2019-20 Pac-12 preview: Oregon atop a deep conference

Filling the holes

What happened last year?

The Women of Troy began the season on fire in 2018. They opened with nine straight wins and went 10-1 in non-conference play. Everything looked rosy until the Pac-12 season started.

When league play tipped off, USC went on a five-game losing streak. Over the first half of the conference season, they were 2-7. They would right the ship somewhat, but the Women of Troy ended up 7-11 in league play.

While their record was identical to Arizona’s, the Wildcats took the No. 8 seed by virtue of winning the only regular-season match-up. When the two teams met again in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, USC appeared disinterested and overmatched. Arizona blew them out 76-48 and their season was over.

The idea that the players were disinterested wasn’t dispelled by what happened after the season.

Key losses

Seeing seniors go is bittersweet. Their experience is hard to replace, but they’ve put together four-year careers and are likely walking away with degrees that will help them for the rest of their lives. Losing transfers is a different ballgame.

While they, too, may already have their degrees, most coaches and teammates don’t expect them to be gone so soon. The time needed to replace them simply may not exist. USC is learning the lessons firsthand.

Leading scorer Aliyah Mazyck was a senior. Everyone knew that her 15.3 ppg and 3.6 rpg were gone at the end of the season. Transfer Mariya Moore would also be leaving after averaging 13 ppg and 4.4 rpg.

Not expected was the departure of Mariya’s sister Minyon Moore, who took her 14.8 ppg along with team highs in rebounds (5.5) and assists (5.9) to Oregon as a grad transfer. Nor was the decision of Ja’Tavia Tapley, now a grad transfer at ASU, who had 6 ppg and 5 rpg.

Asiah Jones, a redshirt sophomore forward, left for Virginia Tech. Marguerite Effa, a redshirt senior forward, is off to Nevada. Sophomore forward Jillian Archer transferred to Georgetown. Redshirt senior forward Danijiela Milisic is at Pepperdine.

By the time the bleeding had stopped, USC had just five players on the roster, only one of whom had started the year before.

Key returners

Senior forward Kayla Overbeck is the lone returning starter for the Women of Troy. She was fourth on the team with 6.9 ppg last year and tied for fourth with 3.6 rpg.

Joining her is redshirt sophomore guard Shalexxus Aaron, who was just behind Overbeck with 6.6 ppg last season.

Key additions

With only five players returning from last year, USC had holes to fill just to have a proper practice. They brought in seven freshmen and two grad transfers. The grad transfers are probably most important to the team’s ability to compete this season.

North Carolina grad transfer Stephanie Watts decided to leave her native state for a year in California. The Tar Heels’ top 3-point shooter, Watts also averaged 15.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game last season.

Grad transfer Aliyah Jeune is on her second transfer. The guard started her career at Rutgers in 2015, but played at Morehouse State as a redshirt junior last season. She averaged 16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.

The freshmen are led by  McDonald’s All-American Angel Jackson. The 6-foot-5 center was rated as the No. 8 post and No. 37 overall player in the class.

Outlook for 2019-20

Trakh and his staff will have to get the team on the same page quickly considering how many new faces there are. Even the players who stayed with the program are relatively young and inexperienced.

The coaching staff will also have to work out why the team was so inconsistent last season and remedy the issue. With so many daunting challenges in front of them, it’s not difficult to see why the coaches placed them so low in the poll.

Depending on how both teams gel, it’s also not impossible to imagine a team that was on an upward swing at the end of last season overtaking them….