USC Basketball: Predicting Boogie Ellis' role next year

Boogie Ellis is a prime candidate on this upcoming USC basketball team to be named First-Team All-Pac 12. He was an honorable Mention for it last year, after he put up 12.5 points per game on 41.7/37.6/79.8 shooting. He also dished out 2.4 assists per game, and picked up 3.3 rebounds per game.

He was a combo-guard last year. He would take the ball up sometimes, and Drew Peterson would take the ball up sometimes. This year, expect a little bit of the same, but also for him to take the ball up as the point guard even more. That's going to be to utilize the size and length of Peterson as a scorer more often.

Ellis isn't necessarily 'short' as a Point Guard at 6'3", especially at the college level. Peterson's 6'9" though, and therefore should be the No. 1 scoring option off the ball for the team. Therefore, Ellis' role should be to handle the ball and find him as that No. 1 option. And nobody on the team would be better than Ellis at doing that, as the recruiting class was very big-man heavy this year.

Boogie Ellis will be the best point guard on USC basketball's team this upcoming year.

There aren't any new freshman to come in and take Boogie Ellis' spot as the starting point guard for this upcoming USC basketball team.

That's because while USC signed the No. 7 recruiting class in the nation this year (247Sports), only one of those players was a guard (Oziyah Sellers), and he's a shooting guard. Remember, Ellis is going to run the point often this year. Sellers, a three-star guy (247Sports), also isn't likely ready to start yet in general.

When Ellis is on the wing, though, he'll be expected to be a good spot-up shooter for the team, as his 37.6% three-point percentage was exceptional for the squad last year. He'll be expected to shoot from downtown even on possessions where he's running the point, too. It's certainly a role he can handle, as he took 4.5 threes per game last season.

If Ellis really wants to be drafted next year, he'll need to grab the offense by the horns and facilitate to the scoring options whenever he's the primary ball-handler. It's something he flashed quite a bit last year, though, which suggests that he's ready to take another step and run the offense flawlessly for his senior year.