No, it’s not the same story as last season, but the similarities should scare Trojan fans.

While USC men’s basketball Head Coach Eric Musselman ended his first season with a 17-18 record, a lot of the inconsistencies were because the roster was haphazardly built through the transfer portal.

At this point in the recruiting cycle — Musselman’s first full one with USC — the Trojans currently hold the 26th-ranked class in the country, according to 247Sports. USC has the ability to improve that recruiting class, depending on the school choice from high school guard Brayden Burries.

Burries, the No. 11 recruit in the country, is deciding between USC, Oregon, Arizona, Tennessee and Alabama and will announce his choice Wednesday morning, according to his personal X account. The combo guard could add to a strong class that already includes five-star guard Alijah Arenas and four-star guard Jerry Easter. That class would have included four-star guard Elzie Harrington, but he decommitted from the Trojans on Tuesday.

Even without Burries and Harrington, the Trojans already have a stronger class than last season, setting USC up with strong freshmen for Musselman’s second season. Arenas and Easter both have higher ratings than forward Jalen Shelley and guard/forward Isaiah Elohim, who both just finished their freshman years with the Trojans.

But Shelley and Elohim are at the crux of the problems for USC heading into next season.

Both have entered the transfer portal, along with sophomore guard Kevin Patton Jr. and redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III, who was second on the team with his 17.0 points per game in Big Ten play.

Arenas can fill the void that Yates is leaving, but it’s the other departures that are worrisome. Of the 10 Trojans who played in 20 or more games this year, six had senior or graduate status this past season.

Yates, Patton and Shelley also played in more than 20 games, meaning the Trojans might lose nine of the 10 players with those types of numbers. The lone scenario where that statement remains as “might” is if players are able to scrounge up extra years of eligibility. This is certainly a possibility for a player like graduate forward Rashaun Agee, who only just played in his third full season of NCAA Division I basketball, missing a majority of a year due to injury and playing a season at the junior college level.

The situation is certainly not as dire as last season. The Trojans lost every single player from the 2023-24 squad who played in more than five games — outside of senior forward Harrison Hornery — because of graduation, the NBA Draft and the transfer portal. The Australian Trojan only totaled 29 minutes across USC’s 35 games this season, meaning USC effectively lost its entire roster when Museelman took over.

Next season’s Trojans, as of now, are returning junior guard Desmond Claude, who is certainly better than nothing, as he led USC with his 15.8 points per game. But behind Claude, the Trojans will have to yet again rebuild their starting lineup after yet another round of departures.

Musselman’s rebuild is off to a strong start. Along with a good freshman class, USC has earned transfer commitments from four players, including four-star players Jacob Cofie and Drew Fielder. Cofie ranks better as a transfer than any player USC brought in from the transfer portal besides Claude, while Fielder would have been the Trojans’ tallest player this past season.

Cofie and Fielder are both young talents, with Cofie just finishing his freshman year at Virginia and Fielder closing out his sophomore year with Georgetown. While their solid play sets up USC for success next season — the duo combined for 14.3 points per game this season — their youth gives the Trojans multiple years to play with.

This column has supported Musselman from the start and that support still continues. The former Arkansas head coach has the Trojans moving in the right direction, but the player departures are still concerning.

At this point, USC fans can expect a starting lineup along the lines of Claude and Arenas at guard, Cofie at forward, Fielder at center and … Agee? Can senior forward Saint Thomas find another year of eligibility? Will graduate forward Terrance Williams II get a medical redshirt after playing in seven games?

Last year, the question marks represented hope and excitement for the future. This year, the question marks cover the program in a shroud of darkness.

If Trojan fans get their way, Musselman will be able to turn on the headlights of the Muss Bus and find open skies.

Thomas Johnson is a senior writing about USC’s arrival to a new conference and all of the implications surrounding the entrance in his column, “Big Ten Bites,” which runs every other Wednesday.