Men’s basketball’s future is bright with talented recruits

St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday usually reserved for luck, was anything but for the No. 8-seeded Trojans as they dropped their first round contest of the 2016 NCAA tournament 70-69 to the Providence Friars.

In the wake of their heartbreaking last-second loss, there is still much to hope for next year.

Although it is phrase most famously championed by Chicago Cubs fans, both the Cubs and the Trojans have the opportunity to make deep playoff runs. For the latter, 10 players will be returning from their 2015 roster, including two practice team players in walk-on junior guard Kurt Karis and Louisville transfer sophomore guard Shaqquan Aaron who both sat out this past year.

This postseason feeling should not be for disappointment, but for confidence and anticipation for even bigger experiences next season.

Considering that many had the Trojans not making the tournament, let alone sweeping UCLA, the 2016-2017 campaign should be the most anticipated season in nearly a decade.

Looking at the projected 2016 roster, the Trojans have as much talent as any team in the nation.

In the paint, USC just lost two big forces in junior forward Darion Clark and sophomore forward Malik Martin, who each plan to transfer to other Division I schools. Although Martin was highly recruited out of high school, he disappointed in his two seasons with the Trojans. The 6-foot-7 Clark was undersized, but underrated considering his exceptional rebounds-per-minute statistic amidst a team with five players 6-foot-9 or taller.

Clark and Martin’s absences will affect the team, but not necessarily in a negative way.

Freshmen forwards Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu, two 6-foot-11 players with shooting and rebounding abilities, now have the opportunity to become the Trojans’ primary big men in 2016.

The interesting situation with the Trojans is not that they don’t have enough talent at the moment, but that they have too much talent. And while some may see this as a problem in terms of losing players or team chemistry, from a coaching perspective, this is the best thing that could happen to the Men of Troy.

Considering the Trojans won nearly as many games in 2015 as they did in 2013 and 2014 combined, the fact that they were able to collect three top recruits in Jonah Mathews, De’Anthony and Harrison Henderson was something nobody could have predicted when head coach Andy Enfield first arrived in Los Angeles.

Nearly every player on the court can make shots. Boatwright, sophomore guards Jordan McLaughlin and Elijah Stewart, and junior guard Katin Reinhardt, combined for 236 3-pointers last season, shooting 39 percent combined.

With Reinhardt transferring, however, there will be an opportunity for another off-the-bench shooting guard to step up. Stewart will most likely earn the starting guard spot with his consistent shooting ability.

The Trojans can play defense when they want to, but the problem down the stretch last season was that they could not do so with consistency. After all, it was their lack of defense on the final play against Providence in the first round of the NCAA tournament which allowed Rodney Bullock to score.

This season was outstanding, but with the added maturity that the Pac-12 and NCAA tournament brought to the Trojans, 2016 should include a much deeper postseason run.