USC Basketball Earns No. 8 Seed in 2016 NCAA Tournament

USC basketball was one of the 68 teams selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, securing a No. 8 seed in the East bracket.

USC basketball is going dancing for the first time since 2011.

The Trojans picked up a No. 8 seed in the East. Their first round match up will be against No. 9-seed Providence in Philadelphia on March 17. If they advance they would likely face No. 1 seed North Carolina barring an upset by either Florida Gulf Coast, Trojan coach Andy Enfield’s former team, or Farleigh Dickinson.

USC and Providence have met just once in both programs’ histories, with the Friars edging out the Trojans 70-66 in 1972, per Connor McGlynn of ATVN Sports.

Notre Dame is a No. 6 seed in the East, setting up a potential, but unlikely rivalry match up.

From the Pac-12, Oregon landed an unexpected No. 1 seed in the West with Oregon State as a No. 7 seed. Colorado nabbed a No. 8 seed in the South while Cal also ended up in the South as a No. 4 seed along with No. 6 seed Arizona. Utah secured a No. 3 seed in the Midwest.

USC began the season on a five-game winning streak in out of conference play before falling to Xavier in the AdvoCare Invitational tournament.

Bouncing back the Trojans completed their non-conference schedule by riding a six-game win streak into the conference slate.

Though they blew a 20-point lead against Washington on the road, USC showed exceptional home form by outlasting Arizona in a triple overtime thriller and blowing out UCLA as they built a 15-0 home record, their best start on friendly ground in history.

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The unexpectedly hot start for the Trojans had them enter the rankings twice during season, but away from home USC struggled to maintain their positive momentum however. The Trojans won just two games on the road in 2016, one of those came just down the road at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.

In the midst of a slump which saw USC finish the season losing six of their last eight, the Trojans also had their home win streak broken by Utah.

When the Pac-12 tournament came around though, the men of Troy proved they still had some juice left by crushing the Bruins for the third time this season.

Now Andy Enfield’s squad needs to prove that a loss to Utah in round two hasn’t derailed their hopes of an unlikely run in through the NCAA tournament.