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
But there’s still time for USC to work its way up the seeding. That starts tonight against Arizona.
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