CBB coach on top-10 list despite missing NCAA tournament, losing record last season originally appeared on The Sporting News

No longer a rookie at USC, head men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman is gearing up for year two. The coach finished his first season with the Trojans posting a 17-18 (7-13) record, 16th of 18 Big Ten teams.

Advertisement

Musselman got a boost Monday as he continues to prepare for the upcoming season — he was ranked No. 10 among conference coaches in On3’s Preseason Big Ten Coach rankings.

College basketball analyst James Fletcher III rounded out his top-10 list with the USC coach, who beat out unranked coaches Niko Medved (Minnesota), Fred Hoiberg (Nebraska), Chris Collins (Northwestern), Jake Diebler (Ohio State), Dana Altman (Oregon), Mike Rhoades (Penn State), Steve Pickiell (Rutgers) and Danny Sprinkle (Washington).

Here are Fletcher’s comments on Musselman:

“After a bizarrely turbulent season at Arkansas, Eric Musselman made a move back to the West Coast to coach USC in the Big Ten. He had ups and downs while missing the NCAA Tournament again, leaving questions about how quickly he can flip the program into a successful model. Bringing in a top-rated freshman along with a talented transfer class again provides Musselman with the opportunity to rebuild his stock in the college basketball world with a return to postseason success. As he continues to flip rosters year-over-year, projecting the trajectory is one of the most difficult tasks,” Fletcher wrote.

Advertisement

As Fletcher mentioned, Musselman’s squad fell short of a March Madness appearance last season. The No. 14-seeded Trojans also fell 76-71 in the second round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament to back-to-back defending champions, No. 6-seeded Purdue.

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

This season, USC was projected fourth-next in line (29th) in ESPN’s most recent Way Too Early Top 25 rankings, focused on impact newcomers. The Trojans lost impact players like guard Chibuzo Agbo and forward Saint Thomas to graduation, both of whom played on Summer League contracts last month for the Super and Sixers, respectively.

Unfortunately for Musselman, the team also lost one of two 2025 commits just two weeks ago — five-star shooting guard Alijah Arenas was sidelined for 6-8 months with a knee injury. The Trojans still have 6-foot-3 four-star combo guard Jerry Easter II, who committed in October and was ranked third in his home state, ninth among combo guards and 51st nationally, per 247Sports.