The USC Trojans are not on the same level as the UCLA Bruins and Arizona Wildcats. UCLA recently beat Maryland on the road and Kentucky in a neutral-site game. Arizona has beaten Creighton, San Diego State, Indiana, and Tennessee. USC is not in the same ballpark as the Pac-12’s two elite teams. However, after UCLA, Arizona, and Gonzaga, who is the fourth-best college basketball team in the Western United States?
The answer is clear, but the gap betwen No. 4 in the West and No. 7 is not that big.
Wilner had this to say:
“The Trojans deftly navigated a classic trap game against CSU, which followed the stirring win over Auburn and preceded the Christmas break.”
USC’s NET ranking is still relatively low, outside the top 75, but it was below 100 before the Auburn win on December 18. The Trojans won’t play any more cupcake games against Fullerton or Long Beach, so if they win a solid majority of their Pac-12 games (two-thirds, roughly), that NET ranking should be in a much better place by Selection Sunday.
The challenge is simply to meet that standard and attain those results.
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