Cassie Harberts, a junior at San Clemente High School in Orange County, has given a very early verbal to the University of Southern California. (Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2009/03/girls-basket-36.html).
The 6-foot-2 power forward ended up playing point guard a lot this past season for her guard-starved Tritons team. She averaged 19.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Harberts plans to major in Medicine in college, with the goal of becoming an oncologist. She plays for the Cal Swish during the summertime.
According to an inside source, USC officials were most happy to have Harberts aboard for her rebounding. But who Harberts will play for - if she stands behind her verbal committment - remains to be seen.
Though it is the end of March and USC Coach Mark Trakh hasn't been released from his position, he hasn't signed a new contract with the Trojans, either. Rumors persist that he will take the Long Beach State University coaching job, freed March 11 when school officials declined to renew Coach Mary Hegarty's contract.
It's a pregnant pause, and it makes me wonder what is keeping USC from making a decision whether or not to keep the five-year coach.
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4 comments:
Trakh has had a bad run with injuries with his top players for the past three years. If you consider all that, I still think he has done really well! You should also take into consideration that the USC coaching staff has recruited some of the top players around. From what I hear these girls want to play for USC, but mostly they want to play for Trakh and the other coaches. Sometimes change isn't the right thing!! My vote it to keep the current coaching staff! Next year they will have some great players coming in and the year after that. It would be sad if they let him go and then the new coach gets all the credit for the kids that were recruited under Trakh and him team. Just let the coach do his job and he will get it done!!
I agree.
Sometimes the best move you make is no move. I dont think these recruits would come to USC if they didnt feel positive about the program and coaches.
I hope Trakh stays.
2009 recuits Marinacci, Hackney and Oliver are all top players and can make an impact sooner than most think. 2010 recruit Harberts, who just verballed to USC, has always been assigned the toughest girl to guard while playing for SCHS and with her club team too. She played out of position this past season at San Clemente HS because they graduated all of their skilled guards. She had the talent to handle it at 6'2", which in HS is very big for a pg.
I would love to see one healthy year for USC. I wouldnt expect them to beat a Stanford but I think they would be much more competitive.
IM in OC
Despite the injuries, Trakh still loses to teams with much less talent. He has four ACTIVE All Americans, more than anyone else in the Pac-10 except Stanford, yet they consistently lose to teams with far less talent. A good coach would be able to win with the talent they have much like Cal which has much less depth. After five years, you can only make so many excuses. And how well would he recruit if he were in the middle of the country instead of Los Angeles? He needs to go back to a mid-major.
It continues to amaze me how peole are so able to judge a coaches ability when they probably have never coached a day in their lives. Just stick to being a fan and let the coaches and players do what they do best....play basketball. It doesn't matter Coach Trakh's location....that is just geography. He knows basketball and his players respect him!! Typically those that are making such negative comments probably has a daughter that did't get recruited by USC. Move on..
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