FanHouse Taj Gibson

You're going to have to forgive us here in the early season for a bit. If we don't report on trends that are developing, we're ignoring what we're seeing. If we do tell you what we see, we're over-emphasizing games that are so young in this season that they can't even legally get into a screening of New Moon.

Basically, that's my way of imploring you to remember that we do take these things with a gigantic mountain of salt, but here's what happened. And trust me, the Spurs are going to want to brush this one off.

In the weakest NBA draft in years, sitting out might have been the best thing to do. All the fireworks were done before it even began. The Cavs traded for Shaq. The Magic added Vince Carter. The Wizards snagged Mike Miller instead of the No. 5 pick. Several teams showed little interest in getting involved.

Keep reading after the jump for the Eastern Conference rundown.

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The day of reckoning has arrived for some 90 or so prospects hoping to be an NBA Draft pick. The day of reckoning has also arrived for some 9,000 mock drafters, who desperately try to get it right even though no one ever could on a consistent basis.

And, if I may, a word about the recent backlash against mock drafts from the key mock draft writers. The major draft experts from ESPN and DraftExpress told the New York Times last week that they hate mock drafts. But the mock draft is like their version of a test. It's too arbitrary, too black and white. It creates an impossible task. But thems the breaks when you're in a field in which performance matters. If Chad Ford didn't have to put out a mock, he could forever avoid criticism, basically. It's his job to analyze and predict the draft. How could we judge his efficacy without looking at his mock the morning after? It's like Amar'e Stoudemire telling everyone he hates to rebound. (Oh wait ...)

I love mock drafts! You'll find my final version after the jump.

To say that the University of Southern California's basketball season was a disappointment is akin to say that you might see a few Masters commercials during March Madness. Which is to say one of your all-time understatements.

The Trojans started the season with lofty expectations, with thoughts of possibly challenging UCLA for conference supremacy. Instead, there were shots to the groin, talk of potential program killing violations and a coach that often behaved like Billy Mays in a wind tunnel. Only Tim Floyd wasn't quite as composed.

But the Ides of March has a way of cleansing sins and bad losses. And the Trojans are back in the NCAA hunt. Something that should concern the bubble teams.

Anyone expecting Stanford to bounce back from Thursday's heartbreaking loss to UCLA and play with something to prove was horribly disappointed on Saturday morning. The Cardinal ran into a dynamic USC team and fell 77-64 at the Galen Center. The Trojans were quicker to the ball the entire game and simply looked like they wanted this one more.

USC got contributions from pretty much every player on their roster, but O.J. Mayo and Taj Gibson led the way in this one. Mayo finished with 25 points (9/19 FG), making this game another in a recent string of sterling performances. I criticized Mayo quite a bit earlier in the season, but no one can deny that he has been special lately. He seems to be looking for the drive more often than he did up until just a few weeks ago, and that area of his game has subsequently made it easier for him to get deep looks. Quite frankly, over the last few weeks Mayo's been the guy we all expected him to be when the season started in November.

Gibson scored 20 points (9/13 FG) and used his quickness advantage to negate the Lopez twins' height advantage inside. At the defensive end, he blocked five shots and helped limit Brook Lopez to one of his worst games of the season (4/13 FG for 11 points). As a team, the Trojans grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, a dominant performance on the glass given Stanford's position as one of the best rebounding teams in the country. The Cardinal looked incredibly slow to the ball and seemed to be suffering from an emotional letdown after the draining end of Thursday's UCLA game.

USC had likely already locked up an at-large bid before this game, so it's unlikely that this win will do anything for them other than bump their seed up a spot. Stanford, however, could be in some trouble. The Cardinal are seeking a spot in the Anaheim pod, but this weekend's two losses and a first-round loss in next week's Pac-10 Tournament could knock them out of a Top 4 protected seed. If that happens, Stanford's placement could come down to how the selection committee views that UCLA game. If they conclude that the Cardinal got jobbed, then it's possible that nothing could move them out of Anaheim.