Monday night in the Galen Center

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Thoughts on the double-overtime game played between the USC and Nebraska teams Monday in the Trojans’ Galen Center, won by the Huskers, 64-61:

*Doc Sadler’s Nebraska team doesn’t have any future NBA players but it has a chance to win 20-plus games and maybe – especially during a season when the Big 12 definitely isn’t as strong, top to bottom, as it has been in the past – can get a top-five finish in conference and get into the NCAA Tournament.

*LSU transfer Bo Spencer of the Huskers was the best player on the floor, scoring a game-high 22 points while hitting seven of 16 shots from the floor (including three 3s) and five of seven at the free-throw line, with seven rebounds and three assists. He could be an All-Big 12 selection in March.

*Both teams played exceptional half-court defense and play patiently on offense. I’m not just sure how many really “good” shooters there are on both squads. The teams were a combined 40 of 115 from the field.

*If injury-plagued USC (it really misses Jio Fontain, who suffered an ACL tear during the program’s tour of Brazil late in the summer) has to depend on 5-foot-5 Maurice Jones to be a “volume” shooter, the Trojans have no chance of finishing in the upper half of the Pac-12 standings.

Jones was six of 22 from the field Monday night.

*Freshman guard Alexis Moore shot well for the Trojans (four of nine from the field including three of six on 3s) after going 0 for 7 behind the arc in the team’s opener against Cal State Northridge Friday night.

But the Trojans need another freshman, Byron Wesley (three of 11 shooting Monday night), to become a productive scorer as well and to be able to do a solid defensive jobs against the taller skilled “3s” in the Pac-12 this season.

*It’s easy to understand why Kevin O’Neill believes 7-foot, 22-year-old sophomore Dewayne Dedmon can be an NBA player before too long.

He’s a very good athlete (runner/jumper/lateral quickness/hand-eye coordination, etc.) but not the “exceptional NBA-caliber athlete” some have touted him as. He is so raw, offensively, and doesn’t appear able to score against quality opposition if he doesn’t have a point-blank dunk attempt.

I think he goes in the early to late 20s of the first round if he opts for the draft this spring.

If he waits until June of 2013, then – and only then – could I actually see him as a lottery (top 14) choice.