I originally composed post after Thursday's loss to Colorado, but ran out of time to finish and publish it:
USC has performed far, far, far better this season than I anticipated or predicted. I was 100% wrong about SC's prospects for the season, which I thought were fairly dim. SC has had a very strong, indeed (by USC's standards) excellent, season.
But it's probably worth taking a sober look at where SC is at this moment.
Assuming, no covid interruptions, USC has the following left on the schedule:
-- 3 competitive regular season games (SC may be a slight favorite in all 3 games);
-- up to 3 Pac-12 Tournament games; and
-- the NCAA Tournament.
It's basically 3 tournaments to close out the season.
If USC wants to win its first Pac-12 title since the 1980s, it must absolutely win out those 3 games. KenPom puts the odds of that happening at roughly 30%.
If USC wants an outright Pac-12 title, it's going to need help.
The bottom line is that the likelihood of a conference title is fairly dim now. Obviously, the season has gone much, much, much better than I expected, but it's looking less and less likely that this will end up as a milestone year for USC basketball.
USC has performed far, far, far better this season than I anticipated or predicted. I was 100% wrong about SC's prospects for the season, which I thought were fairly dim. SC has had a very strong, indeed (by USC's standards) excellent, season.
But it's probably worth taking a sober look at where SC is at this moment.
Assuming, no covid interruptions, USC has the following left on the schedule:
-- 3 competitive regular season games (SC may be a slight favorite in all 3 games);
-- up to 3 Pac-12 Tournament games; and
-- the NCAA Tournament.
It's basically 3 tournaments to close out the season.
If USC wants to win its first Pac-12 title since the 1980s, it must absolutely win out those 3 games. KenPom puts the odds of that happening at roughly 30%.
If USC wants an outright Pac-12 title, it's going to need help.
The bottom line is that the likelihood of a conference title is fairly dim now. Obviously, the season has gone much, much, much better than I expected, but it's looking less and less likely that this will end up as a milestone year for USC basketball.