TROJANS UNPREPARED FOR BEAVERS, AGAIN

Looking past the Beavers to UCLA, heavily-favored sc chokes in Corvallis (just like football), bringing Oregon State’s 23-game Pac-10 losing streak to a happy ending

Are they allergic to Beavers?

You would think that after their Football team’s upset loss in Corvallis earlier this year — a loss which cost sc the National Championship — the usc Basketball team would be fired up for their game versus OSU on Sunday.  After all, NOBODY wanted to be the team to finally get beaten by the lowly Beavers.  It had been almost 2 years since the Beavs had gotten a Conference W, so there was just NO WAY that they would be breaking through against the focused-on-payback trojans.

But the trojans, coming off a second half explosion that shot the Ducks out of the water, must have been more concerned about their upcoming game with the Bruins, than with climaxing their date with the Beavers.  After building a 15-point, second half lead, the trojans went limp.

They allowed OSU a wide-open three-pointer by the Beavs’ hot hand, at the buzzer, to force Overtime.  Guess you got to give THAT one to Coach Tim Floyd.  But during OT, the ketchup and mustard could muster only 4 points, to the Beavers’ 8, giving sc the shocking 62-58 loss.  Trojan Dwight Lewis went 2-for-13 in the losing effort,  but every player on the team played poorly down the stretch.  The trojans kept allowing open backdoor cuts for lay-ups, as OSU fans cheered like it was the Final Four.

USC doesn’t suck.  In fact, it would be NO SHOCK at all if they competed with UCLA down to the wire, like they did with Oklahoma.  The point is that they are typical of trojan teams, who are mentally unstable and inconsistent, capable of gagging in Corvallis one day, and beating highly-ranked UCLA the next.  Demar Derozan, who was 4-for-9, still hasn’t hit his stride.  But they outscored Oregon by about 20 in the last 20 minutes on Friday, and that IS saying something.

The Ducks battled UCLA for 40 minutes on Sunday, coming within a bucket late in the game before Darren Collison and Josh Shipp put the game out of reach.  Collison did it all, including dishing out 9 Assists to go with his 22 Points, and Shipp hit 4 three’s in the second half, on route to 17 Points.

The Bruin Freshmen looked a little more like Freshmen, but that’s understandable, since it was their first REAL Pac-10 Road game, in a real hostile environment.  Oregon State on Friday doesn’t count (but don’t tell that to Dwight Lewis and his trojan teammates).  Jrue Holiday had several sloppy Turnovers, and was bailed out with foul calls on two other drives.  However, he still keeps showing NBA-level talent, in terms of getting into the lane, and in terms of finding his teammates with the ball, even in traffic. 

Michael Roll’s hot streak went away, but he wasn’t getting the good looks that he has been getting lately.  He compensated by making several head’s up Defensive plays.  However, if he is not hot, his minutes need to go to Holiday and Shipp.  Josh had the hot hand from the arc on Sunday, but it’s still imperative for the Bruins to get him in the lane, making the nose-for-the-ball plays that made him a Bruin media darling originally.  Speaking of nose for the ball, James Keefe seemed to grasp the concept early against the Ducks, getting all of the early Rebounds in the game.  Keefe also hit a three, but he will have to add more to his list of contributions if he wants to retain his minutes.  Nikola Dragovic, Alfred Aboya, and Drew Gordon are eating up a lot of front line minutes, while Ben Howland waits for Keefe to get more aggressive and re-create his effort from last season’s Tournament.

The Bruins will need an improved Keefe to avoid a setback like #1 North Carolina suffered last night (a loss to Boston College).  And after seeing the trojans disrespect the Beavers (with their lack of sustained focus), the Bruins know that it can happen at ANY time.

And speaking of trojans disrespecting, did you see Rey-Rey simulate anal sex behind sideline reporter Erin Andrews during the Rose Bowl?  Some alert fan got it on tape, and now you can find it on Youtube.  While she was working the game on the sidelines, he snuck up behind her, and did a little “dance” like he was doing her from behind.

It was trojan class all the way.  You might think it’s funny.  It would have been funnier — and more representative of a possible occurence, if the reporter was Petros Papadakis.