Kj Lewis

We can talk about that as we go.

KJ Lewis out to USC, hopefully recovering from his ankle surgery, and hopefully will be playing, albeit for that coach at USC who's been in the In the news a little bit recently, Julius Haleifunua, this is the one that stings us, stings me.

He transfers mid-offseason.

We talked about this going to OK State.

He basically did it down the stretch of the season.

He rebounds really well for a guard.

His rebounding numbers on the defensive end were comparable to like a KJ Lewis or Caleb last year.

So he gives you that option.

They've brought in some different pieces.

They brought in KJ Lewis from Georgetown, who had, like, a lost season there, and he's kind of like a forgotten man.

They bring back Arenas from, uh, the injury, and I, I, I feel like those wing pieces for Coach Muss are exactly what he's looking for-

Mm-hmm

But just in looking at the roster on Torvik, they get Rodney Rice back, whose season was cut short by injury.

KJ Lewis is a transfer, but Jacob Kofi was there.

Elijah Arenas was there, although he missed parts of the season with injury.

And then they got a few freshmen, a pair of 6'11 twins who are in the mix there.

Rodney Rice played really well in the first six games, missed the rest with an injury.

They get KJ Lewis from Georgetown.

He's a proven high major player making a stop.

Isaac Bruns from South Dakota averaged 20 a game.

She – Danny Foster wasn't around.

But – But the thing that I was thinking about last year with KJ Lewis, I don't know what was worse, that, not knowing that you can't hang on the rim and then grab the ball and try to dunk it, or I was right next to you.

The Iowa State game when we were at RJ's was great, too.

Do you remember that? He picked up his second foul, and he looks over at Tommy Lloyd, and he says, I'm good, I'm good.

I won't get the third foul.

It was like 40 seconds before the half, and he literally fouled before the ball was inbounded.

Yes, that was vintage KJ Lewis,

right? yeah

If you followed me, if you listened to this show, you know that I am bullish.

absolutely bullish on USC's prospects for the 26-27 season as long as this team can stay healthy and that's directly correlated to Elijah Arenas we saw last season him start to display the type of offensive potential that could make him one of the best players in the Big Ten and one of the best guards in the country he had three straight games with 24 more points in February and he also I checked this out with a fine-tooth comb average just over six and a half free throw attempts in his final 10 games of the season he came in mid-year he's a player again that averaged as a freshman about 14 points per game I've said it before I'll say it again if healthy The USC perimeter of Rodney Rice, Elijah Arenas, and KJ Lewis is going to be as good of a troika as there is in the sport, but obviously that's directly related to the jump that Elijah Arenas makes from a freshman to sophomore season.

I'm John Rothstein here on Inside College Basketball Now, breaking down 15 players that will become stars during the 26-27 season.

We will give you more after this.

But prior to that injury and prior to shutting it down, Rodney Rice looked like an all-American candidate, 20 points, six assists during that span before going out of the lineup.

K.J. Lewis comes over as a transfer from Georgetown.

who missed last season due to an injury the end of last season, played really, really well until he got injured.

But those two players, along with Elijah Arenas, if they're healthy, to me, gives Eric Musselman one of the best perimeter Troikas maybe in all of college basketball and a team that would have a baseline and a foundation that could give them the opportunity to have a breakthrough season.

So with that said...

USC has multiple players coming off injuries, dealing with injuries.

KJ Lewis, who transferred from Georgetown, Eric Ribo, who transferred from UConn, and Rodney Rice, who again is coming off shoulder surgery, but everything I hear should be fully ready and available.

But the talent base for this team, is as good as I've seen in a really long time.

Like I'm with it.

Rodney Rice, KJ Lewis, Christian Collins, Kofi, who I feel like no one's really talking about Jacob Kofi enough.

Like he's not an NBA guy that came back.

Like he's going to be, I think he's going to be a breakout player.