Two weeks ago, USC men's basketball upset a top 10 Michigan State team at home. At that point, things were trending up for the Trojans. USC was 13-8 and 5-5 in Big Ten play. After the Michigan State victory, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi listed the Trojans in his "next four out" category. Although USC was not in the field, the Trojans were knocking on the bubble door, with an opportunity to potentially play their way in during the season's final month.
Since then, however, things have not gone according to plan for USC. The Trojans have dropped three of their last four games, including losses to bad Northwestern and Minnesota teams and a blowout at the hands of Purdue. As a result, USC has dropped off of Lunardi's "next four out" line and is nowhere to be found in most bracketology projections.
The door is not entirely closed for the Trojans just yet. USC still has matchups remaining against Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon, and UCLA in the final three weeks of the regular season. If they can find a way to win three of those games and hold serve against Washington and Rutgers, the Trojans could potentially play themselves back into the bubble conversation.
In addition, USC could help itself out by making a deep run at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis next month. If the season ended today, however, the Trojans would be the No. 11 seed, meaning that they would not receive a bye and would need to win five games in five days in order to win the tournament and steal a bid.
USC's NCAA Tournament hopes are not entirely dead. But the Trojans are currently on life support, and it would take a surprising run for USC to make the dance.