As you watch the USC Trojans in the state of Oregon — first in Eugene against the Oregon Ducks, then in Corvallis on Saturday against the Oregon State Beavers — consider the topics discussed on the latest men’s basketball podcast at Trojans: Wired.
We discussed several different items for our latest weekly show, but the most fascinating one by far is the rotation Andy Enfield will use for these two games. Entering Thursday, we don’t know if Joshua Morgan or Reese Dixon-Waters will be healthy enough to play. Enfield had said he hoped to have at least one of the two available for the Thursday game against Oregon. Regardless of availability, it will be interesting and important to see how Enfield distributes minutes throughout his rotation.
The Oregon game is important for USC’s Pac-12 title chase. If the Trojans do want to overtake Arizona and especially UCLA, they need this game. They haven’t won a conference championship since 1985. They would love to win one. Winning in Eugene is quite significant in the push for a league crown.
However, getting to the NCAA Tournament is the bigger and much more important goal. If we’re talking only about that pursuit, the Oregon State game on Saturday is a bigger game because a loss there would be extremely damaging for the Trojans. That’s the game they can’t afford to lose. Enfield could therefore save minutes for important players on Thursday in Eugene and make sure his team is fresh for Saturday in Corvallis.
We talked about that plot point on our latest podcast. Ian Hest produced the show.
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