One one hand, you can't blame Southern California coach Tim Floyd for losing his mind in the closing minutes of his team's loss at No. 18 Arizona State, 65-53. The Pac-10 has had some trouble with officiating recently, so Floyd's frustration is somewhat understandable.
But come on coach, you have to show a little bit of composure. The Trojans have lost three consecutive games and are clearly on the bubble for the tournament. Your team has look unorganized and undisciplined at times. This certainly isn't going to help your team's reputation. One technical to fire up your team is one thing, but getting tossed from the game? That illustrates that you are slowly losing control of your team and the season.
Not that USC doesn't have other troubles.
Like cross-town rival, UCLA, the Trojans are lacking many quality wins -- save one home win over the Sun Devils a few weeks ago. USC is currently No. 45 on real-time RPI, but I would put them below Mountain West teams San Diego State and UNLV at this point who are down the list. The Aztecs have one quality win over Utah, but have won five of their last six games. The Rebels won at Louisville and at BYU, along with a home win over Arizona. And you have to figure that the Mountain West and the Pac-10 will be competing for spots.
But unless Floyd and the Trojans can stop gripping, USC is likely looking at the NIT.
