Ruben Report: Updated schedule and USC summer practice info
The Big Ten has provided scheduling information to the schools and it is good news for the West Coast teams, including USC. Previously, Big Ten teams played two games a week and the games were not paired, meaning Nebraska could play at Maryland on Tuesday and at home against Ohio State on Saturday. The new schedule will pair road trips so that when the Trojans travel, they will play two games at sites relatively close together on each trip. One trip might be to Maryland and Rutgers another to Indiana and Purdue.
The Trojans will play each of the fourteen non-west coast teams once a season, either home or away. With the pairing of games, it means the Trojans will travel east only three or four times each season depending on whether they have six or eight conference road games that season.
USC will begin summer practice next week for an hour, four days a week. Head coach Eric Musselman intends to install the offense, defense and out-of-bounds plays over the summer so that the team will be ready to go when fall practice begins in late September. I understand that a couple of players are still completing the admission process, which kicked back the start of summer practice from this week.
Musselman anticipates playing faster than many Big Ten teams and will press full-court at times. In part due to the number of games the team will play as part of long trips, Musselman recruited with the goal of being able to play non-starters significant minutes. He believes this is a deep team.
I met Saint Thomas and Chibuzo Agbo together Wednesday evening. Both are 6-foot-7 and each said they are comfortable playing at the 2, 3 or 4. They are both very articulate and thoughtful and will be great ambassadors for USC. They said they understand there will be a lot of competition for playing time.
Thomas mentioned that he signed with the Trojans in part because of Musselman’s very high college winning percentage and his history of getting players to the NBA. Agbo, who is from Dan Diego, said that he was recruited by the Trojans out of high school and took a visit. He also visited SMU this spring and was really impressed by Chris Capko. He decided to sign with the Trojans in part to play close to home.
They seemed to have already developed a relationship even they only met a few days ago and will be competing against each other for playing time.
I also briefly met Kennedy Smith, the highest-rated player in Lindsey Gottlieb’s top-rated freshman class. She is taller than I expected and definitely has the height to play small forward.
And One
Everything is coming together for the upcoming season. The season is still five months away but there is an air of excitement around Trojan basketball. This will not be a great team; there are so many questions with a brand new roster and coaching staff that it’s impossible to guess whether this will be a tournament or even finish in the top half of the Big Ten.
I’m assuming the balance of the non-conference schedule will be out soon and expect there will be a lot of home games, which will provide everyone a chance to see the “new look” Trojans.
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