One of the biggest moves this offseason came when Arkansas coach Eric Musselman bolted for the USC job on the West coast, going to revitalize a program that had stagnated just a touch under former coach Andy Enfield.
Now Musselman is hard at work constructing his roster, though the majority of the moves have been made at this point.
Musselman joined the College Hoops Today podcast with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports to discuss what he was angling for when he was taking in transfers and high school prospects in the short window following his hire.
“So we felt like the guys and the positions that have had really good success for us, Jon, has been guys in that 6-5 to 6-8 range,” Eric Musselman said, referring to height. “So we went out and tried to fill that as much as we can, guys that can play three positions. And we feel that we’ve done that in (Chibuzo) Agbo and (Kevin Patton), and then (Terrance) Williams and Matt Knowling and Jalen Shelley can play multiple positions, Isaiah Elohim can play multiple positions, Saint Thomas can play multiple positions and Desmond Claude can.”
That’s a lot of potential versatility for the Trojans, who are rebuilding after a disappointing 2023-24 campaign in which the team finished just 15-18 despite having some real stars on the roster.
Musselman has proven he can coax top-level success out of teams, as evidenced by three straight years of second-weekend NCAA Tournament appearances at Arkansas.
To make it work, though, there’s a second area of the roster Musselman targeted.
“And then we also have guys that maybe have a specific position that are also going to hopefully have an impact with our team,” Eric Musselman said. “Bryce Pope at the two-guard and Clark Slajchert can play at the one and maybe even the two. Then (Rashaun) Agee is a guy that’s going to play the four spot for us. And Harrison Hornery is a returner that can play the stretch four. And then Josh Cohen will just be a five for us.”
That pretty well breaks down the roster. It’s not perfect, but it should give USC a chance to be competitive.
If there’s a weakness, Eric Musselman is aware of it.
“We understand we kind of lack depth at the five spot, we will have to play undersized at the five when Josh Cohen is not on the floor,” he said. “Then it’s going to be really important our ball-handling and point guard play, as with every team, becomes very, very important as well, especially in league play.”
Plenty to be excited about for USC fans.
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