Tourney Time….
By Jeff Platt
The regular season in college basketball is now all locked up, and the next step for the USC men’s basketball team is the Pac-10 Tournament. The Trojans will take on ASU this Thursday at Staples Center.
I talked in my last blog post on how important it would be to close the regular season on a high note—and ‘SC did just that!!!
After a loss at ASU, there was a win against Cal back home at the Galen Center. And not an easy win at that!!! USC was up 11 with about two and a half min left, and Cal ended up forcing OVERTIME!!!! That game was absolutely unreal, and a combination of Cal 3s, USC turnovers, and missed free throws made for the sick comeback. Luckily for all Trojan fans, USC held on in overtime. However, this game brings a little cause for concern when looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament. What is usually the most important thing in March Madness down the stretch??
FREE THROWS!!!!
USC shoots 68% as a team, which is very average. But the Trojans missed way too many free throws in the last couple minutes of (what turned into) a close game. This CAN’T HAPPEN in a big tournament game.
USC hit their free throws when needed against #7 Stanford on Saturday, but they weren’t needed too often!!! ‘SC took this one 77-64, and just absolutely dominated. The Trojans even debuted a full court press, which could definitely be used in the postseason against teams with a weak backcourt. In a strange way, that press led to USC’s huge edge in the rebounding column. The press put Stanford’s big men out of position, which made it easier for the Trojans to box out and crash the boards.
Look for a big week of basketball coverage on ATVN!!!! We’ll have highlights of the first Pac-10 Tourney game available for you on Thursday’s sportscast.
Thx for reading
-Jeff
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