After his Trojans clobbered Kansas 85-51 on Monday, USC coach Andy Enfield estimated his guys have been all but shackled inside a hotel for the past 13 days.
But they're not bored. Not after watching three other Pac-12 counterparts join them in the Sweet 16, the first time the league has sent four teams to the Sweet 16 since Final Four-bound Arizona made it in 2001 along with Stanford, USC and UCLA.
"We've really enjoyed watching the Pac-12 win all these tournament games," Enfield said. "That's how we keep ourselves entertained. We're locked up in our rooms, we just turn the tournament on, watch the Pac-12 do well. That's our entertainment."
The bummer, Enfield said, is that one of those Pac-12 seasons will end in the Sweet 16 because USC and Oregon have to play each other.
"Honestly I wish we were playing a team from another conference," Enfield said. "I'm not sure how we're meeting them in the Sweet 16, but the good thing is one of the Pac-12 teams, either USC or Oregon, will be in the Elite 8."
Meanwhile, UCLA had to shuttle back and forth to Purdue to play its first two games, and coach Mick Cronin said the Bruins didn't arrive back at their hotel until 3 a.m. after its First Four win over Michigan State and until 1 a.m. after beating BYU in the first round.
Cronin feared they were so tired he literally ran a walk-through with no walking.
"I give my players all the credit," Cronin said after UCLA beat Abilene Christian 67-47 on Monday. "To try to calm those guys down and get them to bed, get them treated led us to Sunday, where all we could do was treat Jaime (Jaquez) and Tyger (Campbell) and let those guys rest and watch film. First time in my life I put guys in a chair and had a walk-through with no defense. They watched the coaches go through what we were going to go through defensively while they sat and rested on the baseline.
"So our preparation was (Monday) morning in our shootaround. That's all we really had to deal with, the fact that we weren't going to be able to run our normal offense because they just don't let you do it. The kids did a great job of being able to deal with that really with no practice preparation."
Then there was Oregon, whose "problem" may have been getting too much rest between its Pac-12 semifinal loss to Oregon State on March 12 and a second-round game with Iowa on Monday because of their first-round no-contest advance over VCU.
The Ducks won 95-80 anyway.
"I said, fellas, we've been out for 10 days," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "Our advantage may be in the second half when we're a little fresher, but that first ten minutes they've got a big advantage. They've played a game. They're not going to be tired the first 10 minutes. We've got to come out, move the ball, make plays for each other, get some easy shots, and not let them get easy baskets.
"Now, we got shots and we scored, but I thought our defense really gave up some easy baskets there that really concerned me. ... We didn't do a very good job getting back at times. I thought the first 10 minutes was very important for us, and I thought we handled it okay."
In the end, Oregon, UCLA and USC joined Oregon State in the Sweet 16 while Colorado ended its season while becoming the first Pac-12 team to actually lose a game in this season's NCAA Tournament, 71-57 to Florida State.
The Pac-12 now has nine total NCAA Tournament wins and is guaranteed to have at least 10, which would tie its fourth-most wins ever. It is 9-1 overall plus Oregon's no-contest advance out of the first round, with UCLA going 3-0 since it had to play the First Four game against Michigan State.
