USC Basketball: Eric Musselman Talks New Problems with Recruiting Transfers

The rules have brought several new challenges.

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA

The landscape of college sports and college basketball have significantly changed over the last decade. Not only has the use of a player's name, image and likeness been legalized, but transfer additions no longer have to sit for a year after switching schools.

This rule change has proven to be one of the most impactful. Not only has there been a huge increase in the amount of players transferring every season — to the point where many liken the transfer portal to free agency — but the rule has changed the development of players and a team.

Before this rule change, USC men's basketball head coach Eric Musselman, who previously coached at Arkansas and Nevada. had a plan in place of having transfers on the bench.

“It’s become harder each year I’ve been a part of it," Musselman told Fox Sports 1's Colin Cowherd on The Herd. "When I was at Nevada, you had to sit out when you transferred. So we had a great formula, where we felt like, ‘Hey, we always want four sit-out guys that we can develop and have patience with.’

"When you had the sit-out thing, and you sat for a year, more guys were playing minutes then ... That’s how you improve as a player," Musselman said. "With 13 active players on a roster, it becomes more challenging to let guys play through their mistakes, but when you have four guys sitting out, you have no choice. You're rolling with a core group of seven or eight guys. I think guys got better that way.”

While the new rule have made recruiting and the managing of roster development more difficult, the rule has also paid off for USC several times. After former USC head coach Andy Enfield surprisingly departed SMU this offseason, many of USC's top players either entered the transfer portal or the NBA Draft. The transfer portal allowed Musselman to not only rebuild the nearly-vacant roster, but pick players that aligned with his vision and plans.

On the women's side, the Trojans were able to make an NCAA Elite Eight run in part because of the transfer additions of McKenzie Forbes, Kayla Padilla, and Kaitlyn Davis. These three players proved to be a critical supporting cast JuJu Watkins, and added a much-needed upperclassmen presence on the court as the Trojans put in their best season in 30 years.

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