Maybe so. ASU is not that good. They are 3-3 in their last 6 games with wins against Southern Utah, WSU and a good Arizona team and losses to UW, Stanford and Cal. SC has lost 4 out of their last 6 (including 3 in a row) beating WSU and Utah and losing to Colorado, OSU, UO and, ucla, SC lost to ASU in Tempe and won at Galen this season. Let's see how the neutral court suits us. We don't have long to wait, game time is at 2 pm on Pac12 Networks.

I would hope parting ways with Coach Trakh would be strongly considered. In the long haul, he is not the answer, but does the administration really care? Certainly the time-honored excuse of injuries that Trakh supporters have used doesn't seem to carry much weight in light of the last three games when, despite having a full squad and being at a point when even Coach Trakh said they were peaking, the Trojans were demolished by an average of 30.3 pts. per game. My one caveat about making a coaching change, is that it should only be done if the administration is willing to offer a competitive salary and do their homework in identifying the best candidates for the job. That has not been the case with the most recent hires. I know the coach from Florida Gulf Coast, Karl Smesko, was under consideration prior to the re-hiring of Trakh, I'm not sure what happened. I do know that he continues to do an outstanding job at FGC, 21-2 this year. I wonder if Mike Bohn might want to look that way if a decision is made to make a coaching change.

My understanding is both Smesko (FGCU) and Paye (Assistant at Stanford) were interested in the position, but USC wouldn't offer more than 350k, so they both stayed put where they were. I will say, though, that it was a good move not to go with Wynn. I don't think her record at LBSU was strong, and her record at Washington has been pretty bad. The final 4 team that it once was is no more.

USC needs to invest if they want to be the team it once was. Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State, and now WSU have all made huge leaps forward from where they once were. USC has no excuse given its history and resources to at least be on par with them.

I am worried about today's match up. I think ASU is still a decent team. 9th is not their usual level but they're not a team we can ever count out. But, if the WOT can get back to their rhythm from mid season, it certainly is possible to get to the next round. That all said, does USC head to the WNIT? In past years, the team has rejected the invitations (despite the players' wishes).

Hiring Jody Wynn would have been another one of those incestuous, lazy, terrible hires that have plagued Trojan athletics in recent years (see Lynn Swann, Pat Haden, Mark Trakh, Clay Helton, Cynthia Cooper, Steve Sarkisian, the list goes on). A little success at Long Beach St. and the fact that she played and coached at USC did not make her qualified to be USC's head coach. USC doesn't need someone who's main qualification is that they have history with the school, you need to find someone who can recruit, develop players and install a system that makes the best use of their abilities. As Ryan Abraham from USCFootball.com says, if a candidate for a coaching position knows the USC fight song, they should be removed from consideration for the job.

USC's current team is certainly more talented than this very young ASU team, they have no seniors, so the Trojans could win, although I expect Charli Turner Thorne to outreach Coach Trakh. That being said, If there is any chance of a coaching change, which I doubt, a Trojan win probably delays the inevitable for at least another year.