How nice it would be if USC could replicate those SAME efforts when UConn comes a calling on Feb 8. Somehow, I don't think will happen. Like Stanford last year, South Carolina will be "jacked up' and extremely motivated to take the floor, and wrest away the #1 ranking from the Huskies, as was done to them. You know Geno will have his team ready to play. This is the last marquee game left on their regular season schedule. A nationally televised game that most of WCBB will be watching. A battle of the titans. To the victor goes the spoils and the bragging rights.
I'm sure coach
Dawn Staley has changed some things, added a new wrinkle or two, knowing that UConn is not your average team. Staley knows they must bring their A+ game, if they are to have any chance of winning this game. UConn on the other hand will go with the usual game plan: run the same plays with the same resolve and intensity, playing against the game and not USC. Keep your head down and your man in front of you. Play hard for 40 minutes, and don't look up at the clock or scoreboard. In short, do your job!!! Last year, Stewie said that early in the game, they realized that USC
didn't want to run with them. We'll see if that dynamic has changed.
Other than playing on their home court, and having a frenzied raucous fan group numbering 18,000 + cheering them on, USC won't have any advantages, and will have their work cut out for them.
They know they can not survive a 5 point quarter against UConn, and have any hope of winning the game. Everyone remembers the 25 point "whuppin' and the embarrassment they endured on national TV last year. They arrived in Storrs undefeated and ranked #1. The toast of WCBB. They left humbled, beaten and bowed. They also left their #1 ranking on the court.
To say that they want to balance that account would be putting it mildly. One thing is for sure. One of them will suffer their first loss of the season. I'm betting on UConn to emerge victorious. Except for
Baylor, UConn will have played two of the top four ranked teams. IMO, I expect the current top 4 ranked teams to make it to the final four.
Things happen, but I don't see any of these top four getting beat enroute to Indiana. Notre Dame and UConn are locks. Baylor was defeated by Oklahoma State, but they are on a roll and look like they won't lose again before the tournament in March. I also don't see USC losing more than once before March.
NO one has figured out USC yet. They've had some close calls, which is why I'm not sold on their resiliency just yet. I could be wrong. There's still a lot of basketball to be played. I don't see any of the top four teams collapsing between now and the beginning of the tournament.
Other than watching UConn becoming fine tuned, there won't be much for their fans to look forward to after Feb 8, and the beginning of the NCAA tournament. This should be a very interesting and exciting tournament. I'd be OK if it started right after the South Carolina game.
