Rising to the Top of the Pac-12

[Myles Nelson]

January 16th, Stanford (5-11, 1-4) @ #24 USC (11-5, 3-2)
The Cardinal are led by their 2-3-4 tandem, with SG Jimmy Stockman leading the way at 11 points per game. PF Josh Fife and SF Dickey Morrison are also capable of scoring in double figures and could present a decent headache for us. Luckily, Jolly does his job and holds Morrison to 5 points, and Read torches Stockman for 30 points of his own to lead us to a big victory at home.
Stanford 63 USC 81

January 19th, Arizona State (8-9, 3-3) @ #24 USC (12-5, 4-2)
The guy we really have to watch for is SG John Johnson. He's averaging 17 points per game (the same amount as Ben Read) so that battle will be really fun to watch. The difference though is the rest of our team is much better than the rest of the Sun Devils, especially at PG, where Williams should dominate. Johnson went out and got his 17, but Read was held to 7. Luckily, basketball is a team sport, so we really teamed up on them and forced them into bad shooting percentages.
Arizona St. 47 USC 61

January 23rd, #23 USC (13-5, 5-2) @ California (4-14, 1-6)
California has two strong wing men, SG George Carr (11.2 ppg) and SF Ahmad Granger (10.3 ppg), but absolutely no presence at PG or in the post. We should be able to take advantage there and get this win on the road. Take advantage of the post we did, as Carvell Jackson had a vintage game with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and limited his opponent to 0 points. Read added 22 and Williams had 12, and this win was secure from the minute the game started.
USC 85 California 67

January 26th, #23 USC (14-5, 6-2) @ Colorado (8-12, 3-5)
Colorado is reeling, losers of three straight. One thing that is interesting is that their strengths are very similar to ours, as their best players are at SG and C, but beyond that, they are very shallow. Read got 17, Collins poured in 11 and Jackson added 10, but they got 17 from their SG Mattox and their backup PG Travis Davis. We still got the win, but it was closer than I'd like.
USC 65 Colorado 62

January 30th, #22 Oregon (15-5, 7-2) @ #20 USC (15-5, 7-2)
Oregon makes their name with one of the most balanced attacks I've ever seen. Every starter is averaging between 7 and 9.5 points per game. Without any one player we can really lock on to, we'll just focus on trying to shut the whole team down. For context, our lowest scorer is Jolly at 7 points per game, and after that it's 7.6, 8.8, 12.7 and 16.8. Hopefully our superior fire power will allow us to win the game. Carvell Jackson dominated this game, 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. Some other telling stats: 23 assists to 11 turnovers, 32 rebounds to their 25, and our 48.3% fg to their 36.2%.
Oregon 44 USC 67

February 2nd, #20 USC (16-5, 8-2) @ Oregon State (7-14, 3-7)
Oregon State has the same problem that California does: they have no real PG or big men. They have two good wings who can score, but that's really it for their team. Road games have been a challenge for us this year (4-5 on the road) but Oregon State is a team we really should beat. Jackson has yet ANOTHER big game, this time going off for 25 and 11! Read dropped 22 as well, and the Beavers had no answer for us. We shot 8/18 from beyond the arc and 54.7% overall on our way to a big blowout victory on the road.
USC 79 Oregon St. 64

[IWWROCKS]

Really good job Myles! any thoughts of leaving USC or do you feel the job isn't done yet?

[Myles Nelson]

We'll see. I've become increasingly frustrated with USC's complete lack of desire to improve the basketball program, despite me compiling a 159-87 record in 7 1/2 seasons here, not to mention 5 NCAA tournament bids, 2 conference coach of the year awards, and 4 20 win seasons, not including this one where we are almost guaranteed to get 20 wins.

I really want to win with SC though. This team is like my baby and I think we can do it. If a few years from now we're still around where we are now, and I haven't gotten any more of a budget, I might look to jump ship to a school where basketball is first, even if it means moving regions altogether.

[Myles Nelson]

February 6th, #17 USC (17-5, 9-2) @ Utah (15-7, 6-5)
We manhandled Utah at our house last time around in December, but as we are all aware, things are always different on the road. If we can keep up the level of play we've been playing, perhaps we can continue our hot streak and steal one on the road. With Arizona up next, we need to keep our momentum alive. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it. Nobody could score and somehow they only managed to foul us 9 times for 5 measly free throws. I know refs fall for homecourt advantage, but seriously?
USC 67 Utah 74

February 9th, #4 Arizona (20-3, 12-0) @ #17 USC (17-6, 9-3)
Arizona is the toughest opponent we've faced all year, and we were blown out when we traveled there earlier this year. Maybe HCA will give us the victory this time around though. And while the refs certainly didn't give us any breaks, we played a lot better at home, forcing the Wildcats into mistakes and knocking down our own shots. It was a close game, but we were just better in the end.
Arizona 56 USC 64

February 13th, #16 USC (18-6, 10-3) @ Washington State (10-14, 4-9)
The Cougars are always tough at home, but a good team like ours should be able to demolish them like we did last time. Right? Right? Nope. Jekyll and Hyde with my team, and boy are we bad on the road. Williams turns the ball over 7 times (his 4th straight game with 6 or more) and I'm officially cutting his minutes in favor of Marquis Lee, who turns the ball over at a rate about half of how much Williams does.
USC 63 Washington St. 68

February 16th, #16 USC (18-7, 10-4) @ Washington (16-10, 8-6)
This conference run is still salvageable. If we win our last two games, we'll clinch a tie for second place and ensure we don't have to face Arizona until the final round. A loss would almost certainly assure us of the 4th place spot and a date with Arizona in the third round, provided we make it that far. Of course, nothing is enough of a motivation for my team to play well on the road, and we drop this one in OT.
USC 69 Washington 77

February 20th, #5 UCLA (21-5, 12-3) @ #18 USC (18-8, 10-5)
How we are still ranked after last week is beyond me, but then again, how UCLA is top 5 despite having NO scholarships for the last 3 years is ridiculous. They have four players on scholarship who are pretty good, but that's it, everyone else on this team is downright awful. How are they doing it?! And more importantly, why haven't these great players transferred out since there is no postseason for the Bruins? Or gone to the NBA? I mean, these guys are just studs. No two ways about it. Whatever, a cheating team from Westwood doesn't come in and win. We show them the door. We finish the season with a win and perhaps just a little momentum!
UCLA 50 USC 53