USC’s March Madness opener vs. DRAKE is a long time coming for grad transfers

Isaiah White, Tahj Eaddy and Chevez Goodwin chose the Trojans for their redshirt senior season

Adam Grosbard (OC Register)  —  When deciding where to spend the final year of their college careers, Tahj Eaddy, Isaiah White (above) and Chevez Goodwin all had one goal in mind: Find a team with a path to the NCAA Tournament.

All three decided on USC, and that faith will be rewarded Saturday when the Trojans open their tournament run against Drake at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“It’s gonna be a big deal,” White said. “I’m not gonna take it for granted. I’m just gonna play my heart out and have fun.”

This Trojans team was assembled on the fly, with only three players returning from last season’s iteration that was deprived of an NCAA Tournament run by the COVID-19 pandemic. And those three players – Isaiah Mobley, Ethan Anderson and Max Agbonkpolo – were all rising sophomores.

So USC needed some veteran leadership and looked on the graduate transfer market for the valuable commodity.

The first to sign up was Eaddy, who was still looking for his first trip to the NCAA Tournament after his junior season at Santa Clara. He liked USC’s returning players, and was intrigued by the idea of playing next to incoming freshman Evan Mobley, the No. 2 recruit in the country.

Eaddy has proved to be the right secondary option next to Mobley, capable of being the leading man when USC needs its points to come from someone else.

“You could play on a team where you could win a couple games here and there. You might average a lot of points, but you’re not winning so it doesn’t really matter,” Eaddy said. “I’ve just been blessed to fall in seamlessly into the right situation.”

It was the same situation for White, trying to make his first tournament as he transferred from Utah Valley. “That was a huge factor. That was one of the main, main factors,” White said. “I knew I could contribute to a team like this and I knew that we would have a lot of talent here.”

For Goodwin, he wanted to play for a coach with Big Dance experience. USC head coach Andy Enfield’s Sweet 16 run with Florida Gulf Coast was still fresh in Goodwin’s mind as he pledged to the Trojans.

Enfield sold the graduate transfers on the success of previous players in their shoes like Daniel Utomi and Quinton Adlesh, and the ability to fill major roles due to the roster turnover.

“There’s just no nonsense with them,” Enfield said of the trio. “We’re excited for them. It’s worked out great for them and it’s worked out great for our team and program.”

Goodwin is the one member of USC who has already been to the NCAA Tournament. In 2019, Goodwin and Wofford beat Seton Hall in the first round before falling to Kentucky by six.

But the senior forward doesn’t see a need to pass on any wisdom from his tournament experience to his teammates.

“I feel like my teammates are focused and ready to play, honestly. I don’t see anybody kinda like dazed off,” Goodwin said. “Everybody seems like they want to have the same goal, which is to win and play as long as we can.”

First comes Drake (26-4). The 11th-seeded Bulldogs earned their spot against the sixth-seeded Trojans (22-7) with a win Thursday over Wichita State in the First Four.

Drake trailed by as much as 12 before coming back to take the lead with four minutes to play. The Bulldogs held on for a 53-52 win despite shooting 37.7% from the floor and committing 13 turnovers.

“I’m not sure if there’s an advantage or disadvantage of playing in the First Four,” Enfield said. “A lot of those teams are the so-called last teams in the tournament but they may be under-seeded. All I know is we need to be ready to play (Saturday).”

No. 6 USC (22-7) vs. No. 11 Drake (26-4)

What: NCAA Tournament West Region first-round game

When: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Where: Bunker Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

TV: TNT

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