by Franklyn Calle

One of the top big man in the class of 09′,Renardo Sidney, announced on Sunday afternoon that he plans to attend the University of Southern California in the fall. The press conference was held at Fairfax’s HS gymnasium where the gym was transformed into a reception-type ceremony as red and gold balloons along with fancily decorated tables filled the basketball court in LA, Calif. The 6-9 power forward chose USC over UCLA, UConn, Virginia, Mississippi State, Texas, Arizona State, and UNLV. UCLA actually dropped out of the sweepstakes on Wednesday, the same day in which Sidney reportedly met with USC head coach Tim Floyd on campus. He has been averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds per game this season.

The future Trojan has been considered a big time prospect since his junior high school days back in Mississippi. As he moved to Los Angeles, the media attention only grew stronger. He has been criticized for being overweight as well as for slowing down over the years. But when you think about it, it’s just hard to come into high school with such high expectations and then four years later have people not say that one did not fully lived up to them. At times some have also said that his work ethic or effort has not been at his full potential. The one thing that it is certain is that his ability for someone his size is second to none. Just imagine how much better he would be if he was more physically fit or once he gets there? Say what you want but the kid is a monster and once he gets his conditioning into place, he is going to be very hard to stop or even contain. Not many kids can match his ability of being very effective on the inside as well as outside the way he can.

Sidney hasn’t taken the SAT and most do so in order to be cleared by the NCAA and become eligible. So the question of whether or not he is headed to Europe will rest on his SATs scores. He now joins his Fairfax high school teammate Solomon Hill, forward Noel Johnson from Fayette HS in Georgia, and forward Derrick Williams from La Mirada HS in California as the Trojans’ fourth recruit for the 2009 high school graduating class.

It has now been three straight season in which USC has been able to acquire a blue-chip player with O.J. Mayo in 07’, DeMar DeRozan in 08’, and now Sidney in 09’. In the event that DeRozan decides to return for his sophomore season at USC, a DeMar-Renardo duo would be very tough for any PAC-10 team to defend or even match.

His Fairfax team currently holds a 24-3 record this season is scheduled to play in a city quarterfinal game this Tuesday.