NCAA madness: A 1st Quadrant win is a fantasy land for the bracketologists. And Utah was one of those with an RPI of 42. You get a brownie point for a win on the road versus the top 70 RPI. Now keep in mind that a team may be Quad 1 when you beat them but drop for multiple reasons (Injury for instance) and their final placement is at the end of the season. Or you could be 25-5 and not play many Quad 1 teams. Phoniness to the max.
The Game- USC was prepared to come out quickly, use their athletic advantages and to play with a changeable D from man to zone. They were good against Utah's Zone, and won going away with a 51% shooting to 41%. 5 blocks to 1, and 12 steals to 8 with a points off TOs of plus 13 (22-9). They also got a plus 4 points in fast breaks (easy baskets) and outplayed them with their bench 31 points to 16. The latter helped in the second game at heights (this time at 4200 feet). A 16-0 run after the lead was cut to 6 shut down the Utes AND the Youths that cheered the Utes. USC is now alone in 2nd place and will get a bye in the P12 playoff.
The Heroes: USC started Metu and he performed (14pts-9Reb-4Blks). McLaughlin (8pts-4Reb-5ast-3 stls) looked a little tired but Thornton came in to add 7 points, a block and 3 steals in that big scoring run. Usher was the energizer bunny (14pts on 4-5 3pt shooting) He's good- and as Enfield says, he tells Enfield that. Big man for Utah- Collette who is 26 and a brawler went at it with Racocevic knocking him down twice. The second time the ref had to call it a Flagrant one foul. He was held to 4 in the first half but ended with 14 points.
Miscellaneous: The refs called it even in the first but the fouls increased against the USC big men in the second (all 3 forewords had 3 or more fouls) and then back to even calls. USC broke through Utah's defense (69.9 ppg given up-tied with USC for best in the P12). The Trojans are guaranteed a top 4 spot in the PAC12 and a top 2 spot if they beat UCLA.
