NCAA Tournament bracketology: USC men's basketball on the bubble
USC had a road trip to forget last week losing both Pac-12 games against Oregon and Oregon State. The Trojans now enter a two-game home stand against Cal and Stanford firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble at 17-8 and 9-5 in the Pac-12.
Even with the two defeats to Oregon and Oregon State, CBS Sports analyst Jerry Palm still projects the Trojans as an NCAA Tournament team in his most recent bracket prediction.
Right now, Palm forecasts USC as a No. 10 seed. He has the Trojans playing No. 7 Providence in a first-round matchup in Denver.
ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi's most recent bracket projection came out prior to USC's defeat against Oregon State on Feb. 10. In that bracket prediction, Lunardi listed the Trojans as a "last four byes" team. He also had USC as a No. 10 seed playing No. 7 San Diego State in Denver.
It will be interesting to see where Lunardi puts the Trojans in future bracketology posts following the team's loss to the Beavers, who are 10-16 and 4-11 in conference play.
The Trojans were without starting center Josh Morgan and guard Reese Dixon-Waters for the two games in Oregon. Both players were out with injuries, which contributed to USC's struggles.
NO LOVE IN AP POLL
After receiving four votes in the AP poll last week, USC didn't receive any votes this week.
The lone Pac-12 teams ranked are No. 4 UCLA and No. 8 Arizona. UCLA sits atop the Pac-12 standings with a 12-2 record. Arizona is in second place at 11-4. Utah is in third place at 10-5, USC is in fourth at 9-5 and Oregon and Arizona State are tied for fifth place at 9-6.
