Way too early 2017-18 College Basketball Top 25
10. USC Trojans
If there was ever anyone that doubted Andy Enfield as a head coach, they should feel foolish right about now. When he burst onto the scene with the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and the birth of Dunk City, he was given the job to head the USC Trojans and lead them to some sort of prominence. Though it wasn’t immediate, things are taking shape now and this team’s showing in the 2017 NCAA Tournament undoubtedly proved as much.
After taking down Wake Forest in a First Four matchup, the Trojans went on to topple one of the dark horse favorites in the tournament, the SMU Mustangs. They didn’t stop there, though, as they went up against the Baylor Bears next and gave the No. 3 seed in the East Region everything that they could handle. The Trojans built a reputation as the proverbial comeback kings of college hoops as no deficit seemed too big for them to erase and pull out a victory from under.
Now this team returns the majority of their key contributors from this past season with the likes of Bennie Boatwright, Chimezie Metu (both likely to return, though possible draft departures) and Elijah Stewart, this team is going to be poised to make another run. After coming back all of last season and hitting several bumps in the road along the way, expect them to come out of the gate a more mature team and one much more dangerous for it.