Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: USC Trojans

The Pac-12 doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in college basketball lately, but that’s the conference’s own fault, as it’s been a fairly pathetic conference over the last couple of seasons. Many of the teams took advantage of the largest transfer portal ever, and we will see a lot of new faces this season. There will be plenty of hype surrounding the UCLA Bruins after their unlikely final four run last year while teams like Oregon, Arizona and USC try to gain relevance once more. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the WSU Cougars and their juicy roster, but the amount of projected bottom feeders could lead to another disappointing season for the Pac-12.

Nevertheless, there will be firepower on each of these rosters and Pac-12 Thursday DFS slates tend to be some of the most chaotic of the week. Let’s break down each team and identify the players to watch for this upcoming season.

In this one, USC.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

USC Trojans 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 25-8 (15-5 Pac-12), second in Pac-12
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

Key Departures | USC Trojans

• Evan Mobley (NBA draftee)
• Tahj Eaddy (playing professionally)
• Noah Baumann (transferred to Georgia)

Key Additions | USC Trojans

• Boogie Ellis (transferred from Memphis)
• Malik Thomas (top 80 recruit)
• Harrison Hornery (3 star recruit)
• Kobe Johnson (3 star recruit)

Returners | USC Trojans

• Isaiah Mobley (9.9 PPG/7.3 RPG/0.9 BPG)
• Drew Peterson (9.8 PPG/5 RPG/2.7 APG)
• Isaiah White (7.6 PPG/3.4 RPG/1 SPG)
• Chevez Goodwin (5.6 PPG/3.5 RPG)
• Max Agbonkpolo (3.9 PPG/2.6 RPG)
• Ethan Anderson (5.7 PPG/1.8 RPG/2.7 APG)

USC Trojans Outlook for 2021-2022

The Trojans could be in for a bumpy ride after losing mega star Evan Mobley to the NBA, but they still return plenty of production and for DFS purposes this rotation looks very appealing. Despite this being a big year for super seniors and transfers, this team should have a shorter rotation, and we can feel comfortable targeting their players in the right situations.

Evan’s brother Isaiah Mobley returns for his junior season and will be able to step out of the shadow of his younger brother. It’s important to note that Isaiah isn’t his brother Evan, but he is still a very good basketball player. He improved his shooting in 2020 and actually made 44% of his 39 three-point attempts. That will be important this year as the team transitions to life after an NBA lotto pick. He is versatile as well and can play well in transition or in the half court. Chevez Goodwin and Max Agbonkpolo will have to step up their contributions and could be sneaky DFS plays in November during the non-conference schedule.

In the backcourt the team went out and grabbed Boogie Ellis from Memphis. Boogie will be a DFS go-to for us all season long. He has experience running the point under one of the best when he was coached by Penny Hardaway. He also has turned himself into a competent three-point shooter and should be the primary option on this squad. He was a 10.2 PPG scorer in his sophomore season, and I expect that number to push toward 16 or more this year. If they opt to run Boogie off the ballm they have another experienced player in returner Ethan Anderson who dealt with injury issues last year but did end up having an assist rate around 22%. He is fully capable of initiating this offense when needed.

Drew Peterson and Isaiah White transferred to the Trojans last year and actually played big roles in the rotation. I would expect both to be starters again and improve upon last season’s averages. Peterson was a DFS darling the last month and a half of the season so don’t sleep on his potential going forward.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Life after a lotto pick can be difficult for teams, but the Pac-12 is clearly a weaker conference yet again, so the Trojans have a shot to bounce back quickly with their current nucleus of players. Boogie Ellis, Isaiah Mobley and Drew Peterson should play all the minutes they can handle making them ideal fantasy options for each Pac-12 slate.