USC basketball: Trojans sign three -- a small forward, a point guard, and a 7-foot-1 juco center
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The fall signing period began Wednesday, and the USC men’s basketball team has signed three players:
-- Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda’s Byron Wesley, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard/small forward, who verbally committed to USC in June and sent out a nice tweet earlier this morning. (Also, here’s a player evaluation from ESPN.)
--Long Beach Poly’s Alexis Moore, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound point guard, who also verbally committed to USC in June. (Here’s an evaluation of him.)
--Lee College transfer James Blasczyk, a 7-foot-1, 260-pound center who spent two seasons at Texas A&M and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining, beginning immediately in 2011-12.
Additionally, in April the Trojans signed 7-foot, 225-pound junior college center DeWayne Dedmon out of Antelope Valley College.
Dedmon will have three seasons of eligibility remaining, beginning in 2011-12, and he’ll also be able to practice with the team in mid-December, the same time when Fordham transfer point guard Jio Fontan becomes eligible.
Also becoming eligible next season will be Iowa transfer forward Aaron Fuller, a former All-Big Ten honorable mention player who is currently practicing with the team and will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out this season because of NCAA transfer rules.
With Wednesday’s additions and with Dedmon joining the team in December, USC will have filled 12 scholarships, the Trojans’ maximum amount as they’re still down one scholarship because of sanctions against the program. They’ll have 13 next fall.
[Update 4:18 p.m.: Just got off the phone with USC Coach Kevin O’Neill. Here are some of his general comments on the three players the Trojans signed Wednesday:
On Wesley: ‘A scoring wing player, shoots above average, can defend the two and three (positions), surprisingly good post-up player for a high school player. It’s going to take him a while, but I think he’ll be a solid contributor.’
On Moore: ‘A solid guard, can play both guard spots, great leader. He’s going to be a big-time contributor. Great student. Shoots the three way above average. Very, very good. He’ll be one of the more underrated players in the whole state, the nation. We were lucky to get a commitment from him when he did. He’s going to be really solid.’
On Blasczyk: ‘He does a really job running the floor, very physical player, shoots the ball to three-point range. It’s going to take some work to become consistent (at shooting three point jumpers), but we’re confident in him.’
On the whole class, which USC considers to include Dedmon and Fuller: ‘Those guys will give us a great five-man addition for 2011.’]
-- Baxter Holmes