Top 5 basketball players returning to USC for 2024-25 season ft. DJ Rodman and more

For the USC Trojans men`s basketball team, the 2023-24 season was an absolute afterthought.

Finishing ninth in the Pac-12 with a poor 15-18 record notwithstanding, they also had to endure a sub-par performance from Bronny James who was supposed to be one of their marquee players. Now, everything has come full circle.

USC basketball is in major rebuild mode with Bronny entering the transfer portal, former HC Andy Enfield leaving after 11 seasons, and stars Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis trying their luck in the NBA Draft. Six players have entered the portal, including Bronny, and they will have to start from almost scratch.

Nevertheless, there aren`t a lot of silver linings for USC basketball in terms of returning players. But they will have to make do with what they got, and these are the best ones they have that are at least confirmed not entering the draft of the portal.

DJ Rodman

A six-foot-six senior who only came to SoCal after four years with Washington State, DJ Rodman is the best USC basketball has left after its exodus of major talent.

As the son of NBA legend Dennis Rodman, he has a fair amount of expectations on his shoulders. But don't expect him to play and be as effective as his Hall of Fame pops.

His numbers are not going to wow anyone: 8.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. But he started 28 of 32 games for USC basketball last season, so he`s not going to be completely cold or unproductive.

He`s far more of a scorer and outside shooter than his pops ever was, but he will likely be a member of Eric Musselman`s second unit, tasked to provide quick offense and rebounding off the bench.

Joshua Morgan

Morgan appeared in 31 games for USC basketball last season, averaging just above 20 mins per contest and logging 5.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists on over 55% FG shooting.

The six-11 big man out of Sacramento is more known as a solid rim protector than a scorer, punctuated by his 2.3 blocks/game this year and his season-high five blocks against Colorado in February.

Harrison Hornery

A six-10 big man with range, Hornery could also provide some offense off the bench for the Trojans, who are already getting six double-figure scorers from the portal.

If part of Eric Musselman`s offensive strategy is to literally go deep into his bench for scoring, Hornery is the next up on this list. But that still remains to be seen.

JD Plough

A six-foot-three senior out of Palos Verdes Peninsula in California, Plough has shown that he has talent back during his days at Los Angeles Harbor College.

However, just like the last guy on this list, he`s probably going to be a member of at most the second unit and at worst, the third unit for USC basketball in the upcoming season.

As a member of the Seahawks, though, Plough has at least shown he can create his own shot when he needs to. Not to mention, he has good size at the guard position that he could use to his advantage on the court.

Aside from that, there`s not much else going on, further proof that things are starting from the bottom once more in SoCal.

Zach Brooker

Brooker is a senior who will as well likely ride the bench with all the depth that USC basketball plans to have this upcoming season.

He only played in six games in 2023-24 and barely saw action, but maybe he could make a case to get more minutes as a former Marmonte League second team selection in high school (via USCTrojans.com).

One could say that his inclusion in this list is dumb, and in a lot of cases, they would be right. But the thing with USC is that they`re not getting a lot of returning players to begin with, so this is basically scraping the barrel.