USC Basketball: Expert Zeroes In On Top Class Of 2026 Prep Prospect

The Trojans aren't the only team that would be vying for his services!

Your USC Trojans have a bright future ahead of them, starting with their absolutely stacked 2023 rookie class that is headlined by two young guards, anticipated top-five 2024 NBA lottery draft pick Isaiah Collier and potential 2024 first round selection LeBron "Bronny" James Jr.

But even beyond the 2023-24 season, expert Donovan James of Trojans Wire (via USA Today) is convinced that it's never too late to think about the distant future, specifically the 2026-27 NCAA season.

James writes that Lynwood, California combo guard Jason Crowe Jr., a 6'3" rising sophomore prep school prospect, could number among the many native Southern Californians who have committed to the Cardinal and Gold over the decades.

Per James, the 15-year-old Crowe posted averages of 36 points (the second-highest average in U.S. high school hoops) on a .519/.371/.828 slash line, 5.4 dimes, a whopping 3.5 steals and 3.1 boards a night while leading his club to a 27-11 record in 2022-23 and an eventual Division V state championship.

Though Crowe wouldn't be a second-generation NBA star if he got there, he would be a second-generation pro hooper, as his father Jason Crowe (a former Inglewood High School star) played for pro clubs in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Iran and South America across a 13-season career.

Over the decades, pro progeny has enjoyed an ever-greater leg up over the competition, as these players develop pro-adjacent poise in the face of media scrutiny, are better prepared for the vampiric hangers-on who occasionally derail young careers, and just get access to a higher level of tutelage and insight into the game than their peers who begin their hopeful careers on the outside looking in.