This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ever since Utah joined the Pac-12, the Utes have experienced a weird relationship with the USC basketball program.
The Utes lost to USC in their first year as conference members, even though the Trojans somehow finished behind them in the 2011-12 standings with only that one victory. The following season, USC fired coach Kevin O'Neill after a 17-point win — yes, a win — at the Huntsman Center in early January.
In the latest twist, the Trojans have gone from winning a total of five conference games in coach Andy Enfield's first two seasons to a 7-3 record. That's good for second place in the Pac-12, ahead of the likes of Arizona and Utah.
USC's position is subject to a kind of stock-market correction, as the Trojans visit Arizona State and Arizona this weekend and host Utah on Feb. 21. Yet there's no doubt the No. 23 Trojans are the Pac-12's biggest story, just past the halfway point of the conference schedule.
They're thriving with unheard-of scoring balance, fast pace and just enough defense. Enfield points to six players scoring in double figures, but that tells only part of the story. Imagine having five scorers average between 12.2 and 12.6 points. That's ridiculous. The result is that USC ranks second in the conference in scoring (84.0) without having anyone in the top 20 individually.
Enfield is not about to say his program has arrived, or even exceeded his expectations after being picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12's preseason media poll. During Tuesday's Pac-12 media teleconference, he wouldn't ascribe too much meaning to his team's sweep of rival UCLA. "I guess for the fans, it adds a little extra," he said.
Clearly, the Trojans have come a long way in his third season. Enfield is modeling Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak's building pattern. Krystkowiak went 17-37 in conference play in his first three years; Enfield is 12-34 with eight games remaining this season.
The difference is that Enfield took over a team that went 9-9 the previous season, even amid the coaching turmoil. So after the past two years, there were a lot of questions about his ability to run a Power 5 program. He emerged nationally in 2013 when his Florida Gulf Coast University team upset Georgetown and San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 15 seed, getting attention with his exciting offense and photogenic wife, among other attributes.
His success with the "Dunk City" program did not immediately translate to Los Angeles, but USC is enjoying some momentum now. The school's first sellout crowd (10,258) since 2011 witnessed last week's 80-61 win over UCLA, with hundreds of students turned away.
The Trojans' improvement probably should not be so surprising, in the sense that they were very young last season and added a top-25 recruiting class. Yet to go from three wins in the Pac-12 to 11 or 12, conservatively, is a huge jump. USC showed some promise with a 72-69 victory over Wichita State at a neutral site, and a 103-101, four-overtime defeat of Arizona was a major breakthrough.
In addition to their scoring ability, the Trojans rank No. 1 in the conference in 3-point defense, allowing 29.5-percent shooting in Pac-12 play. That's a good trait in this era of college basketball. And considering USC's top six players include three juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, Enfield should have some staying power in the Pac-12.
"We're not really thinking about where we are as a program," Enfield said, "or about what was expected or not expected of us."
That's because some tough games remain ahead of the Trojans, who are only two games ahead of seventh-place California in the competitive Pac-12. Even so, they should be enjoying this season of rising above low forecasts, because they won't have that opportunity next year.
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