Southern California Trojans NCAA Basketball News

The Toronto Raptors have signed first-round draft pick DeMar DeRozan through the 2010-11 season.

James Johnson #23 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons reacts to a dunk against the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the Demon Deacons 85-78 victory at Lawrence Joel Coliseum on February 26, 2009 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

When Tim Floyd stepped down as the head coach of the USC men's basketball team amid another pay-to-player scandal, he didn't just leave a vacant position, he left a black hole.

James Johnson played point guard in high school and he's aware that a legendary forward who helped the Chicago Bulls win six championships did the same thing.

Having already addressed the Raptors deficiency in toughness with the acquisition of Reggie Evans via a trade, Colangelo addressed his club's other glaring weakness getting a guy who can create his own shot and has no qualms about going through people to get to the rim.

9; Gibson taken by Chicago. USC forward DeMar DeRozan could not complain Thursday night after the Toronto Raptors selected him ninth overall in the NBA draft.

The first thing you thought when DeMar DeRozan walked through the door as a Toronto Raptor was this: "Hey, that's not Vince Carter." The second thing you thought, as DeRozan spread his expansive hands out in front of him as if warming them by the fire, was "Hey, that's not Rafael Araujo, either." No, the newest Toronto Raptor is his own young man, ...

USC basketball coach Kevin O'Neill said he expects point guard Donte Smith to return to the team next season.

According to league sources at least five NBA teams inquired about Parker in the lead-up to Thursday night's draft, where Toronto took DeRozan ninth overall out of the University of Southern California.

The Chicago Bulls have picked forwards James Johnson of Wake Forest and Taj Gibson of Southern California with the 16th and 26th picks of the NBA draft.

If you want to play for a national title, go to North Carolina. That's a good way to get a championship.

Despite being a born and raised in sunny southern California, DeMar DeRozan shrugs off any suggestion that he's unprepared for life north of the border.

DeRozan projected to play right away Southern California's DeMar DeRozan dunks during the second half of a second-round men's NCAA college basketball tournament game in Minneapolis.

With the 26th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft the Chicago Bulls select reigning Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, Taj Gibson.

With the 9th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft the Toronto Raptors select none other than USC Trojan guard, DeMar DeRozan.

With the days before the 2009 draft dwindling, it is fitting to discuss the last, but certainly not the least, USC Trojan men's basketball player eligible to be drafted on Thursday, namely, DeMar DeRozan .

The tune has changed considerably.In 2006, as college basketball prepared for its first season with the new minimum-age requirement rule for the NBA, the mood was upbeat.

USC forward DeMar DeRozan is known in NBA circles as a future star without the attitude.

Kevin O'Neill, USC's new basketball coach, said he was ready to move "forward" -- his view being that the glass is half full and not cracked and leaking all over the counter as the perception has been recently.

Following an impressive three-year-stint with the Southern California men's basketball program, Taj Gibson of the Trojans decided to forgo the possibility of a senior season and enter the NBA draft.