2009-10 USC Basketball Season in Review

After the dust settled on the 2008-09 basketball season, one where we won the Pac-10 tournament, beat Boston College and pushed Michigan State, the national runner-up, to the limit in the NCAA tournament, USC fans were left thinking, what now? Goodbye Taj Gibson. We hardly knew you, Demar DeRozan. Good luck in Italy, Daniel Hackett. Good riddance, Tim Floyd. At least we have a good recruiting class, whoops! hello Arizona. Kevin O'Neill? Guess we should give him a shot. So let's see who we have left: Dwight Lewis, and, um, Evan Smith. Fantastic. I would have voted us 10th, not 9th in the preseason poll which looked like this:

1. California
2. Washington
3. UCLA
4. Arizona
5. Oregon State
6. Oregon
7. Arizona State
8. Washington State
9. USC
10. Stanford

So saying there were no expectations for this team going into this season would have been an understatement. Coupled with the fact that we started the season with a six man rotation (Lewis, Marcus Simmons, Nikola Vucevic, Kasey Cunningham, Donte Smith, and Evan Smith) meant for a long season.

Things started off well, with a 10 point win over UC Riverside, USC's first win in a home opener at Galen Center ever, so Coach O'Neill already had that stat over his predecesor. But things got ugly quick. If you had game 2 in the "When will Kasey Cunningham tear one of his ACLs?", come on down to collect your prize! Only five guys played after Cunningham went down as Loyola Marymount used their depth (when does a West Coast Conference team have more depth than one from the Pac-10?) to pull away for the upset.

But help was on the way, in the form of Alex Stepheson. Or maybe not. Stepheson has such an impresive physique, but is so damn raw in terms of talent. So frustrating. If I had Stepheson's body, I'd be in the NBA right now. Oh well. Didn't matter against an overwhelmed Coppin State team. But the hardest stretch of the season proved too much for USC to overcome. Nebraska stole a win in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. Then the Trojans played some scrappy ball in Austin to stay in strking distance with #2 Texas until they pulled away when Vucevic fouled out.

Then came the sour note on the season, the egg USC layed at Georgia Tech, falling behind 19-0, with Lewis being pulled after 6 minutes of action. In a season of ups and downs, struggling to score against a zone, holding opponents to 37 points, I stuck with the team as long as they played hard. After their third straight loss and playing uninspired ball, it was easy to give up on an already lost season. It was the first time there was no sure NBA talent on the roster (Nick Young, O.J. Mayo, DeRozan), the team was full of transfers (Johnson from UConn, Stepheson from Carolina) that were just stop gaps until the program could back on track, and there was no real likeable guy on the team. Until...

The team got back on track with home wins against Sacramento State and Idaho State. Then Tennessee came into town. After holding off Idaho State by 6, things looked bleak as the #9 Volunteers took the court. But little did most of us know the older looking white kid with the messy hair had in store. Mike Gerrity, fresh off sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer rules, made his USC debut, sporting the #44, was one of three Trojans with a double-double, as he had 12 points and 10 assists. But more impressive was how he weaved through Tennessee's full court press, which I don't blame them for employing, as no one else for USC could have broken their press. For this first time since Ryan Francis, USC had a true point guard. I fell in love with Gerrity on the spot, despite his 1-7 performance. This performance also ensured I would catch at least one game USC played in Hawaii in the Diamond Head Classic.

Gerrity led the team in scoring in wins over Western Michigan and Saint Mary's, scoring 17 points in each game. The Trojans rotation became complete when Leonard Washington became eligible for the game against the Gaels. USC sported a eight man rotation with Vucevic, Stepheson, Johnson, Lewis, and Gerrity starting and Simmons, Donte Smith, and Washington off the bench. Not too shabby. In the championship game of the inaugural Diamond Head Classic, the Trojans used suffocating defense to hold UNLV to 34% shooting to win the championship. Gerrity was named tournament MVP with Johnson also being named to the all-tournament team. USC was on a roll heading into Pac-10 play, something most of the conference could not say. The Pac-10 did not have a marquee win, other than USC's upsets over Tennessee and UNLV while struggling with mid majors (Loyola Marymount, Portland, Cal State Bakersfield, Seattle, etc.). It would be a down year for the conference to say the least.

USC continued their strong play to open conference play, sweeping the Arizona schools at home, including holding Arizona State to a paltry 37 points. Then the hammer dropped on the poor USC team, as athletic director Mike Garrett announced sanctions due to the O.J. Mayo fiasco; loss of scholarships, recruiting hours, vacating all the wins from Mayo's lone season at USC, and the big one, no postseason play, including a ban from the Pac-10 tournament. It seemed like Garrett wanted to avoid most, if not all, penalties for the football program by laying down the law on the basketball team. I'm fine with the loss of scholarships (take away Lil Romeo's) and the loss or recruiting hours I can deal with. Vacating the wins was fine too, USC will never be in the discussing as a dominant basketball program, so losing 21 wins and a first round loss to Kansas State was no big deal. But to punish this team, with only Dwight Lewis being around when O.J. was here, a new coach who had nothing to do with Floyd's wrong doing was wrong. Take away more scholarships or more recruiting hours. Do anything but take away what this team was playing for, a chance to defend their Pac-10 tournament championship, and a chance to play in the Big Dance. But sorry, Lewis, Gerrity, and Johnson, your season will end at Arizona with no chance at post season glory, just so the football team can get off scott free. And where's Floyd's penalty? He's currently an assistant coach with the Hornets. What happens if the football team gets slapped with sanctions for stuff that happened under Pete Carroll? Does he lose scholarships with the Seahawks? One of the many problems with college sports, where everyone but the student-athletes see the money they generate, where coaches can jump from school to school while the kids have to sit out a year due to transfer rules, where there is no playoff to name the national champion in college football. Ugh. And USC and Angels radio announcer Rory Markas died too. Not a good week for USC.

Anyway, when the Trojans went up north, their eight game win streak was snapped against Stanford, no big surprise there after what happened during the week. USC also lost to Cal before heading to Pauley Pavilion. The Trojans jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back, going on to their largest margin of victory ever at UCLA (67-46). Despite blowing out Washington 87-61, USC finished the first round with a whimper, losing to bottom dwellers Washington State at home and the Oregon schools on the road. So all that good (blowouts of UCLA, Washington) was quickly wiped out by the bad (losing to Oregon, Oregon State). USC finished 4-5, going 3-1 against the top 4 and 1-4 against the bottom 5 of the conference. Wonderful.

The Trojans rebounded to start off the second round of conference play, taking care of Stanford and the conference leader Cal at home. UCLA game into town, and despite the Trojans ability to foul three point shooters, USC earned the first regular season sweep of the Bruins since 2004. The Trojans stole a game from Washington on the road before the bottom fell out on the season. USC finished the season on a five game losing streak, dropping games to Washington State, at home to Oregon and Oregon State, at Arizona State, and at Arizona in the Tim Floyd Classic, ending in double O/T. The Oregon games were brutal, as USC scored 44 points in each, never figuring out the zone defense. It's easy, don't dribble into the zone where the other team wants to trap you and swing the ball around. Oh, and the free throw line is ALWAYS open. Flash Lewis there for a easy midrange jumper. But there I go with logic again. Despite their five game losing streak, USC still finished tied with UCLA and Oregon State for fifth in the conference, more a reflection of the poor play of the Pac-10 than anything. The Trojans would have entered the tournament as the #5 seed using the tiebreaking process:

• Results of collective head-to-head competition during the regular season among the tied teams (Oregon State, UCLA, USC went 2-2 against each other)
• If two or more teams are still tied, each of the tied team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the regular season standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage. 
• Oregon State, UCLA, USC went 1-1 against #1 California
• UCLA and USC went 1-1 against #2 Arizona State, Oregon State went 0-2
• USC went 2-0 against #3 Washington, UCLA went 1-1 USC went 2-0 against UCLA, either way, we win

Yeah that's not complicated... But I would like our chances in the wide open conference, as USC did not lose a Pac-10 game by more than 10 points (both times to Oregon, who finished ninth in the conference). The Trojans would be matched up with Arizona in the first round, a team USC beat at home and pushed to double overtime, where Vucevic fouled Kyle Fogg on a three point shot, who hit all three and sent the game to double O/T where Arizona won with a layup with one second left.

So USC finished the season 16-14 (8-10 Pac-10). USC was in position to win the conference before their five game losing streak. But I'd still rank this season as a B-. Great were wins over Tennessee, UNLV, sweeping Washington and UCLA, and winning the Diamond Head Classic. And Mike Gerrity. Terrible were being swept by Washington State, Oregon, and Oregon State and the no-show at Georgia Tech. A decent recruiting class coming in next season leads to hope, but who's returning from this year? Marcus Simmons, defensive stopper with an average offensive game. Nikola Vucevic, my pick for Pac-10 Most Improved Player of the Year (a little biased). Alex Stepheson, hopefully he goes from "raw" to "medium rare" over the summer. Leonard Washington, hopefully he stays out of trouble. Donte Smith, only as a backup point. So year, the cupboard more half empty than half full...

My picks for the all-conference awards (I won't do defense, cause I can't rate the top 5 in the conference) (oh, and here are the actual winners):
Player of the year: Quincy Pondexter, Washington
Coach of the year: Herb Sendek, Arizona State
Freshman of the year: Derrick Williams, Arizona

Most improved player of the year: Nikola Vucevic, USC

All-Pac-10 First Team
Ty Abbott, JR, Arizona State (12.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 41.8% 3pt FG)
Patrick Christopher, SR, California (16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds)
Jeremy Green, SR, Stanford (16.9 points, 3.7 rebounds)
Landry Fields, SR, Stanford (22.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.6 steals)
Quincy Pondexter, SR, Washington (20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 54.3% FG)
Jerome Randle, SR, California (18.7 points, 4.5 assists, 40.4% 3ptFG)
Theo Robertson, SR, California (13.8 points, 4.7 rebounds)
Isaiah Thomas, SO, Washington (17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists)

Klay Thompson, SR, Washington State (19.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals)
Derrick Williams, FR, Arizona (15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 58.8% FG)

All-Pac-10 Second Team

Malcolm Lee, SO, UCLA (12.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists)
Dwight Lewis, SR, USC (13.8 points, 1.2 steals)
Michael Roll, SR, UCLA (13.5 points, 3.6 assists, 42.0% 3pt FG)
Nikola Vucevic, SO, USC (10.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks)
Nic Wise, SR, Arizona (14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.8 steals)


All-Pac-10 Freshman Team
Solomon Hill, Arizona (6.6 points, 4.3 rebounds)
Tyler Honeycutt, UCLA (7.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 1.2 blocks)
Reggie Moore, Washington State (12.9 points, 4.1 assists)
Reeves Nelson, UCLA (11.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 63.3% FG)
Derrick Williams, Arizona  (15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 58.8% FG)