NCAA Tournament March Madness
#46 USC
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Projected seed: 7
USC’s résumé is anchored by eye-catching neutral-site victories over Boise State, Seton Hall and Arizona State and a true road win at Oregon that demonstrate it can win away from home, but brutal road losses at Michigan and Michigan State and a home defeat to Washington expose troubling inconsistency against quality opponents. The remaining slate includes accessible foes such as Maryland and Rutgers along with high-stakes tests at Purdue and on the road against Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State, so the team has several clear opportunities to either solidify or undermine its standing. How USC performs in those bigger venues and whether it can reproduce its best offensive outings while tightening up on defense will determine if the strong neutral wins hold up against the damage caused by the bad losses.
| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/3 | Cal Poly | 239 | W94-64 |
| 11/9 | Manhattan | 309 | W114-83 |
| 11/14 | (N)Illinois St | 81 | W87-67 |
| 11/20 | Troy | 135 | W107-106 |
| 11/24 | (N)Boise St | 51 | W70-67 |
| 11/25 | (N)Seton Hall | 47 | W83-81 |
| 11/26 | (N)Arizona St | 87 | W88-75 |
| 12/2 | @Oregon | 78 | W82-77 |
| 12/6 | Washington | 52 | L84-76 |
| 12/9 | @San Diego | 214 | W94-81 |
| 12/14 | Washington St | 153 | W68-61 |
| 12/17 | UT San Antonio | 305 | W97-70 |
| 1/2 | @Michigan | 1 | L96-66 |
| 1/5 | @Michigan St | 12 | L80-51 |
| 1/9 | @Minnesota | 92 | 55% |
| 1/13 | Maryland | 118 | 85% |
| 1/17 | Purdue | 4 | 21% |
| 1/21 | Northwestern | 61 | 68% |
| 1/25 | @Wisconsin | 42 | 37% |
| 1/28 | @Iowa | 18 | 24% |
| 1/31 | Rutgers | 154 | 90% |
| 2/3 | Indiana | 25 | 47% |
| 2/8 | @Penn St | 111 | 65% |
| 2/11 | @Ohio St | 37 | 35% |
| 2/18 | Illinois | 9 | 30% |
| 2/21 | Oregon | 78 | 73% |
| 2/24 | @UCLA | 38 | 35% |
| 2/28 | Nebraska | 20 | 44% |
| 3/4 | @Washington | 52 | 42% |
| 3/7 | UCLA | 38 | 57% |