USC Basketball

Andy Enfield knows the buzzwords that get players and fans excited.

Enfield told Jay Leno—yeah, the guy was on the Tonight Show—that he wants to bring the Showtime back to Los Angeles. That would be Showtime, as in Magic Johnson’s Showtime. Los Angeles is now listening.

Before anyone knew about Florida Gulf Coast, I talked to Enfield prior to the NCAA tournament. I expected to talk to a coach who was just happy to be there, who had a gee shucks this is neat attitude.

Instead, Enfield was incredibly confident in his team. He was convinced Georgetown would have to play Florida Gulf Coast’s way.

“We’re going to use our speed and our athleticism kind of like a Tyson Chandler mode,” he said. “We’re looking to run our style and we’re not going to change. This is who we are. We’re built for an up-tempo style of play.”

That’s quite the recruiting pitch. So is this.

"Do recruits want to go somewhere and play a slowdown style?” Enfield asked in the Los Angeles Times. “Or do they want to enjoy themselves and win?"

Enfield has their attention.

Anyone critical of the Enfield hire by USC athletic director Pat Haden has a justifiable argument. This is a man who has been a head coach for only two seasons. This is a coach who didn’t even win the Atlantic Sun regular season conference title.

But this is also a man who took a school that no one had ever heard of to the NCAA tournament in only the second year the school was eligible. This is a man who convinced a supermodel to marry him. That kind of confidence can make up for a lack of experience. That kind of confidence—or swag, as the kids know it—is what players want to be around.

Enfield and “Dunk City” oozed swag.

These experiments—team catches lightning in a bottle and coach gets rewarded with job at a big school—have failed before. Sometimes coaches with a gimmicky style at a small school believe they have to abandon that style once they get to a big school.

Can Enfield really bring Showtime to USC? Or will “Dunk City” fizzle into something entirely different?

The Personnel isn’t There Yet

Enfield’s first season at Southern Cal is important because he’s still a story. He has our attention and we want more dunks. We want more highlights.

But unfortunately for Enfield, the pieces aren’t really there. Southern Cal had an athletic seven-footer who could have gone all Tyson Chandler mode on the Pac-12, but that guy, Dewayne Dedmon, decided to declare for the draft.

The most experienced big man for USC is Omar Oraby, a 7”2”, 270-pound center who isn’t exactly a gazelle running up and down the court. Oraby’s game is geared for the half-court and playing with his back to the basket.  

At FGCU, Enfield had the perfect point guard to push the pace and throw oops in Brett Comer, who averaged 6.6 assists per game.

Currently, USC doesn’t have the best of options to replace point guard Jio Fontan, but help could be on the way in Maryland transfer Pe’Shon Howard, who planned to visit USC in April according to Josh Gershon of Fox Sports. Howard always put up good assist numbers in three seasons at Maryland and he will try to petition the NCAA to play right away.

Here’s the promising part of the roster that Enfield inherits: The Trojans’ best returning players are at the two and three spots. Guard J.T. Terrell is the leading returning scorer and could be USC’s version of Sherwood Brown, who led FGCU in scoring. Byron Wesley is a 6’5” guard who started as both a freshman and sophomore. Incoming freshman Roschon Prince, a 6’5” wing, is a top-100 recruit.

The rest will be a project, at least in Year One.

The small sample size at FGCU says that Enfield is up to the task. One of the most impressive makeovers Enfield made at FGCU was turning Chase Fieler from a three-point shooting wing into one of his dunkers who also got plenty of opportunities to still shoot the three.

That could be 6’7” forward Ari Stewart, who played only 10.9 minutes per game in 18 games as a junior. Stewart shot 46 of his 74 field goal attempts from deep. The athleticism and height is there to be something different. Stewart was a contributor in his first two seasons at Wake Forest and was the No. 43-ranked recruit by Scout.com in 2009.

Maybe Enfield goes small so he can play fast. Maybe there are other guys who warmed the bench who will fit his style. Or maybe it’ll take a year or two to get the players he needs.

Setting up for the Future

Enfield has spent just over a month on the job and he’s already winning.

The luxury of coaching in Los Angeles is that California is filled with talent. Enfield already has the hip style to play, but he needed a staff that was familiar with the area.

So Enfield went out and hired two assistant coaches from Los Angeles known as good recruiters: Tony Bland and Jason Hart.

Hiring Bland as his associate head coach away from San Diego State immediately got those in the know in college basketball’s attention.

Hart is another young assistant with built-in recruiting ties. He played at Syracuse and returned to Los Angeles after his professional career, starting his coaching career on the AAU circuit before coaching one season at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif. Hart spent this past season as an assistant at Pepperdine.

With the staff to find the players, Enfield can settle on a role as a closer, and he talks a great game. This is the type of business-centric approach he brings to the table (via ESPN.com): 

At FGCU, no one knew who we were or what the letters stood for. It was like a marketing strategy. How do we put our name out there? What are we going to be known for? So we went with an up-tempo style, a fun style of play. We're trying to do something similar at USC. The huge advantage here is the national name recognition. We just have to create a brand for USC basketball.

It may take a few years to get it going, but USC should be willing to wait. The Trojans have been to two Sweet 16s since 1961. Enfield took a 16-year-old school to the Sweet 16 in his second year.

Enfield, whether he was putting on a shooting demonstration or showing around a supermodel, has always entertained and succeeded.

The promise made him a good hire. Now we’ll have to wait and see if what he’s promising—Showtime—will really come to be. 

On Monday evening, the USC Trojans made a brilliant move to poach Andy Enfield from Florida Gulf Coast University on a six-year deal, according to ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz via Twitter. The deal is worth “well over $1 million a year,” per ESPN.com.

While some may view this as a desperation move to restore a slumping program by hiring a coach that attained brief success with a small-time program in the 2013 NCAA tournament, Enfield absolutely deserves this big-time deal for his body of work over a long career in the field.

The 43-year-old not only went 41-28 during his two-season tenure at the helm of the Eagles (2011-13), but he also spent five years as an assistant to Leonard Hamilton with the Florida State Seminoles (2006-11), two years as an assistant with the Boston Celtics (1998-2000) and two years as a shooting coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (1994-1996).

Enfield guided his FGCU squad to an Atlantic Sun Conference title, a No. 15 seed in the 2013 NCAA March Madness and upsets over No. 2 Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego State before being bounced by No. 3 Florida.

The Eagles—who aptly earned the moniker “Dunk City” for their high-flying, run-and-gun style of play during the tourney—captured the hearts of fans everywhere, and Enfield quickly became one of the hottest coaching candidates for their success.

Marcus R. Fuller of the Pioneer Press reported that the Minnesota Golden Gophers were also after Enfield’s services before he struck a deal with the Trojans on Monday.

However, the Trojans moved quickly and locked up the coach to fill the vacancy left by Kevin O’Neill—fired in January for his lack of success and replaced by an ineffective Bob Cantu in the interim.

The program hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2011, but could quickly find itself in contention for the always wide-open Pac-12 title and be back in March Madness in short order.

Enfield is going to shake up the recruiting landscape out West and bring some credibility to a Trojans team that sorely needs it. His exciting brand of basketball meshes well in Southern California and he should be a huge hit in short order.

Florida Gulf Coast and Andy Enfield had one hell of a fling, but it’s over now. Enfield left FGCU for USC on Monday.

Don’t feel bad, Eagles. He had to go.

“Dunk City” was the story of this NCAA tournament, and it will always be what we remember from March 2013.

Illusions that it could continue were not all that delusional either. School on a beach. Uptempo pace. That could work.

And it still can. But if Enfield liked the Sweet 16 and wanted a chance to consistently get back, he had to go.

The only argument against his departure is that Butler's Brad Stevens, VCU's Shaka Smart and Wichita State's Gregg Marshall have started a trend in college basketball of saying "no thanks" when the big boys come calling. 

All three coaches have great situations where they are paid well and have good facilities and great fan support. They also have job security that is not guaranteed at bigger schools, a luxury Enfield certainly had.

UCLA just fired Ben Howland after he won the Pac-12. Minnesota got rid of Tubby Smith after he won the school's first NCAA tournament game that counted since 1990. 

One day they're courting you; the next they're sending security asking you to vacate the premises. 

This is a risk for Enfield, but staying did not have much of a reward.

FGCU is not Butler, VCU or Wichita State. Those programs were successful and had been around long before Stevens, Smart and Marshall arrived. They are in bigger conferences that have television contracts. They have successful alumni who can throw some money in the pot when it is time to give each coach the "please don't go" extension. 

FGCU is barely driving age. The basketball program has only been around for 11 years. A few boosters might pop up after this recent run, but Enfield's salary was $157,500. 

Even with $15,000 in bonuses for his NCAA tourney run and some generous donations, FGCU could not come close to what USC was able to offer.

The only card FGCU had to play was loyalty. 

Athletic director Ken Kavanagh told the Naples Daily News on Monday that he was hoping the team that Enfield had coming back would keep the coach at FGCU.

"Andy is someone who is very analytical and doesn't rush to judgment," Kavanagh said.

No team or group of players is going to be easy to leave behind. This was not rushing to judgment. The challenge was clear.

Enfield had to know that his chances of returning to the NCAA tournament each season would come down to one week in March at the Atlantic Sun conference tournament. The team that won the Atlantic Sun in the regular season this year, Mercer, did not get an invite to the NCAAs. 

Unless the Eagles are able to win consistently against a strong nonconference schedule—and those games will be on the road—they will have to win their conference tourney to dance.  

Enfield could have stayed and tried to build a consistent winner, but the possibility was there that this was a flash-in-the-pan run. The possibility was there that he would not get this opportunity again.

And USC is a good opportunity, partially because rival UCLA is not what it once was. Even if new head coach Steve Alford recruits well, there are plenty of players in California. Enfield has a brand of basketball that is easy to sell to recruits: What 18-year-old doesn’t want to play fast and dunk?

Florida Gulf Coast also has a good brand now. The school should be able to find another up-and-comer. And it shouldn’t feel like a scorned lover.

Enfield made the right call, and so did USC.

“Dunk City L.A.” has a nice ring to it. 

Word leaked late yesterday that the cleaver is going to fall on UCLA Bruins coach Ben Howland after ten seasons.

Meanwhile, the basketball program across town has been floundering, with coach Kevin O'Neill being disposed of mid-season and interim coach Bob Cantu going 8-10 to end the season. 

Against teams that made the NCAA Tournament, the Trojans were a disappointing 3-9.  They weren't able to snag a single one of the 100 best recruits in the nation. The Trojans haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2009, they haven't had a season of nine or fewer losses since 1999.

The USC Trojans should scoop up Howland at the earliest possible opportunity.

It's not like USC has a great coach waiting in the wings.  Two weeks ago, it was reported that the Trojans met with disgraced former coach Tim Floyd about taking the reins again.  More recently, another coach on USC's radar, Pitt's Jamie Dixon, inked a long-term extension with the Panthers.

Howland is a Southern California guy: he grew up in Santa Barbara and attended Cerritos High.  For a dozen years, he was an assistant at UC Santa Barbara.

In terms of CV, Howland has done everything that USC needs a coach to do.  USC needs a coach who can win games and advance deep in the NCAA Tourney; Howland has been to three Final Fours and won more games at UCLA than anybody not named John Wooden.  USC needs a recruiter; UCLA entered this season with the nation's top recruiting class.   

A hiring of Howland would also fit with USC's habit of hiring big-name, big-money coaches.  After all, this is a school that had Pete Carroll, Michael Cooper and Kevin O'Neill on the payroll all at the same time.  Those are two former NBA head coaches and a current NFL head coach.

The icing on the cake is that a Howland hire would pull the lion's, er, bruin's tail, much in the same way the hiring by Louisville of former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino does.

Bottom line: within days after getting a pink slip from UCLA, Ben Howland should get a call from USC.

USC Trojan's Kevin O'Neil is facing a make-or-break season in 2012-13.

After three years in Troy, he has registered a disappointing 41-55 record.

Last season, with a team that was ravaged by injuries and internal conflict, Southern Cal went a dismal 6-26, 1-17 in the inaugural year of the Pac 12.

Attendance at 2011-12 home games at the 10,000+ seating capacity Galen Center was 3,970, the third lowest among BCS-Conference schools.

If O'Neil had an extensive winning record with conference championships and national titles to lean upon, he might have a little more time to work through things. However, he has a .474 winning percentage in leading five different Division I schools over his 15-year collegiate coaching career.

It's possible that USC could bounce back this season.

The Orange County Register's Michael Lev believes that O'Neil has options for the first time since becoming the Trojans head coach three years ago.

Jio Fontan and Maurice Jones should create a lethal backcourt tandem.

Seven-footer Dewayne Dedmon returns to patrol the paint.

Wake Forest transfers Ari Stewart and J.T. Terrell could come up huge.

On paper, USC could jump into the middle of the Pac-12 race.

However, if they do not, O'Neil will be packing his bags again, moving on to yet another stop on his unpredictable coaching tour.

The USC Trojans looked to go 2-0 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in front of yet another great alumni, Jerry Buss.

However, this proved not to be a tough task with former LSU guard Bo Spencer at the reins of the Huskers.

From the beginning of the game, Spencer was aggressive and really his team's only reliable option on the offensive end, but at the end of the day he proved to be enough.

After a slow start for the Trojans, freshman guard Alexis Moore brought some energy to the floor for his team and the momentum began to sway towards USC.

Byron Wesley had the play of the game in the first half when he caught the ball in the corner, drove baseline and dunked it. It really got the crowd going and had USC feeling good going into halftime, even though they were still down by two.

The two teams went back and forth, back and forth, and it was clear that the game was going to come down to a fantastic finish.

As regulation neared the end, both teams' elite players stepped up: Bo Spencer and Maurice Jones.

But it was Dewayne Dedmon who had a chance to end the game with a jumper from the elbow. It looked good but hit the back of the rim, and both teams ran back to the bench preparing for five more minutes of basketball, or so they thought.

After a key steal by Byron Wesley, it looked like USC had finally sealed the deal, but Spencer and company came right back to send it into another overtime.

This time it was the Cornhuskers who jumped out to an early lead and were up by six with only a little bit more than a minute left—that was until Moore hit a very key three-pointer, and Dedmon threw down a ferocious dunk to bring them within one with only nine seconds left.

After Spencer knocked down two free throws despite the hostile crowd, Jones was presented with one more chance to tie it up. It looked good for a little bit, but then Jones and the rest of Galen were forced to accept what really happened.

It was a tough loss for the young and inexperienced Trojans, but this will surely serve as a learning experience for the future. The young talent is showing signs that they will be very good players in the future, but for now the Trojans must turn their heads to their next task.

They will play San Diego State this Thursday for their first away game of the season. This will be another test, but I'm sure they are hoping for different results.

The energy was electric at the Galen Center last night when the USC Trojans Men's Basketball team opened up against Cal State Northridge University.

It was homecoming weekend at the University of Southern California; some of USC's finest were on hand to watch the team start off 1-0, including Lisa Leslie, Taj Gibson, and Demar Derozan. I'm sure Derozan and Gibson miss the days when they could play basketball without having to worry about a lockout.

Nevertheless, If the building wasn't filled with enough anticipation, the Jumbotron displayed an intro video that had the crowd ready for some USC basketball!

As a result, the Men of Troy got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Aaron Fuller was a consistent force all game inside, finishing with sixteen points and nine rebounds.

Northridge only found themselves down by eight points at the half, even though they only connected for four field goals to that point in the game.

USC really came out attacking the rim, in particular Maurice Jones who sank twelve of his fifteen attempts from the line.

Northridge's scoring did not improve very much in the second half, thanks in part to some solid USC defense, but they really couldn't throw a rock in the ocean finishing with a field goal percentage of twenty-five.

It was an ugly game all around, but there were definitely some positives USC can come away with. Although Byron Wesley did not score in double figures, the freshmen now has his first game underneath his belt. Look for him to be more aggressive as the season progresses.

Dewayne Dedmon had three blocks to go along with his sixteen points, but it was Maurice Jones who stepped up in the final minutes and into his leadership role. From here on out, when the Trojans need a bucket or direction, look for the team to look to sophomore point guard Maurice Jones.

Thanks to some balanced scoring and some horrid shooting on Northridge's part, USC starts off 1-0 as they look ahead to Nebraska on Monday.

Did I mention UCLA lost? That's another story for another time, but I'm just saying...

USC men's basketball team continues to bolster their young talent with the signing of the number one junior college player in the nation, shooting guard J.T. Terrell.

He joins Ari Stewart, another Wake Forest player turned Trojan, who he played alongside his freshmen year. Now that both have brought their talents to Los Angeles, they will join other talented young players including freshmen Byron Wesley and Alexis Moore, who will also get the opportunity to showcase their abilities this upcoming season.

Described by Coach O'Neill as, "a dynamic scorer that will be able to impact our team offensively next year," the Men of Troy will look to take away a little of the shine that football receives and attract the loyal fans that trek to the Coliseum and scream their heads off for the football team.

USC will look to add more talent to the team from the 2011-2012 recruiting class.

Surely, USC wants to have a team to contend with rival UCLA, along with the rest of the talented Pac-12. If they continue on the path they are on now, recruiting talented players from around the world, USC will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

Standing at only 5'8", Maurice Jones is clearly the leader and primary scorer coming into the season after Jio Fontan was forced to have season ending surgery. Jones looked great in the scrimmage and is sure to be one of the quickest players on the court at all times.

Starting center Dewayne Dedmon had surgery on his left hand, but is ready to go for the season. One of the most athletic big men in not only the Pac-12, but nationwide, he is fun to watch and will be looked to in order to hold down the paint.

There is a lot of potential among this 2011-2012 USC men's basketball team, let's hope they can live up to the hype.  

As long as the lockout out goes on, it may effect their fan base, considering the fact that they are playing the only basketball in LA as of now.