Players Rapidly Deserting USC

Will the last person please turn out the lights at the Galen Center.

USC headed into April as a likely preseason Top 25 team with a strong core coming back and a talented recruiting class coming in. The Trojans enter June with most of the core gone and that recruiting class dwindling. Oh, and a coach that appears to be hanging by a thread while the NCAA circles closer and closer.

Let's recap the departures. DeMar DeRozan briefly made noises about coming back for his sophomore season, but ultimately chose the path of one-and-done that was expected when he signed with USC last year. Then juniors Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett followed.

The recruiting class that looked so stunning rapidly collapsed. Renardo Sidney and USC parted company as the Sidney family worried about Tim Floyd and USC's looming NCAA issues. Plus, USC worried about Sidney's baggage. Solomon Hill backed out of his commitment to re-commit to Arizona. Then Noel Johnson was granted his release from his letter of intent and is now looking at LSU, UNLV, Georgia Tech and others.

The one piece of good news that USC got has of course gone up in smoke. Marcus Johnson was given an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA last week. Johnson had averaged only 3.6 points per game after transferring from UConn. He had a chance to be have a much larger role on the team with all of the players departing and not coming.

Johnson took the weekend to think about it. He decided he would rather take his chances in the NBA Draft. He will likely be an undrafted player and head to Europe.