Men’s basketball ends underwhelming season
In the tournament quarterfinals, the Trojans attempted to steal a bid but were unsuccessful.
The Pac-12 had a bid stealer, but it wasn’t the men’s basketball team from USC.
Following three straight victories to start March, the Trojans (15-18, 8-12 Pac-12) flew to Las Vegas in the hopes of using their late-season momentum to win the Pac-12 Tournament. However, they were defeated in the tournament quarterfinals by the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats (25-8, 15-5).
After Arizona, Head Coach Andy Enfield remarked, “There’s adversity in every college student’s life and these guys did it on and off the court.” “To sort things out and stick together as a team is what college athletics is all about. Our staff and I are really proud of our young guys for sticking together.
The No. 4 seed, Oregon (23-11, 12-8), defeated the Wildcats in the semifinals and went on to win the championship. The tournament victory guaranteed the Ducks a spot in March Madness.
Similar circumstances existed for USC and Oregon going into the tournament: they had to win everything to get to the championship game. The Ducks secured a No. 11 seed in March Madness by accomplishing what the Trojans were unable achieve.
Oregon, with a winning record heading into the tournament, was much closer to a tournament bid than USC in the first place, but the Ducks’ No. 11 ranking shows they likely would not have made it in without the win. All the No. 12-No. 16 seeds in the bracket are mid-major programs that earned automatic bids, so the No. 11 slot is usually reserved for at-large bids, not Power Six conference tournament winners.
The stakes of the tournament were not the only similarity between USC and Oregon. Both teams dealt with injuries throughout the season, as fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis and freshman guard Isaiah Collier — the Trojans’ two leading scorers this season — combined to miss 10 games.
Enfield stated, “We had some serious surgeries and injuries during the offseason, and then we had some serious injuries in November.” Naturally, during the first week of January, we had the simultaneous departure of our two top scorers. and Joshua Morgan, a redshirt senior forward, fell ill and shed fifteen pounds. This is the most injury I’ve had in my 29- to 30-year coaching career.
The Ducks missed significant players this season as well, but for even longer stretches of time. Out of the starting lineup for Oregon’s opening game, just two players participated in the Pac-12 Tournament championship; the other three had missed 74 games this season combined. Even N’Faly Dante, the senior center and Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player for the Ducks, their top scorer, missed 14 games.
