VANDERBILT-USC -- SUNDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL WORTH NATIONAL ATTENTION

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VANDERBILT-USC -- SUNDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL WORTH NATIONAL ATTENTION

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VANDERBILT-USC -- SUNDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL WORTH NATIONAL ATTENTION

By Matt Zemek

The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys will deserve the attention of the viewing public Sunday night.

So will Vanderbilt and the University of Southern California.

These two schools are not superpowers. They are not annual mentioned as Final Four contenders. Yet, they will play the most important game on the Sunday schedule in college basketball. They will play one of the more important games of the week and the month.

The more important question: How will this game's importance emerge and manifest itself as the season continues?

Will the winner soar as a result of an exhilarating triumph and play elite-level ball the next few weeks? Will the winner think too much of itself and then lose focus in late November and early December, but regroup -- mindful of what it realized it could achieve on November 19? Will this be the high point of the autumn, or a building point for the future? Will the loser become discouraged walking away from this game, or will a loss expose weaknesses in a way which becomes a teaching tool for the weeks and months ahead, producing notable and consistent growth in the roster?

We might all have opinions on these questions, but the fun of the season -- and Sunday night -- will lie in the sense of unpredictability of this matchup, and what it will generate in subsequent months.

When we begin a college basketball season, we count on unpredictability in many corners of the country, but we also count on a lot of rock-solid likelihoods:

Kansas will win the Big 12.

Wisconsin will play tough defense.

Villanova will get loose balls and thrive based on its guard play.

North Carolina and Duke will be ACC contenders.

Kentucky will play a lot of freshmen.

A subset of teams will have considerable depth, thanks to their proven and sustained recruiting prowess. A few teams will drop in and out of the sport's elite within one season which might not break favorably, but over the course of a decade, the big boys generally remain at the top.

With USC and Vanderbilt, there is no entrenched pattern, no abundant history, of how really good teams will develop over the course of the season. USC had a 2 seed in 1992, Vanderbilt a 3 seed the next year in 1993, but these teams have not made the comfortable home in the top three or four seed lines that the blue-blood programs establish on an annual basis. Duke, Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas make college basketball look very easy. USC and Vanderbilt live in a realm of mystery -- their achievements, this season or the next, will consistently be met with the basic response, "What about the next milestone?"

South Carolina -- which likes to call itself "the REAL USC" -- made its first Final Four last season. The Gamecocks so convincingly performed in the NCAA Tournament that even though this year will be rough due to the loss of the team's stars, the program has changed the way it is perceived. Unless or until "USC West" and Vanderbilt make a Final Four or at least an Elite Eight, their positions in the college basketball landscape will always be questioned to a certain extent.

Andy Enfield of USC and Bryce Drew of Vanderbilt have worked their way up the coaching ladder and have generated considerable enthusiasm at their respective schools. They have both landed the kinds of recruits that change programs, and Drew is just getting started in Nashville. One can be justified in projecting a bright future for these programs under their current coaches, but optimism doesn't guarantee results.

USC and Vanderbilt play the first Really Big Game (capital letters) of their seasons this Sunday. Regardless of the outcome, the reality of the moment -- and all the hope it promises -- makes it so special and worth savoring.
*
Now, to the USC team Vanderbilt will face.

USC is in the top 10 because virtually all its important players came back for another run at the brass ring. It must be said that USC has played nowhere close to a top-10-level team in its two games against inferior opponents at home, but in terms of potential, the Trojans have the talent of a team which can become great. That greatness shouldn't be assumed, but it can very realistically emerge.

The cornerstone piece for USC is Chimezie Metu, a tall, rangy forward who won the Pac-12 Most Improved Player Award last season. Metu made enormous strides in terms of polishing his low post moves, developing a mid-range jump shot, and becoming a post player who can beat a defense in many different ways, not just one. Metu's cultivation of a versatile, resourceful attack while being a force on defense with his reach and a presence on the glass with his strength has made him USC's best player. He will go head to head with Vanderbilt's Jeff Roberson in what will be the centerpiece clash of the evening. If one player can decisively win that specific battle, it will very likely win the war. The big question of this game therefore becomes, "If Metu and Roberson play equally well, which supporting cast will step up and make the difference?"

USC has plenty of horses, which is why this is such a challenge for VU.

It is true that the Trojans will not have starting guard De'Anthony Melton on the floor for this game. USC is holding him out over concerns about his eligibility, stemming from the FBI probe which caught former USC assistant coach Tony Bland, one of several assistant coaches across the country to be mentioned in the bombshell announcement several weeks ago. As good as USC is, Melton is an important piece of the puzzle. How important? That question will begin to be answered on Sunday, but its full answer might not be known for months, either when Melton returns (if he returns) or it becomes clear that he will never suit up for the Trojans this season.

In the meantime, though, USC can turn to other proven starters who -- if they raise their games this season -- will make the Trojans a Pac-12 contender even without Melton.

The player to watch other than Metu in this game is Jordan McLaughlin. He led the USC renaissance in the 2015-2016 season, when USC returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. Last year, however, McLaughlin regressed. His confidence in his jump shot declined, he didn't finish drives as consistently as he did the season before. His combination of clarity and aggression as a playmaker who initiated USC's halfcourt sets did not emerge in full. McLaughlin became more like his best self in NCAA Tournament wins over Providence and SMU, showing that if he can be that kind of player for a full season, USC could indeed take off. McLaughlin is the player who -- in Melton's absence -- must become USC's foremost source of support for Metu. Bennie Boatwright falls in the same boat, but McLaughlin carries more significance because he struggled so much last season.

As for Boatwright, a very capable 3-point shooter and scorer: His presence as a central performer for USC was magnified last season not by struggles, but by injuries. Knee and hip problems caused him to miss 17 games. When he was able to heal in time for March, though, USC's offense revived itself. Boatwright scored 28 points last Monday against North Dakota State on 10-of-17 field goal shooting and 7-of-10 free throw shooting. He noted after the game that it was important for him to learn how to score without using the three. (He took just four triples and made only one.) Vanderbilt can't rely on Boatwright to settle for threes. He might attack the tin and try to score anywhere within 10 feet of the basket. In terms of pure scoring capability, Boatwright is the non-Metu player who must be met with total focus on defense from the Commodores. McLaughlin can be played for the jump shot, at least at first, but Vanderbilt can't play Boatwright and allow HIM to take uncontested jumpers.

USC has three other particularly talented players it can throw at Vanderbilt.

Elijah Stewart is a willing 3-point shooter who lacks Boatwright's more complete game. Stewart is the man who will be there on kickouts from McLaughlin -- Vanderbilt must stay at home against him and not drift away from him when he sets up behind the arc.

The two players Enfield is counting on to make significant strides this year -- and therefore might be the keys to raising USC's ceiling to an Elite Eight or Final Four level -- are Shaqquan Aaron and Derryck Thornton. Especially if Melton doesn't enter the picture (and obviously for Vanderbilt's purposes, he won't be part of the mix on Sunday), Aaron and Thornton will be asked to break down opposing defenses on the dribble and provide floor spacing to set up both Metu in the post and USC's wing or corner shooters. Thornton is a transfer from Duke who will be counted on by USC for scoring production in a sixth-man role. Anyone with enough chops and talent to be recruited by Mike Krzyzewski warrants respect.

What will be tricky for Vanderbilt is how Enfield will balance and distribute minutes among McLaughlin, Thornton and Aaron. Will Enfield value quickness or length, offense or defense? Bryce Drew has to be able to recognize when USC is shifting its priorities, and when he needs to adjust his lineup to force Enfield to react to his lineup combinations.

Roberson outplaying Metu straight-up is Vanderbilt's most direct path to victory, but if that game-within-the-game is even or tilts slightly toward USC, the Commodores will need to stop dribble penetration and blunt USC's quickness. Containing the dribble-drive game will have a domino effect by enabling wing defenders to stay on USC's shooters, turning the Trojans into a one-on-one team which loses sight of the need to move the ball.

(continued in reply below)



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Re: VANDERBILT-USC -- SUNDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL WORTH NATIONAL ATTENTION

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USC will shoot better this season -- maybe not this Sunday -- than the 4 of 16 it posted from 3-point range or the 17 of 31 it registered at the foul line against North Dakota State last Monday. Vanderbilt can test McLaughlin, but it can't allow Boatwright or Stewart to get comfortable behind the arc. The Commodores' foremost job this Sunday is to make everything USC does on offense uncomfortable, and that flows from making each offensive player think he has to force the action or create something instead of working within an integrated halfcourt set.

USC has not been comfortable this season, and the Trojans -- with nearly a full week off before this game -- have not offered a clear idea of what to expect based on their level of play. Moreover, the familiar "rest-versus-rust" dynamic makes USC even more of a question mark.

As always, a team must expect its opponent's best shot. Vanderbilt can take note of where USC has struggled, but it must expect the best version of the Trojans to appear in Memorial Gym Sunday night... so that the Dores can meet the challenge.

If USC does bring its A-game and Vanderbilt can eclipse it, the promise of a special Sunday night will ripen into the most optimistic November for Vanderbilt basketball since 2011.

Are you ready for some... basketball?

Sunday night has a game every bit as good as Eagles-Cowboys, at least on paper.

Vanderbilt will try to transfer this game from paper to hardwood in the most productive way possible.
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