This week, FanHouse is taking a look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.Doing nothing to remove their reputation as a football school, no USC blogger contacted even bothered to respond to our inquiries about the 2008-09 Trojan basketball team. So be it, that means the preview will be from a less interested party.
The Trojans spent most of the off-season peripherally in the news. Their issues of how well compensated their stud one-and-done player O.J. Mayo was by a runner for an agent -- and how much or little USC and Coach Tim Floyd knew -- remains an open investigation by the NCAA.
Despite that, and the loss of Davon Jefferson to the NBDL after his insane decision to declare for the draft, the Trojans welcome another likely one-and-done in DeMar DeRozan along with his sidekick Percy (Lil' Romeo) Miller.
DeRozan steps in as a starter on a very good USC frontcourt with Taj Gibson, Kasey Cunningham, Marcus Johnson (UConn transfer). Not to mention the possibility of Nicola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson (UNC transfer) to create even more depth up front.
In the backcourt, there is Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis. After that it becomes a questionable with another transfer in Donte Smith as the most likely player to see major minutes. The team lost depth after the departure of Angelo Johnson. After that, it's not pretty.
Why they should be ranked here:
This team has some great talent, especially in the frontcourt. That will allow the Trojans to play big most of the time. They have a very good defense and Tim Floyd has shown that he can integrate a lot of new players quickly. The backcourt may not be as deep, but with Hackett and Lewis back there they only need one other guard to spell them.
Why they should be ranked higher:
If Stephenson and Vucevic get their eligibility issues cleared up soon to allow them to play this year, the Trojans could have the deepest frontcourt in college basketball this year. They will be one of the hardest teams to score against, except on the perimeter. With so much size inside and so many fouls to give, opponents will have a hard and painful time to get inside to attack the basket.
Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett have been overshadowed by other players at USC, but the juniors are great defenders and haven't hit their ceiling on offense. This team could challenge Arizona State and UCLA for the top of the Pac-10.
Why they should not be ranked:
There are just too many "ifs" to think this is a top-25 team. If all the players get their eligibility this year. If the the team is able to integrate all ten or eleven new players who did not play for the Trojans last year. If the lack of depth in the backcourt doesn't catch up to the Trojans in either injury or simply wearing down the players. If the team is able to score enough.
Then there is the floating concern of the NCAA sanctioning the program over O.J. Mayo. It's out there and questions will continue to be asked. How does that potentially effect the team?
This is a talented team, but it may not be a top-25 team.
