The week that was in college basketball: 5 biggest takeaways

Free De’Anthony Melton

The USC Trojans are struggling. Due to that, people are already writing them off as a legitimate threat to go dancing deep in March. Boo those people. Boo them for purposely ignoring context.

You know who isn’t ignoring the obvious? Head coach Andy Enfield, who would like De’Anthony Melton to play as much as anyone else.

“De’Anthony Melton did nothing wrong,” Enfield said, following No. 25 USC’s 85-83 loss to Oklahoma at Staples Center on Friday night.

For those unaware, USC has been holding Melton out in lieu of the FBI probing college basketball’s insides — something as gross as it reads.

Anywho, the Trojans are basically protecting their own future interest by forcing him to sit. As it stands now, there’s no legal reason to have him in street clothes other than to cover one’s own rear for a potential issue down the line. That last part needs to be noted strongly. There’s only a potential issue, and even then that could come months, or possibly years, later.

The folk who have written off the Trojans, and are currently calling the team variations of not good, are doing so while pretending the absence of Melton isn’t having the other-worldly impact it actually is.

Enfield puts this in good, easy-to-understand perspective. After being asked about USC’s issues as of late, the coach responded in kind:

“De’Anthony Melton means a lot to this team,” he said. “We don’t win 26 games without him last year.”

Yeah, duh.