USC men’s basketball: Latest NCAA Tournament projections
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — Congratulations. You made it. It is officially the first day of March, the month that lays claim to the most perfectly designed sporting event of the year, the NCAA Tournament. The Big Dance. March Madness. Whatever you personally call it, we are just two weeks away from having four screens going at the same time so you don’t miss any action, while your boss wonders why your productivity is dipping.
And for No. 16 USC, there are no such things as games off anymore. Tonight, USC will try to upset No. 2 Arizona at a sold-out Galen Center to try to keep alive its hopes of a share of a Pac-12 title. Then it’s a trip across town to face No. 17 UCLA. Then the Pac-12 Tournament. Then the NCAA Tournament.
So while there’s some runway still before USC officially starts dancing, it’s never too early to start thinking about what the Trojans’ path to a second straight Elite Eight run (or further) might look like.
As of this morning, most Bracketology projections agree on USC being a 6-seed, much like the Trojans were last March. It makes sense in that it splits the difference between the team’s AP ranking (16) and spot in the NET rankings (27), which takes into account strength of schedule and location of wins. USC obviously still has time to improve these factors with a strong last two weeks before Selection Sunday, but that’s where the Trojans stand according to the experts as of right now.
Where four different Bracketology projections differ is where and whom USC will play in the first round:
ESPN: In Milwaukee against Creighton
USA Today: In Milwaukee against Miami (Fla.)
CBS Sports: In San Diego against the winner of a Memphis-Wake Forest play-in game
Inside the Hall: In Pittsburgh against Wake Forest
CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm feels like USC will be rewarded for a strong season and deep tournament run a year ago with a favorable location that would be easy for fans to travel for. That would be a nice change of pace for the Trojans after spending the entirety of last year’s NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.
But there’s still time for USC to work its way up the seeding. That starts tonight against Arizona.
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We are just nowhere near as athletic as Arizona. It’s night and day.
Ari Wasserman (The Athletic) on the current USC QB position: Q — If you were a five-star prospect picking a school based on ability to turn you into an NFL Draft pick, what school would you pick for the different positions? QB: USC. “There are a few coaches who would probably like a word in this discussion, but Lincoln Riley has coached three players who were Heisman Trophy finalists and are starters in the NFL. If I were a quarterback, I’d play for the guy who turned a former walk-on into a Heisman winner, No. 1 overall pick, and multi-year NFL starter.… Read more »
Whoever highlighted the SEC teams sure made a point.
USC needs to get past AU tonight, then they need to work on their game to beat ucla. I see the Trojans in as much of a do or die situation Saturday as ucla thinks they are. Trojans are playing for a high seed, ruins are simply playing to stay in the tournament. Win both games and USC is looking good with a great seed and momentum going for them. Hoping we get both wins but they are going to have to fight like Ukrainians.
Ben Bolch (LA Times) — “Diplomacy is not an option in the cross-town rivalry. No matter what it takes, UCLA needs to beat USC, and it needs to do so Saturday when the teams meet at Pauley Pavilion. “We’ve got to put our life on the line,” senior guard David Singleton, one of the handful of Bruins who have experienced any success in the series, said late Monday night. “There is no amount of exaggeration that can adequately describe how much UCLA wants to end its five-game losing streak against the Trojans, the Bruins’ longest slide against their rivals since the 1940s. Two of… Read more »