As the semester winds down, we all tend to look back. What could’ve been, how this semester went, takes that we wish we wrote in our Daily Trojan columns.

I’ve done enough of that. Instead, let’s look forward.

There’s always a lot going on in USC Athletics. So, here are five dates to look forward to as many of the Trojan spring sports stare down their postseasons and fall sports prepare to begin in just a few short months.

April 23-25

Also known as yesterday, today and tomorrow — if you catch this column as it publishes. Most of the sports world will be looking at the NFL Draft.

While I’m writing this before the first round occurs, I think we’re all clear that Makai Lemon is going to be the sole Trojan picked. If I’m wrong, I would’ve changed this! As I’ve written about before, I’m not worried about his future. He’s that guy, as they say.

But that doesn’t mean the fun has stopped.

Though Lemon was clearly the better receiver last season, Ja’Kobi Lane, one-handed catches, flair and all, looks to have potentially bigger upside. As good as Lemon is at route running and the minute details, Lane has the hands and big-play ability to be a superstar.

“I promise 8 is the steal of the entire draft,” Cowboys legend Dez Bryant said of Lane in an X post Wednesday.

Expect Lane and the pair of stellar safeties, Bishop Fitzgerald and Kamari Ramsey, to go Friday or early Saturday.

Tight end Lake McRee, defensive end Anthony Lucas and 6-foot-6, 221-pound linebacker Eric Gentry — who was in the 99th percentile of height and 1st percentile of weight at the NFL combine — are other potentially intriguing picks.

April 26

Branching out really far in the future, I know. To Sunday.

Yes, it is technically presumptuous to assume No. 3 USC women’s water polo will overcome crosstown rival No. 2 UCLA, which has beaten the Trojans twice so far this season, to advance to the NCAA Championship. But remember who covered USC’s regular-season-title-clinching win over the Bruins on April 6. Me.

Both genders of water polo are unique among the sports offered at USC. Both regularly have former Olympians on their teams, including MPSF Player of the Year Emily Ausmus, and are simply really damn good. Without fail.

That’s not to say we don’t have a lot of other historically good programs, but rarely is there a sport so dominated by four teams — UC Berkeley, USC, UCLA and Stanford — that really no other teams stand a chance. The Trojans may, on average, be the most successful of the group.

But the stakes in a presumed Sunday matchup with the No. 1 Cardinal are higher than one may think. After winning five national titles in 12 seasons from 2010 to 2021, USC hasn’t won it all since, despite making three of four final games.

“The run’s not over,” Head Coach Casey Moon told me after his squad won the regular season title.

Now, it’s time to see how far it can go.

May 14-16

To answer Sports editor Bennett Christofferson’s question: Baseball is back. The degree to which, though, is still to be seen.

Mason Edwards is the real deal, 1.49 ERA, 6-0 record and 107 strikeouts and all. Augie Lopez’s 1.029 OPS and 13 home runs have him among the top offensive producers in the Big Ten.

The No. 23 Trojans are a real force in baseball again and — as our basketball programs have shown in different ways recently — an attractive culture means more than any player, record or result when it comes to recruiting.

How well they will compete with the best teams in the country is still certainly a question, though. No better time to see that than a season-ending road series against No. 19 Oregon. As the No. 4 and 5 teams in the Big Ten standings currently, this series could decide which of the two will earn a bye to the eight-team, single-elimination finale to the Big Ten Tournament.

After being swept by UCLA and Nebraska, the top two teams in the Big Ten standings, the Trojans may need to take it to their former Pac-12 foe in Eugene to prove themselves when they meet in mid-May.

Nov. 2

Nobody has this one scheduled. Except just about every WNBA scout. And any USC basketball fan.

With USC women’s basketball kicking off its 2026-27 campaign at the Hall of Fame series in Las Vegas against UNLV, the crowd at T-Mobile Arena will presumably be the first to see JuJu Watkins back in a Trojan uniform since her ACL tear in the 2024-25 NCAA Tournament that forced her to miss all of last season.

As the likely No. 1 overall pick in next year’s WNBA Draft, the first game of Watkins’ senior season will be the opposite of one to miss.

And, for the future of the program as a whole, it will be a big one too. The group Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb has built is trending toward another Elite Eight run, this time, potentially, with a more fruitful outcome.

Recruiting. Portal. Jazzy. JuJu. They’ve got it all. Then, it will be time to see it in action and all of its glory.

March 18, 2027

I was very critical of men’s basketball at times last season. I didn’t mince words as I said I didn’t count on the team to win when it counted. A team that, at one point, looked to have all but locked up an NCAA Tournament berth turned into another disappointing finish.

I was right. But I wouldn’t write the same thing about next year’s squad.

The day I have picked out is way, way in advance compared to the rest. That’s because I have high hopes for Head Coach Eric Musselman’s group.

March 18, 2027, is the planned first day of the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64. I think the Trojans will be there. Point blank, and the period.

If they aren’t, with the three recruiting wins, big transfer portal additions and experienced returners, Musselman’s job may be on the line. But, whether my last column came across as overly strong or not, I do believe in Musselman, and this is his time to show he has turned this program around.

Whether you tune in to these events or not, thanks for reading this column for a second semester. See ya on the flip side.

Sean Campbell is a sophomore writing about all facets of USC sports in a voice- and reference-heavy style in his column, “A Wannabe Sports Writer,” which runs every other Friday. He is also an associate managing editor at the Daily Trojan.