Four Southern California universities will be competing in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year.

USC, San Diego State, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara all received bids to this year’s March Madness that kicks off Thursday, March 18th. 

USC enters their 19th NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed and will play their first game on Saturday. Who they are matching up against is still to be determined, as they await the winner of the play-in-game between Wichita State and Drake, which will take place on Thursday. This is USC’s highest seed in the NCAA Tournament since being a 5-seed in 2007, where they ultimately made a run to the Sweet 16. This season the Trojans posted their best record since the ‘91-’92 season going 22-7 and 15-5 in Pac-12 play. USC is led by freshman Evan Mobley who took home the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and Pac-12 Player of the Year awards by averaging 16.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game.

San Diego State, SDSU, like USC is also entering the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed. Unlike USC, San Diego State knows they will be taking on the Syracuse Orange on Friday. This is the Aztecs 13th Tournament appearance in school history. SDSU earned its highest seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2014 where they were a 4-seed and advanced to the Sweet 16. The Aztecs won their second straight Mountain West Conference regular season championship posting a record of 23-4. They also defeated Utah State to win the conference tournament on Saturday. San Diego State is led by seniors Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel who have won 96 games during their four years playing for coach Brian Dutcher.

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UCLA will be appearing in its program’s 50th NCAA Tournament this year, but the Bruins will have to win a game to get into the field of 64 teams. UCLA is an 11-seed, but was selected as one of the last four teams in, meaning that they will have to play Michigan State on Thursday for the right to get into the field of 64. Should they win, they will be matched up against BYU on Saturday. UCLA finished the regular season with a record of 17-9, but lost their last four games of the season which nearly knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament. In the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UCLA was in the same situation and lost to Saint Bonaventure in the play in game. This year the Bruins brought a balanced attack and had six players average at least 10 points per game.

The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara will be making their sixth ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their first since 2011. UCSB was selected to be a 12-seed and will face off against the 5-seed Creighton on Friday. This is UC Santa Barbara’s highest seed since 1990, which is also the year in which they won their only NCAA Tournament game. They finished the year 22-4 and won their first Big West Regular Season Championship since the 2013-14 season. They come into the NCAA Tournament with momentum, having won 18 of their last 19 games. UCSB is led by senior guard JaQuori McLaughlin who was named Big West Player of the Year after averaging 16.2 points, 5.2 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game.

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