No. 15 USC Trojans: Projected Rotation & Season Outlook
The first two years of the Eric Musselman era at USC have not gone according to plan, as the Trojans have failed to make the NCAA Tournament on both occasions. This season, there will be zero excuses given how much talent that USC has been able to bring in.
The Trojans signed three top-40 recruits, led by Christian Collins, who is one of the best athletes and defenders in the class. They also signed the twins of Adonis Ratliff and Darius Ratliff, both of whom will add a lot of interior depth and scoring potential.
Coach Musselman was able to get commitments from a handful of impact transfers as well. KJ Lewis, Jacob Cofie and Eric Reibe all were key contributors for power conference teams and should all get the first crack at a starting job next season. The only concern lies with Reibe, who underwent foot surgery in late-July, and the team is hoping he will be ready in time for the season. They also bring in Isaac Bruns, Jalen Cox and Jadis Jones, who all come from mid-majors but averaged at least 15 PPG last year.
Potentially the two most important pieces next season will be a pair of returning guards in Rodney Rice and Alijah Arenas. Rice had a spectacular start to last season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury after just six games. Rice is a dark horse Big Ten Player of the Year candidate. Arenas, on the other hand, missed the first half of last season recovering from a knee injury, but showed a lot of special things down the stretch as a primary offensive option.
It will be interesting to see how coach Musselman uses all of those different skill sets and gets them to come together. The talent has never been better for USC, but there's a lot of mouths to feed.
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2026-27 USC Basketball Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Rodney Rice (20.3 PPG, 6.0 APG)
SG: Alijah Arenas (14.1 PPG)
SF: KJ Lewis (14.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.1 SPG at Georgetown)
PF: Jacob Cofie (9.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 BPG)
C: Eric Reibe (5.9 PPG at UConn)
Key Reserves: Christian Collins (No. 5 in SC Next 100), Isaac Bruns (20.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG at South Dakota), Jalen Cox (17.9 PPG, 5.3 APG, 5.2 RPG at Colgate), Adonis Ratliff (No. 22 in SC Next 100), Jadis Jones (15.3 PPG, 8.5 RPG at Lindenwood), Darius Ratliff (No. 31 in SC Next 100), Joshua Hughes (9.3 PPG at Evansville)
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