UA-USC pregame: On Brooks' magic, USC's luck, and Arizona's mission

Oregon's Dillon Brooks loved seeing "every single crowd member" looking down after his game winner at Cal on Wednesday, and his shot was also a reminder to the Arizona Wildcats that there isn't much room for error if they want to win the Pac-12.

Since Oregon has just road games left at Stanford and Oregon State, that means Arizona will have to win out to win the Pac-12 outright and earn the Pac-12 Tournament's No. 1 seed unless the Ducks stumble in one of those two final games.

And maybe more so than in most years, getting the No. 1 seed for Arizona is significant because it would mean likely avoiding either Oregon or UCLA in the semifinals, since those two would probably be the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds if UA wins the No. 1 seed. But if UA and Oregon tie for the championship, the Ducks will earn the No. 1 seed based on their win over the Wildcats on Feb. 4.

Arizona's game with USC tonight will tip at 8 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks, with Ted Robinson and Steve Lavin.

Brooks' game-winner showed an eerie resemblance to not only his other-game winners this season but also the one of Oregon women's player Sabrina Ionescu -- who hit one from the same spot at Haas Pavilion.

USC may be the luckiest team in America... or maybe not. Certainly, Elijah Stewart has some issues with Kenpom's "luck" metric.

“Unless Jesus runs that site, it’s not very credible to me," Stewart said of Kenpom. "If you’re so good at telling the future, work for the government."

(Actually, Pomeroy did work for the government in weather forecasting...)

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