USC Basketball: Insiders Rank Returning Guard Among Top 50 NCAA Players

Your USC Trojans continue to garner massive praise ahead of the official start of their next collegiate season.

The Almanac, a college basketball expert compendium, has put together its annual list of its projected top 100 players in the NCAA for 2023-24. Per the official Twitter/X account of USC men's basketball, freshman guard Isaiah Collier, the top prospect in his 2023 high school class out of Murrieta, Georgia, has been ranked at No. 20, before ever logging a single non-exhibition minute for the Trojans. The Almanac predicts Collier will be named the NCAA Freshman of the Year.

Fifth-year Trojans guard Boogie Ellis, meanwhile, is being projected as the No. 45 overall player this season, as well as the 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year -- during USC's final season in the conference.

Last year for head coach Andy Enfield's 22-11 Trojans, the 6'3" 2023 All-Pac-12 honoree out of San Diego averaged a career-best 17.7 points on .434/.386/.805 shooting splits, 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per bout.

Ellis is expected to be an early second round selection in the 2024 NBA draft, per various experts.

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