by a tough low post team in Michigan State and virtually no rebounds. He's a good shot blocker but at 6'9 I don't know if that will translate in the NBA against bigger more athletic players.

DeMar DeRozan was supposed to be this years one and done fab freshman but he started the season off slow and more and more fans and experts started talking about the possibility of him staying on for another season. And then he exploded in the Pac 10 and NCAA tournaments... DeRozan pretty much developed an outside shot from out of nowhere in the post-season and he also upped his scoring average to 20+ points per game.

But was it enough for an NBA team to draft the guy early in the first round of the NBA draft?

Unfortunately I think it was. DeRozan can jump out of the gym and has raw athletic ability and talent that are rarely seen. Add to that the shooting and scoring touch that he developed late in the season and say bye-bye. Something else DeRozan has that you rarely see with players that posses his talent is patience. DeRozan doesn't force any shots it seems and is great at picking his spots...

Junior guard Daniel Hackett I think will be back along with junior guard Dwight Lewis who also came on really strong as a deadly shooter late in the season and particularly in the post season. Hackett is a big point guard at 6-5 and right now most NBA draft experts are saying he's an early second round draft pick in the NBA draft and if that's the case I think he'll be back.

With Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis the USC Trojans basketball team should have one of the best back courts in the country and they're both 6'5 and they would both be seniors next season and present all kinds of match up issues for opposing teams. All they need is a big man in the middle and they should be able to make a deeper run then they did this year. Add to this fabulous guard rotation Marcus Simmons, who will be a junior next season and is the defensive stopper of the bunch, and you're set.

As far as big men go should Taj Gibson not return the USC Trojans basketball team isn't necessarily in dire straits with 6'10 Nikola Vucevic and 6'7 Leonard Washington both returning as sophomores next season.

So although things ended abruptly for the USC Trojans Basketball team this season, things are definitely looking up for next season with a solid core coming back and the team getting deeper and deeper with every passing year. Tim Floyd really seems to have this team and program moving in the right direction.

I think next season USC needs another one-and-done fab freshman ala DeMar DeRozan or OJ Mayo to help out with the scoring next season, a couple of freshmen guards to start grooming to replace Hackett and Lewis and a spot up shooter. One of the things that killed them this year was a lack of depth with Tim Floyd usually only playing a rotation of 7-8 players.

The USC Trojans basketball team has a chance to return three seniors next season (three seniors that should average 45 points by themselves!) and a chance to make a significant push in the NCAA tournament... I just hope they take it.