Enfield secures forward, guard for 2014-15 season
Hiring a new head coach can solve only some of the woes for USC’s men’s basketball team, but an import of fresh talent will at least give the Trojans some much-needed depth. Within the past three weeks, the Trojans have added two transfers eligible to play in the 2014-15 season according to various reports, though not yet confirmed by USC.
Reinforcements needed · With junior Dewayne Dedmon’s surprising decision to enter the 2013 NBA Draft, USC could use more help up front. – Chris Pham | Daily Trojan
UNLV guard Katin Reinhardt will transfer to USC, multiple outlets reported last Thursday. As a freshman, the former Mater Dei standout, who verbally committed to USC as a high school junior before reopening his recruitment, averaged 10.1 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game during the 2012-13 season.
The move comes as a surprise to many, considering the extensive playing time Reinhardt received in his first season for the Rebels. But sources close to Reinhardt speculate that he believes his most certain path to the NBA is as a point guard, and USC offers him a greater opportunity to play the position. At UNLV, Reinhardt had settled into more of a spot-up shooting role as a shooting guard playing off of the ball.
Joining Reinhardt as another transfer is former Charlotte 49ers forward Darion Clark, who announced on May 19 that he will enroll at USC, according to Rick Lewis of the Phenom Hoop Report.
Clark, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, comes from Oak Hill Academy, where he played as a member of the national championship team. Clark averaged 6.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with a 54.2 shooting percentage from the field in his only season with Charlotte. A player praised for his rebounding talent, Clark also showed a scoring touch, tallying a personal record-high 17 points in a losing effort in February against Dayton, a team that the Trojans eked out a 63-61 overtime victory against last December.
NCAA transfer rules dictate that players who transfer from one Division I team to another must sit out the next season before regaining eligibility unless granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA — a process that allowed junior center Omar Oraby to play for USC in the 2012-13 season after transferring from Rice at the beginning of the fall. Both Reinhardt and Clark will have three years of eligibility remaining beginning in 2014-15, assuming neither qualifies for the waiver.
Despite both commitments, the loss of veteran presence on the court, particularly junior center Dewayne Dedmon to the NBA draft and forward Eric Wise and guard Jio Fontan to graduation, calls for more immediate attention and still leaves new USC head coach Andy Enfield’s 2013-14 squad with gaps begging to be filled.