USC Basketball: Bracketology

The USC Trojans are currently in a race for the Pac-12 regular season championship and a first round bye in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. However, with five games left in the regular season, the Trojans are working to do two things for March. Improve their seeding or stay in the hunt for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Good news for USC basketball fans the projections favor the Trojans to go dancing in March. USC has put together a good resume to have their name called on selection Sunday unless they just hit a bad tailspin to end the season. We take a look to see where and if some of the analyst have the Trojans dancing in March.

ESPN Joe Lunardi- 10 Seed: Midwest Region

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is a well known name when it comes to bracket projections. In his most recent projection USC appears as a 10 seed in the Midwest region. The recent three game losing streak against Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State hurt them in terms of seeding in the eyes of Lunardi. Expect their seeding to improve after defeating Washington and Washington State. In the projected bracket USC would face 7 seeded Illinois in Cleveland.

CBS Sports Jerry Palm- 7 Seed: West Region

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports have been high on the Trojans for quite sometime. So it comes to no surprise that he currently has the Trojans as the 7 seed in the West region. That could obviously change with USC having to face Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA coming up. How it changes will depend on the outcome of those games. Based off Palms projections, USC is in good shape right now. While the west regionals take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles, which is right down the street from USC, their projected road to get their is not easy at all. Palm has the Trojans matched up with Rhode Island, who’s a projected 10 seed in the CBS Sports bracket. Also on that side is a good Florida State team that has potential to be a 1 seed.

USA Today- 8 Seed: East Region

USA Today Sports places USC in the middle of their first two projected seedings. The Trojans appear as an 8 seed in the recent projected seedings and staying in the state of California for the first two rounds. USA Today has USC playing at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA for the first round in the east region. However, they draw one, possibly two very tough matchups in the first two rounds. Their projected matchup would be with the St. Mary’s Gales out of the West Coast Conference. St. Mary’s has a history of being a tough out in the NCAA tournament. USA Today also has the undefeated San Diego State Aztecs as the 1 seed in the East region which could mean a possible matchup between them and the Trojans.

SB Nation Chris Dobbertean- 11 Seed

SB Nation has the Trojans as an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament in their latest projections. While Dobbertean doesn’t list where the teams are or what the projected match up would look like, You can draw the conclusion that they could be in the First Four games in Dayton. As mentioned in the projections, the Trojans win over Washington likely won’t be enough to for them to get comfortable. They’ll need a win over Colorado and Arizona to help that cause. Maybe a win in the Pac-12 tournament will help.

NCAA.com Andy Katz- Out

In his recent bracket projection (February 10th) Andy Katz has the Trojans as his first four teams out of the field of 68. Again the recent losses of to Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State hurt the Trojans a lot. Why you might ask? Well they were quality losses that the Trojans needed and losing three straight doesn’t help. As of right now Katz is the only one who has USC not making the NCAA tournament which would mean another trip to the NIT for the Trojans. That will not sit well with fans, especially with a talented roster.

SI Ky McKeon- 9 Seed: West Region/Jim Root: 10 seed: West Region

Sports Illustrated’s Ky McKeon and Jim Root both have USC making the NCAA tournament, however they see them in two different ways. McKeon has the Trojans safely making the tournament as a 9 seed while Root has them as a 10 seed and as the last four byes. McKeon’s projected matchup for the Trojans is last year’s national runner up Texas Tech while Root has USC facing Michigan.