USC Basketball’s Championship Odds Are Unsurprisingly Low

USC basketball opens the 2015-16 hoops season with 300/1 odds to win next year’s college basketball championship, according to Bovada.

One of 14 teams to earn the honor of the lowest odds offered by the Vegas sports book, the Trojans join Auburn, Boston College, DePaul, LaSalle, Murray State, Penn State, Richmond, South Carolina, St. Joe’s, Texas Tech, UMass, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest in the 300 club.

That means a person who places a $100 bet on USC to win it all could earn $30,100 for their troubles.

Feb 11, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans guard Jordan McLaughlin (11) dribbles the ball against the Oregon Ducks at Galen Center. Oregon defeated USC 80-75. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, that would require a miracle, considering the men of Troy finished dead last in the Pac-12 last year, winning just 12 games overall. Still, that was an improvement on the previous season when the Trojans won 11 games total.

Moreover, USC signed a Rivals Top 25 recruiting class in 2014, nabbing point guard Jordan McLaughlin among others.

The 2015 class of Chimezie Metu and Bennie Boatwright is similarly poised in the Top 25 and should bolster the Trojans immensely for the coming campaign.

Enfield told Yahoo! Sports after USC bowed out of the Pac-12 Tournament in March that he and his staff have never been more excited about the future of the program.

Sure, that is coach speech. What coach has admitted to dreading a future which could always be heading towards the chopping block?

He has a point though.

“With the lack of wins on paper, it might look like we’re not improving, but we have improved,” Enfield said. “We have everyone coming back next year and in fact the next couple years. We feel like we have a good nucleus to build around, but they have to put on 10, 15 pounds of muscle, work on their skills and have a hunger from losing all these close games this year.”

More from Reign of Troy

• Markese Stepp enters transfer portal intending to leave USC football
• USC football’s Alijah Vera-Tucker declares for NFL Draft
• USC football adds Xavion Alford as transfer from Texas
• USC Podcast: RoT Radio Ep. 396 on the Football Season’s Fallout
• Talanoa Hufanga named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, USC football with five first-teamers

Will that hunger be enough to produce a Cinderella story the likes of which college basketball has never seen?

The odds speak for themselves, but at the very least Andy Enfield’s outfit should be capable of adding to the win column after two seasons with a combined five conference victories.

From there, why not aim to sneak into the tournament and create some madness?

Afterall, Enfield is the only coach to get a No. 15 seed to the Sweet 16.