Aside from landing four-star combo guard Bronny James last month, the USC Trojans men's basketball team has big plans for their 2023-24 season, as BasketNews reports that the Trojans will be heading to Europe for 10 days in order to play a few exhibition games against professional teams.
The first game will be held in Athens, Greece, as Bronny James, five-star point guard Isaiah Collier, and Washington State transfer DJ Rodman headline a USC squad that will take on an unknown opponent.
The following two games will be played on Mykonos Island in Greece against Mega MIS Belgrade, a popular basketball club that's now infamous for developing Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.
Their final game will be played in Dubrovnik, Croatia against another unknown opponent.
USC finished 22-11 last season, second in the Pac 12, leading to a 2023 NCAA Tournament bid as a 10th-seed. The Trojans would lose, 72-62, in the First Round against 21-13 Michigan State as fifth-year senior Drew Peterson, senior Boogie Ellis, freshman wing Tre White, junior Reese Dixon-Waters went a combined 11-36 (30.6 percent) from the field.
Peterson, White and Dixon-Waters won't be returning to USC. Peterson graduated while White and Dixon-Waters transferred to Louisville and San Diego State, respectively. After initially deciding to test the transfer portal, Ellis will return.
Speaking of Ellis, there could be a position battle between him and Collier. However, as they're both bigger lead guards at 6-foot-3, the Trojans can see how they look in the backcourt beside each other.
Furthermore, Bronny is likely joining the backcourt rotation in some measure and there would be pressure on the program to play him if not. Subsequently, USC gets a chance to figure out how before the season starts.
A win-win no matter their record on the Euro trip.
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