I’ve no doubt that Tuesday has a chance to provide Southern California with its best-ever night of men’s college basketball – even if the action is taking place some 2,000-plus miles away in Indianapolis.
I’m a better student of hoops history than most and, yes, the “best-ever night” is a pretty bold proclamation considering that the UCLA program has won 11 national titles – 10 under the man with on-court accomplishments that easily drive home his legendary status, the late John R. Wooden – and played in five other Final Fours.
But Tuesday night, in Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium, the USC and UCLA teams – in the same NCAA Tournament, for the first time ever – will each play “Elite Eight” games.
It’s been a while that either program’s team has played this deep into a season, the Trojans 20 (they lost to eventual champion Duke in the East Region final) and the Bruins (beating Xavier in the West final before losing to Memphis in a Final Four semifinal) 13 years ago, respectively.
Each had remarkable – in widely different fashion – paths to Tuesday’s night games.
*Coach Andy Enfield and his staff came into this pandemic-altered season minus every 2019-20 starter, but have built a potent rotation built around the Brothers Mobley (sophomore Isaiah and freshman Evan) around a couple of returnees and heavy dose of transfers.
They finished just percentage points behind Oregon for stop-and-go Pac 12 regular season and lost – for the third time on the season – to the University of Colorado Buffalos in a conference tourney semifinal.
Awarded a six seed, the Trojans have dominated their three foes in Indy (Drake, Kansas and, Sunday night, Oregon) by an average margin of 21.3 points.
*In Season 2 under Mick Cronin, the Bruins are without three players who were expected to be key elements in both the regular season and during any tournament run:
McDonald’s All-American guard Daishen Nix signed with the Bruins in November of 2019 but, last summer, opted to go for the G League cash to prep for the 2021 NBA draft.
The program’s best player, 6-foot-8 Chris Smith, was lost for the season after suffering a torn ACL in a Dec. 31 Pac 12 game at the University of Utah.
And Bruins’ post size, depth (and shot-blocking ability) took a big hit with Jalen Hill sidelined since the team’s Jan. 30 win over Oregon State because of personal issues.
Four consecutive come-from-ahead-losses (including an OT decision to OSU in a March 11 Pac 12 tourney quarterfinal) meant some nervous stomachs going into Selection Sunday three days later – especially when the Bruins didn’t see “UCLA” pop up on the 68-team bracket until the East region was unveiled in the last 15 minutes of the show.
And then it was to seed themselves as an 11 seed playing Tom Izzo’s Michigan State program in a Thursday night “First Four” game.
Fast forward two weeks and there’ve been overtime wins (over the Spartans and, Sunday, No. 2 seed Alabama) sandwiched around double-figure point decisions against BYU and Abilene Christian.
But there is a lot more compelling about the Trojans and Bruins being just a victory away from another “crosstown rivalry” meeting Saturday – yeah, more than 2,000 miles away from that “town”.
And that’s the opposition trying to block that third meeting (the Trojans won the first two) between the teams.
For the Trojans, that would be the 29-zip Gonzaga Bulldogs – nearly flawless, offensively, with an under-appreciated half-court defense.
Three of Mark Few’s starters – senior Corey Kispert, sophomore Drew Timme and freshman Jalen Suggs – are among the 10 John R. Wooden Award finalists.
That’s never happened before in the 44-year history of the sport’s preeminent individual honor.
Only once this season – during a five-point, come-from-behind win over West Virginia almost 15 weeks ago – have the Bulldogs (aka “Zags”!) won by a margin of fewer than double figures.
Something could change in the Final Four (say, a possible Gonzaga-Baylor finale), but there hasn’t been a “team matchup” that most coaches – on all levels (including in the Pac 12 and the Bulldogs’ WCC) – I know have been as curious to watch playoff as this one Tuesday.
And, roughly 48 hours after knocking about the best team out of the Southeastern Conference (with across-the-board contributions from Mick Cronin’s rotation and with an “X” factor of the Crimson Tide missing 14 of 25 free throws), the Bruins get the Big Ten’s best and No. 1 seed Michigan in the East final.
It will be a game of a litany of challenges – the Wolverines are going to pound the ball in and around the lane, as often as possible and with their own elite “big” in Hunter Dickinson (about 50 pounds heavier than Evan Mobley and, a formidable force if not in the same fashion as his USC counterpart).
From the Southern California perspective – especially if you’re partial to the Trojans or Bruins – only one thing could top what’s on the plate in Indy Tuesday night.
And, in a season that – for a variety of reasons, many of those COVID-related – has been well beyond surreal, how mind-boggling would it be to see the Trojans and Bruins hooking up Saturday night in Indy?
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