USC Basketball Recruiting: 4-Star PG Jay Jay Chandler Names Top 9

Jan 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the Galen Center during the NCAA basketball game between the UCLA Bruins and the Southern California Trojans. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the Galen Center during the NCAA basketball game between the UCLA Bruins and the Southern California Trojans. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Four-star point guard Jay Jay Chandler announced his Top 9 schools on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, with USC basketball making the cut.

Fresh off a pair of Georgia-based prospects naming the Trojans among their top schools, USC basketball made the list of yet another top hoops recruit.

Jay Jay Chandler of Cinco Ranch in Texas was the latest to get in on the list game, releasing a Top 9 on Wednesday.

“Thanks to the schools that have recruited me so far but these are my top 9 schools,” Chandler wrote on Twitter.

Along with USC, Chandler named Georgia Tech, Alabama, Oregon, Houston, Baylor, Western Kentucky, SMU and Oklahoma among his favorites.

Since he projects as a combination guard at the next level, Chandler is listed as the 27th best shooting guard in the class, per the 247 Sports Composite, while being tagged a point guard. He’s considered one of the Top 100 players in the country and the No. 8 player in the state of Texas for 2017.

USC enjoyed a prosperous 2015-16 recruiting cycle with four-star guard Jonah Mathews, three star guard De’Anthony Melton and three-star forwards Harrison Henderson and Nick Rakocevic joining the program for the coming season.

The Trojans have also also added transfers this summer including former Louisville shooting guard Shaqquan Aaron, who sat out last season due to transfer rules, and former Minnesota power forward Charles Buggs, a graduate transfer eligible to play immediately.

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Those additions were key considering the wealth of players Andy Enfield’s squad lost following the 2015-16 season. Along with NBA departures Julian Jacobs and Nikola Jovanovic, USC saw four role players transfer out, including Katin Reinhardt, Darion Clark, Malik Marquetti and Malik Martin.

Last season USC rose to seventh place in the Pac-12, an surprisingly steep improvement after two transitional seasons under Enfield. Earning a place in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, the Trojans rode to a 21-12 record before losing to Providence in the first round.

Now, Enfield is looking to improve on those results with the return of Jordan McLaughlin, Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu, along with the new-look supporting cast.

Looking even farther forward, the Trojans won the transfer of former five-star point guard Derryck Thornton from Duke this offseason. After sitting out a season, he’ll be eligible to help USC basketball continue their climb.