USC remains on the bubble after failing to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. The Trojans would have sealed up a bid by beating Arizona, but they were underdogs to the Wildcats. The 40 minutes of play in the Galen Center confirmed as much. It’s a bad matchup for USC, made worse by Kobe Johnson’s early foul trouble.
The Trojans simply have to get back in the saddle and beat Arizona State on Saturday night in Los Angeles. The Sun Devils need this game more than USC does, but USC very badly needs the game, to be sure.
Before looking at the national bubble picture, you surely want the inside read on this game. Is the winner in? Is the loser out?
This is more of a “winner in” game than a “loser out” game, but if USC wins and Arizona State loses, ASU is in big trouble. USC would very likely be in the field. ASU would still have a chance with multiple wins at the Pac-12 Tournament, but the Sun Devils’ odds would definitely drop. USC, should it lose to ASU, would absolutely need one win at the Pac-12 Tournament. It might need two.
In truth, then, this could be both a winner-in bubble game and — not or; and — a loser-out bubble game. It’s huge. There’s no other way to say it.
Now that we’ve looked at the bubble implications for USC-ASU, let’s look at the rest of the bubble picture and the bubble teams and games you need to monitor on Saturday, March 4, and Sunday, March 5: