USC men’s basketball Mount Rushmore

When putting together a USC men’s basketball Mount Rushmore, at least someone from the 1971 USC team has to be included. Players from other eras deserve to be included as well, but the 1971 team was special, as Trojans Wire wrote a few years ago:

“The 1971 team played a very tough schedule. Keep in mind that the NCAA Tournament had only 25 teams at the time, so it’s not as though USC or anyone else played a large number of NCAA Tournament teams. The Trojans did play Houston, an NCAA Tournament team, out of conference. Their other non-conference games were against Utah (a program which had made the Final Four in 1966), San Francisco (which was still a good program then, and through the rest of the 1970s), BYU, Michigan State, Alabama, UTEP (which won the 1966 national title), Loyola-Chicago (which won the national title in 1963), Arizona State (a very strong program in the 1970s), Florida State (which made the 1972 Final Four), LSU, and Illinois.

“USC ducked NO ONE in 1971. It finished 24-2. Guess where its only two losses came from? Yup: UCLA, which went 29-1 in 1971, losing only one non-conference game to Notre Dame. UCLA began its iconic 88-game winning streak that season… and USC just happened to be in the way.”

From 1971 and other years, here is the USC men’s basketball Mount Rushmore (with a fifth player added as honorable mention):

Throughout his 15-year career, DeRozan is a 6x All-Star, 3x All-NBA member, and a 2x gold medalist with TeamUSA, including one in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, he is also sixth on the all time scoring list among active players in the NBA.

As a freshman, he averaged 26.1 points and 8.4 rebounds. During his sophomore year, he averaged 22.6 points and 8.4 rebounds, while as a junior he averaged 22.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.2 steals as a USC Trojan.

2. Paul Westphal

USC All-American and basketball Hall of Fame guard Paul Westphal averaged 16.9 points a game in his four year career at USC.

The 10th pick of the 1972 draft, he starred in the NBA with the Boston Celtics (including the 1974 NBA champions), Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and New York Knicks. He scored 12,397 points during his 12-year NBA career and averaged 15.6 points and 4.4 assists per game in his career.  He was a 5-time NBA All-Star and 3-time All-NBA first teamer. He was the NBA Comeback Player of the Year in 1983.

3. Harold Miner

Harold Miner averaged 26.3 points and 7 rebounds per game during his time at USC (1989-92).

In the NBA, Miner’s prowess for showmanship continued by twice winning the league’s Slam Dunk Contest (1993, ’95).

4. Gus Williams

Gus Williams was an All-American at USC as a senior. He played at USC from 1972-75.

Williams then enjoyed a stellar pro career, scoring 14,093 points and averaging 17.1 points per game. Williams led the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1979 NBA title and averaged 28.6 points in the NBA Finals. He was a first-team All-NBA pick in 1982. His No. 1 jersey is retired by the Sonics.

Evan Mobley carried USC to the Elite Eight in 2021, showing Trojan fans what was possible when a generational talent comes to the school to play basketball. Mobley transformed USC and its sense of what was possible. He dominated Kansas and Oregon to lead USC to its first Elite Eight since 2001. Mobley will always have a special place in Trojan basketball history.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC men’s basketball Mount Rushmore