USC Basketball: Trojans Plummet In Latest AP Poll After Surprise UC Irvine Loss

This was to be expected.

After a rough 70-60 loss to the UC Irvine Anteaters, the USC Trojans have found themselves ranked 23rd in the nation on the AP Poll. 

This is a stark drop-off from their 16th rank after week 2 of the season, as voters are now increasingly skeptical of the Trojans after falling to an unranked team at home. 

Of course, the kicker in this loss was that Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson, who played in their first two wins, were out in their UCI loss. 

Even so, however, it's easy to argue that the Trojans have enough talent to compete with a mid-major school at home even without their two starters. 

For this reason, it's understandable why voters are down on USC ahead of week 4 of the college basketball season. 

With a double-digit win over Brown on Sunday, the Trojans bounced back decently well and enter their matchup with an undefeated Seton Hall squad on Thanksgiving at 3-1. 

Seton Hall is a solid program, as coming from the Big East, they're battle-tested, playing games against top-ranked programs like UConn and Marquette regularly. 

We'll see how the Trojans approach this game, but there's a reasonable chance that the inter-conference play poses a challenge for USC. 

On the bright side, with Ellis and Johnson now healthy, USC should have all 5 starters ready to go against the Pirates. 

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