Breaking down Eric Musselman's almost complete USC roster rebuild

On Monday night in a hotel ballroom in Newport Beach, Eric Musselman grabbed the microphone and started talking to a room full of donors and USC legends in general terms about the men's basketball team he's been busy building.

"A lot of new faces for sure," he said, drawing laughs.

There was no other option in that regard for Musselman, who was ultimately left with just one holdover from the Trojans' 2023-24 roster -- reserve forward Harrison Hornery.

The rest he'd have to build from scratch, but in the transfer portal era of college athletics, that can be done in a matter of weeks.

Which is exactly what Musselman has done, now filling out 12 of his 13 available scholarship spots with nine transfers, two high school prospects and Hornery.

"This is the first night that I have not been with a recruit, basically, since I've been here," Musselman told the room Monday night. "So it's been a really, really busy three weeks and a whirlwind."

As he talked Monday night, that job still wasn't done.

"We have a core group right now that are committed that we're extremely excited about. We built the team, especially in Year 1, a group of players we think are going to play really, really hard and set a standard in Year 1," Musselman said. "We still need to fill out the roster, hopefully with a few stars that the roster is probably missing right now. Hopefully, this is a big week for us."

It was.

USC added two of its most notable transfer additions in the last handful of days, with the commitments of 6-foot-7 forward and Michigan team captain Terrance Williams II on Tuesday morning and 6-foot-6 point guard Desmond Claude from Xavier on Thursday.

Musselman's roster rebuild to that point had largely been compromised of productive, veteran mid-major standouts and was lacking a clear point guard. In adding a proven Big Ten performer and established Big East point guard, he checked some final boxes on the Trojans' to-do list and fortified a roster that is hard to project but packed with potential.

Overall, here are the new pieces joining the Trojans for the 2024-25 season: 6-foot-10 forward Josh Cohen (UMass), 6-3 guard Bryce Pope (San Diego), 6-1 guard Clark Slajchert (Penn), 6-7 forward Saint Thomas (Northern Colorado), 6-6 forward Matt Knowling (Yale), 6-7 guard Chibuzo Agbo (Boise State), 6-8 forward Rashaun Agee (Bowling Green), 6-7 forward Williams II (Michigan) and 6-foot-6 point guard Claude (Xavier), along with commitments from 6-5 guard and top-40 national prospect Isaiah Elohim and 6-8 four-star forward Jalen Shelley (ranked the No. 62 overall national prospect).