OMAHA -- Consider this possible USC starting lineup: Returning starters O.J. Mayo, Taj Gibson, Davon Jefferson and Daniel Hackett, plus five-star recruit DeMar DeRozan.
Then ponder this one: DeRozan, Hackett, Mamadou Diarra, Keith Wilkinson and Dwight Lewis.
The Trojans' forecast is a malleable entity, one that could shift dramatically depending on which, if any, of the team's top players -- Mayo, Gibson and Jefferson -- return next season instead of declaring for the NBA draft.
While Mayo is expected to become a lottery pick, the status of Gibson and Jefferson is less certain. Gibson, a sophomore, is projected as a borderline first-round pick and Jefferson's recent performances appear to have dropped him into the second round.
Sharon Gibson, Taj's mother, said Friday that her son remained conflicted about his future.
"Sometimes he says he's leaving, when he's angry, and then later he says he's staying," Sharon Gibson said in a telephone interview. "He wants to go all the way through school and help them to a title before he leaves, so I don't know what he's going to do."
Mayo could be the first in a parade of one-and-done players at USC, with DeRozan coming in next season and possibly Fairfax High center Renardo Sidney for the 2009-2010 season. Sidney has said he would attend college in California and appears to have narrowed his choices to USC and UCLA.
Floyd said before the Trojans' 80-67 loss to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional on Thursday that he might reconsider the benefits of one-year players if they harm the team's Academic Progress Rate.
"It will be a detriment if and when O.J. leaves if he's not academically eligible and costs us a scholarship," Floyd said. "That would be something that would make me review whether or not to give another guy like this an opportunity at some point."
Mayo averaged 20.7 points, but couldn't take USC past the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The challenge confronting Floyd going forward could be supplementing one-year stars with a supporting cast of four-year players. But it's a delicate balance. Five players who could have contributed this season left the program in recent years after expressing unhappiness about playing time, leaving the Trojans with a thin and inexperienced roster.
USC's 2008 recruiting class includes two guards, a swingman and no big men, potentially leaving the Trojans short-handed inside if forwards Gibson and Jefferson leave.
