They’re Bubbling Over : USC’s Fate in Hands of Committee

Henry Bibby thinks his USC Trojans still deserve to go to the NCAA tournament.

“I feel good being tied for second in the Pac-10,” the USC coach said after watching his team lose to Washington, 94-84, on Saturday.

“We were considered a bubble team, but Arizona wasn’t. But we finished second and Arizona finished fifth. There’s no logic for them to go over us.”

By losing their regular-season finale against a team they beat by 19 in Los Angeles in January, the Trojans (17-10 overall, 12-6 Pac-10) may have lost a chance to go to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992.

The Trojans will find out today if they’re in. If they aren’t, a berth in the NIT is likely.

Still, USC was hopeful after the disappointing defeat.

“We had a good season and we deserve to get in, but politics will ultimately decide who does and who doesn’t,” Stais Boseman said.

“It’s going to be a real long night and a real long day until about 4 o’clock tomorrow,” David Crouse said.

The Huskies won on a day when they made a school-record 34 turnovers and the Trojans committed a season-worst 36 fouls.

“We turned it over, but we responded defensively and didn’t give up transition points,” Washington Coach Bob Bender said.

Mark Sanford scored 21 points and Todd MacCulloch had 18 points and 14 rebounds for Washington, which is expected to get an NIT bid for the second consecutive season.

“We let the NCAA tournament get away from us on Thursday night [with a loss to UCLA],” Sanford said. “But we can’t hang our heads because we won 17 games.”

Rodrick Rhodes led USC with a season-high 32 points, including 23 in the second half. Rhodes made four of five three-point shots. Elias Ayuso had 21 points, including four three-pointers, for the Trojans.

Trailing by 18 points in the first half and 48-38 at halftime, the Trojans cut Washington’s lead to 87-82 with two minutes to go on Rhodes’ last three-pointer.

But the Huskies (17-10, 10-8) scored the next seven points, including a layup by MacCulloch on a pass from Jamie Booker with 1:33 left.

The Huskies, playing the 7-foot MacCulloch and 7-1 Patrick Femerling for much of the game at the same time, outrebounded the Trojans, 44-30.

Pressing and double-teaming on defense, the Trojans had 36 fouls and had three players--Gary Johnson, Boseman and Ayuso--foul out.

Booker, the only senior on Washington’s team, scored 18 points and Deon Luton came off the bench to score 17.

Luton, a freshman, made all six of his shots, including three three-pointers. He said he got open shots because Femerling and MacCulloch were on the floor at the same time.

“When Pat and Todd are both in, the other team has to play them down low,” Luton said. “That opens things up for us on the outside.”