How good will USC men's basketball be in 2023-24?
With rosters just about becoming finalized for next season, many college basketball insiders are releasing way-too-early top 25's and NCAA Tournament projections.
The Trojans are expected to have one of the best teams of the Andy Enfield era next season thanks to leading scorer Boogie Ellis returning and USC adding a marquee recruiting class.
There's a strong feeling among analysts that USC will be a top 25 team, but where they fit in with the country's best squads is still up for debate.
Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is one of the media members who's higher on the Trojans than most. In his most recent preseason rankings released on Monday, Rothstein has the Trojans at No. 11 in the country.
247Sports.com's Kevin Flaherty ranks USC as the No. 23 team in the nation heading into the season. In Flaherty's most recent preseason top 25 released on June 3, he wrote:
The Trojans return starters Boogie Ellis, Kobe Johnson and Joshua Morgan, bring in impact recruits Isaiah Collier and Bronny James essentially add another five-star recruit in a healthy Vince Iwuchukwu. With DJ Rodman arriving from Washington State as well, the Trojans get another proven Pac-12 player.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi dropped his first NCAA Tournament projection of the offseason on Monday. He lists USC as a No. 6 seed in the Midwest region taking on the winner of No. 11 seeds Florida and New Mexico.
All three sets of rankings/projections have USC as the second best team in the Pac-12 behind only Arizona.
