USC gets a No. 7 seed, opens NCAA tournament vs. Miami in Greenville, S.C.

After losing three of their last four games, the USC basketball team will be looking to prove that was just a blip in an otherwise impressive season that has exceeded most all reasonable expectations.

Because of that overall body of work, the Trojans didn't have to stress entering selection Sunday, already knowing they were firmly in the NCAA tournament field. It was just a matter of what seed, where and against who?

The answer -- USC is a No. 7 seed and opens play Friday in Greenville, S.C., vs. No. 10 Miami. The winner would face the winner of No. 2 Auburn and No. 15 Jacksonville State.

Miami is 23-10 and led by senior guard Kameron McGusty (17.6 points per game) and sophomore guard Isaiah Wong (15.2 PPG)

After reaching the Elite Eight last year, the Trojans (26-7) are making back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances since the 2016-17 postseasons, though it would be three in a row if the 2020 tournament wasn't cancelled due to the onset of the pandemic.

Overall, this is USC's fourth NCAA tournament berth in nine seasons (eight possible tournaments) under coach Andy Enfield.

"I think every team in the tournament is pretty good. Miami had a great season in the ACC this year. I'm very familiar with their coaching staff -- great guys, great coaches," Enfield said. "Haven't seen them play a lot, so we have a lot of video to watch, but we have a lot of time to do it."

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"We’ll take a good matchup. We’re excited where we fell. We’ll take it game by game. It’s all you can do at this point," veteran guard Drew Peterson said.

USC hadn't incurred back-to-back losses until the final week of the regular season, losing to Arizona and UCLA. After a win over Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals, the Trojans then fell again to the rival Bruins in the semifinals.

The loss of earlier momentum isn't ideal, but it's worth noting those three losses came against No. 1 and No. 4 seeds in this tournament.

The Trojans will look at this tournament as a reset. They were a No. 6 seed last year before reeling off wins over Drake, Kansas and Oregon to reach the Elite Eight before losing to No. 1 seed Gonzaga.

"I think the nice thing is we're in the tournament with 26 wins. We won a lot of close games this year. I really credit our players learning how to win on the road, especially in a tight game. So to be where we are record-wise is a credit to our guys," Enfield said. "They came off an outstanding season last year, had a lot of returnees, they were very confident when the games were close and we hope that carries over into the NCAA tournament.

"Obviously, the top of our league was really good -- Arizona-UCLA championship game, we played them both, UCLA three times, Arizona twice. We're not really concerned about the seeding because we have no control over that. I'm just really happy about the progress of our team and where we are right now. It's a credit to our players. They did a terrific job this season."

Just as was the case last season, how the Trojans end this one will be ultimately what many remember from it -- either an extended postseason push or late-season funk they couldn't shake.

"It helps with experience. Obviously, it was a little different, but yeah, just take what we learned from last year, just taking it game by game, really honing in on the details, just taking it game by game," Mobley said. "You worry too far ahead, you can easily lose. Everyone beats everyone in these tournaments. You’ve seen powerhouses like last year Virginia went down in the first round. Anyone can beat anyone. So you just have to take it seriously, and all we can do is give it all we’ve got."

As an interesting subplot, this tournament draw sends veteran center Chevez Goodwin back close to home. Goodwin was born in Columbia, S.C., but he spent three years at Wofford, which is located in Greenville, before transferring to USC.

"It was pretty cool to go to Greenville with Chevez. He came 3,000 miles away to come here to school, and we told his family we'd schedule a game in South Carolina and we finally did," Enfield joked.

Said Peterson: "He was excited. He was telling me beforehand that he hopes we get there. It’s good. We’ll have a lot of Chevez fans out there, some guaranteed 'SC fans."