When USC played UCLA last year, it appeared that the Trojans were finally beginning to measure up to their Bruin counterparts.
The Bruins won both games between the two teams last year, but by a margin of just six total points. The Trojans played well defensively under the guidance of coach Tim Floyd, and their talent level was nearly equal to that of the Bruins, as forward Nick Young and guard Gabe Pruitt both ended up being selected in the NBA Draft.
The thinking ran that this Trojans program, which appeared to come into its own toward the end of last year, would rise to new heights thanks to incoming freshman phenom O.J. Mayo.
This first game between USC and UCLA on Saturday was supposed to be the matchup between the freshmen Mayo and UCLA’s Kevin Love. But it was also supposed to be a game that would help determine the hierarchy at the top of the Pac-10.
Things have not worked out as planned.
Young, Pruitt and Lodrick Stewart are all gone from USC. Taj Gibson lost some weight and some effectiveness. And perhaps most importantly, Mayo has not had the galvanizing effect on his teammates that was expected. Instead of coming into a situation where he could drive an experienced team to new heights, he has had to take a team composed mostly of freshmen and sophomores in key roles and be the leader.
The result has been a 10-6 overall record with a 1-3 mark in conference.
Rather than a clash of Pac-10 titans, it will be just another game in the rivalry, with the Trojans playing the role of underdog to the dominant Bruins.
Mayo will come in as the star player on an average team. Love will come in as the best player on a good team.
As Josh Shipp said, it’s more about the situation each came into than their individual talents.
“(UCLA is) more of a unity team,” Shipp said. “Coach (Howland) emphasizes you have to sacrifice to win the championship. It’s a total team effort. I think ‘SC ““ it’s tough, because a lot of those guys might try to get their points and do other things. Here, I mean, our guys realize that you have to sacrifice if you want to win.”
Those different situations play a role. While Mayo has come on to a team where he has to be the alpha dog, the guy to get the ball in crunch time, Love has been able to fit in as a kind of missing piece of a puzzle ““ the low-post scorer the Bruins have lacked the last two years. In Howland’s team-first system, this has given the Bruins an added dimension, whereas Mayo’s emergence has almost negated the strides Gibson made last year in the low post.
Perhaps it also comes down to the philosophies of the two players involved. Mayo has been a score first, ask questions later kind of player thus far in his college career. Love says his passing is the best attribute of his game, he and considers winning to be of paramount importance.
“Always be on a winning team ““ that’s just my style,” Love said. “It doesn’t matter how many touches I get. I just want to be on a winning team.”
But mostly the difference between the two teams comes down to losses rather than additions. The Bruins lost just Arron Afflalo last year and have replaced him with sophomore guard Russell Westbrook, who may very well have the most NBA potential of anyone on the team. The Trojans lost Young, Pruitt and Stewart, and they have replaced them with two freshmen: Mayo and Davon Jefferson.
The result has been that the gap thought to be closing between the two programs has reopened. Though Howland still expects the Trojans to turn it around and end up in the NCAA Tournament, that’s a far cry from the early season predictions that named the Trojans as a dark horse candidate to go deep into March.
Granted, the Trojans are young. Howland expects that by the end of the year, they will look more like the USC team they were expected to be.
“Last year they had, going into the season, more experience; they had Pruitt and Young and Stewart coming back,” Howland said. “Those are three great players. Stewart had a great senior year. Pruitt and Young are NBA players. They were really, really good a year ago. (Floyd’s) done a really good job this year of molding that young team.
“They’re a very good team, make no mistake about that.”
Whether the Trojans end up as good, or close to as good, as expected is still up in the air. But what is certain is that in a year of high expectations for the USC basketball program, when the benefits of the new Galen Center and O.J. Mayo’s arrival were supposed to be felt, the Trojans have yet to come close to meeting the expectations of their fanbase.
And Shipp suggests that those expectations ““ that the Trojans would climb into the upper echelon of the conference beside UCLA thanks to the prestige of their new arena and the play of Mayo ““ were off base.
“I don’t think you come to a school because of a gym,” Shipp said. “That’s not what it’s about. Definitely not at UCLA. You could be playing outside and people would still come here.”