No panic for Trojans, Cardinal

Coaches Tim Floyd of USC and Trent Johnson of Stanford could be excused if they felt like fidgety high school seniors who hadn’t secured a date to the prom less than a week before the big dance.

Instead, it’s as if they’ve already rented their tuxedos, affixed their boutonnieres and assured themselves that the phone will ring any minute now.

Neither coach said he expected an anxiety-ridden Selection Sunday, even though the loser of their Pacific 10 Conference tournament quarterfinal tonight at Staples Center could be considered a bubble team.

“I feel we should be in the [NCAA] tournament regardless of whether we win or lose,” said Johnson, whose sixth-seeded Cardinal probably has more at stake tonight than Floyd’s third-seeded Trojans.

Stanford’s resume is solid but not spectacular. The Cardinal (18-11 overall, 10-8 in the Pac-10) has gone 4-6 in its last 10 games and checks in at No. 57 in the NCAA’s official Ratings Percentage Index.

“I think they’re an NCAA tournament team, but it depends on who you listen to,” said Floyd, whose Trojans have an RPI of 54 and have gone 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Floyd says he figures it would be hard for the NCAA tournament selection committee to exclude USC (21-10, 11-7), which swept Oregon and Arizona and finished in a tie for third place in one of the nation’s strongest conferences.

The Cardinal has lost three of its last four games, with the only victory during that stretch coming against last-place Arizona State. USC isn’t exactly scorching either, having been swept by the Washington schools for its first consecutive losses of the season.

“They’re going to come out obviously playing hard because they feel like they need to win this one to get in, but it’s a big game for us, too, because we want to go into the NCAA tournament with some wins and some confidence,” Trojans sophomore forward Keith Wilkinson said.

“We don’t want to go in there losing three in a row, so this is a big game for us.”

USC junior swingman Nick Young said he would not be satisfied to go home with the free gift distributed to all conference tournament participants; there’s a certain piece of jewelry he covets.

“That’s what we’re trying to get, a ring,” Young said. “I haven’t won a ring in high school or college.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com