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With Selection Sunday just days away and the Pac-12 Tournament starting Wednesday, the USC Trojans find themselves in an interesting situation in regards to their tournament hopes. The last few games saw the Trojans drop games to three top ten teams in the UCLA Bruins, Arizona Wildcats, and Oregon Ducks where winning one of the three could’ve helped their resume. The most damaging of them all was a late game collapse in Tempe against the Arizona State Sun Devils. A loss that potentially could have USC playing in Dayton, Ohio or worse. USC managed to defeat Washington State and Washington to give them some breathing room for now. Let’s look at the where some have the Trojans projected before the Pac-12 tournament.
ESPN: First Four Play-In Game in the West Region- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Trojans playing in the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio against the Xavier Musketeers. The winner of that game would be a 12 seed and travel to Greenville, South Carolina to face the SMU Mustangs, who’s projected as a 5th seed in the West region. Lunardi also has USC as one of his last four teams in.
CBS Sports: 9 Seed in the West Region-CBS Sports has the Trojans in a much better situation, heading out to Salt Lake City as a 9 seed. They would face South Carolina in the west region. If you’re a USC fan, this projection will likely help you breathe a little bit better.
USA Today: First Four Play-In Game in the West Region-Much like ESPN, USA Today has the Trojans starting off in Dayton to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Winner of that game would face the projected 6 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks as an 11 seed in Salt Lake City, Utah.
SB Nation: 11 Seed in the South Region-Chris Dobbertean has USC in the Tournament, but as an 11 seed. In his projected bracket, Dobbertean has the Trojans facing the Cyclones of Iowa State in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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USC will look to make a deep Pac-12 tournament run, first they’ll have to face Washington on Wednesday. The Trojans defeated the Huskies on Sunday in the conference regular season finally. A win on Wednesday over Washington will probably lock the Trojans into the NCAA tournament; however a loss could put USC’s tournament hopes in jeopardy. USC is looking to make a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament. If they win Wednesday it’ll set up a quarterfinals match up with UCLA. A victory over UCLA would really help their resume getting into the Tournament and allowing them to breathe come selection Sunday.