The USC men’s basketball season is over. It was painful to watch. The one good thing — the only good thing — about this men’s basketball season for the Trojans is that their rivals from Westwood weren’t any better. UCLA also finished under .500 and failed to make the NCAA Tournament. Given UCLA’s status as a college basketball blue-blood, that makes the season just as much of a failure for the Bruins as it was for the Trojans. USC did have higher expectations than UCLA, but the Bruins should never, ever miss the NCAA Tournament. Such is not quite the standard at USC, a true football school. The Bruins are supposed to be a basketball school, and basketball schools should never miss March Madness.
UCLA did.
UCLA Wire has more on the Bruins’ season-ending loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament:
“The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team defeated Oregon State in the Pac-12 Conference first round. On Thursday, UCLA’s season came to an end with a slim 68-66 loss to Oregon.
“The Bruins had a 34-29 halftime lead but Oregon hit key free throws down the stretch to get the win and move on to the next round of the Pac-12 tournament.
“Dylan Andrews, who had 30 points in the win on Wednesday, scored 24 on 10-21 from the field to lead the way for UCLA. Sebastian Mack had 16 points as they were the only two Bruins in double figures.”
USC had a real opportunity to establish itself as a destination program in Los Angeles, but at least UCLA did not increase its advantage or build its stature in L.A. The Bruins were right there alongside the Trojans in a men’s basketball nightmare this year in the City of Angels.
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