When is USC going to get serious about basketball?

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When is USC going to get serious about basketball

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When has any school outside of Duke/UK/IU become truly serious about basketball?

Were any of those coaches proven recruiters though? USC needs someone that can make noise on the recruiting trail. They need to be a factor in the ATL area and in NC for whatever players UNC doesn't get.

Why won't players come here instead of Duke and UNC?!?!

well shite you'd think 1 or 2 would wanna be the man in SC instead of just another guy at those places

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Hyman set the program back almost a decade

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You won't find many of us who like Hyman, and I am sure Horn sucked, but you haven't made a Sweet 16 in over 40 years and made the tourney like four times in that span. There wasn't much of a program to destroy. And I say that as a fan of a basketball program that is also quite shitty historically

It isn't an easy job, and several of the SEC jobs are pretty tough honestly as far as P5 jobs go. It is what it is, the opposite is true for football and I will take that trade

Martin should have a very competitive team next year. Easily could see them above 20 wins and on the bubble next season.

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The biggest mistake the program made was on your boy Eric Hyman. He hired Darrin Horn (who is a fricking moron), instead of Gregg Marshall who openly wanted the job. By letting Marshall out of the state, and hiring Horn with a fluke Sweet 16 appearance, Hyman set the program back almost a decade. Horn destroyed the place on his way out, and Martin has had one hellacious rebuilding project. Most of us who have followed the team all year know that he's got the team trending in the right direction, and I have high hopes for a tournament appearance next year.


Hyman did get Dawn Staley, and she's turned USC as the women's program to beat in the SEC. She took a women's program that existed as an afterthought, and has them as a Final Four competitor in Year 7. USC led the nation in women's attendance, too.

The blueprint has been set, and USC fans have shown that they'll come out in droves for a competitive program. Plus, they have some of the best facilities in the conference. I think if we're patient with what Martin is doing, we'll reap rewards very soon.

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^this. Horn nuked our program, and poisoned the well with the "good" players we had (they all bolted after he was fired.) Hyman screwed that up when he hired Horn instead of Greg Marshall. Hyman got it right when he hired Dawn Staley though.


Martin had nothing to work with his first year. He won 14 games. The 2nd year he had a lot of Fr/RsFr/Soph's who were not highly rated recruits (except Thornwell,) and he won 14 games. This past year, he won 17 games, which was an improvement, but he also could've won 6 other games where we were winning, but choked in the end. The team this year was much better than last year. Now he has a ranked recruiting class coming in, so the expectation for next year will be higher than 17 wins, b/c most of the good players are coming back for their Jr or Sr year and we have Top50HS talent coming in.

I don't expect Martin will get us to the Elite 8 next year, but I think he's going to have the team in position for us to make the NCAAt. I think the bottom line for satisfaction next year would be a NCAAt bubble team with at least a lock NIT bid. If he makes the NIT next year, we'll still be moving in a positive direction, and anything above that is gravy.

If he pulls in another ranked class next year, he'll buy himself even more time.

I think Frank is a good coach, he taught this team to play great defense, we were 2nd in the SEC in Def FG%. We just need some shooters and we have a McDonald's HS All American, PJ Dozier, coming in to do that.

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Horn nuked our program, and poisoned the well with the "good" players we had (they all bolted after he was fired.)

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Watching Anthony Gill play for Virginia these past couple of years has been very very very disappointing. I really wish he would have stayed at USC.

Darrin Horn was an abomination to this program.

Honestly, seeing what Dawn Staley has done with the women's program gives me hope that Frank Martin can do the same with the men's program. It has taken Dawn many years to get to this point with a program that was a low as the men's was when Frank arrived. Plus, every year has been an improvement. We had issues with our recruiting class last year, but if the recruiting class comes in healthy this year, we should be much improved.

Kansas, UNC, Syracuse, UCLA...just to name a few

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If they don't give Martin 5 years they'll never get a decent coach. Besides I think they've improved every year he's been there.

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Exactly ... and I do believe Martin is going to get-it-done here. The guy is dedicated, a hard worker and totally committed to the University and our fans.

He's also built a very decent foundation and he's got a good class coming-in next year.