LAS VEGAS _ A short walk from T-Mobile Arena, the Big Apple Coaster whips riders through a 180-degree twist and around the New York-New York Hotel at 67 mph.
The stomach-turning journey within screaming distance of the Pac-12 Conference tournament would seem familiar to Arizona and USC.
The schools ranked among the country's top 10 teams in the preseason before the FBI arrested top assistants from both programs and plunged them into the middle of the federal probe into bribery and corruption in college basketball.
Arizona and USC plummeted out of the top 25. They faced grand jury subpoenas and wiretapped phone calls. Key recruits fled. Uncertainty swirled around both schools.
But Arizona and USC managed to push aside the unpredictable developments, resume winning, earn the top two seeds to the conference tournament and meet in Saturday's title game.
Behind the unstoppable Deandre Ayton, No. 15 Arizona took control of the back-and-forth game in the second half to emerge with a 75-61 win and its seventh conference tournament title.
USC (23-11), which reached the title game for the first time since winning it in 2009, is still projected to be one of 36 at-large selections for the NCAA tournament Sunday. The Trojans have won 12 of their last 17 games and most bracket predictions have them between a No. 8 and No. 12 seed.
Thanks in large part to Ayton's 32 points and 18 rebounds, the bribery and corruption scandal felt far away.
USC junior Chimezie Metu figured playing on a neutral court would boost the Trojans' chances against Arizona (27-7). But, as has become traditional at the tournament, there wasn't anything neutral about the arena.
The vast majority of the crowd wore Arizona's cardinal red and navy blue. They filled the building with defeating "U of A" chants and lusty boos after each call that didn't go their way. It resembled an Ayton-themed celebration at the McKale Center in Tucson.
You won't find the towering freshman's name splashed across any of the megaresorts on the Strip like the slew of recording artists and acrobats and illusionists who keep this town entertained. But there wasn't a bigger attraction Saturday.
Ayton, standing 7 feet 1 and weighing 260 pounds, is projected to be the top overall selection in this year's NBA draft. There isn't another player in the country with his combination of size, strength and agility. He can dominate the post, shoot long jumpers, keep pace up and down the court with players who are a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter.
The Pac-12 distributed more than 50 tickets to NBA executives and scouts for the tournament, most of them presumably eager to get another glimpse of Ayton.
"He's a once-in-a-generation player," said Steve Lavin, the former UCLA and St. John's coach.
But Metu, USC's top big man, didn't sound awed. Not even after Ayton scored a career-high 32 points and pulled down 14 rebounds against UCLA in the semifinals.
"He's just another player," Metu told reporters following Friday's semifinal win over Oregon. "He puts his shoes on the same way I put my shoes on. He's a big, physical dude. I've just got to force him to take tough shots, and we got to go at him on defense."
Midway through the first half, Ayton backed down Metu near the basket, spun, banked in a short basket and drew a foul on the USC junior. Ayton sank a 17-foot jumper. He snatched rebound after rebound. He made the game look easy.
So did Nick Rakocevic. The lanky USC sophomore isn't on any draft projections. But he managed to stay out of foul trouble and scored 13 points to give the Trojans a three-point lead at halftime.
Metu, on the other hand, struggled against Ayton and fellow 7-footer Dusan Ristic. The USC junior had four first-half steals, but didn't hit a field goal and grabbed only one rebound.
Things didn't improve. Metu picked up his fourth foul with 10:44 remaining in the game as Arizona outscored USC by 17 points in the second half. Ayton led the charge with a basket-punishing exhibition of dunks and low-post moves that the Trojans couldn't defend.
After one of the dunks, players on Arizona's bench covered their heads with their hands and screamed as if in disbelief.
The roller coaster was going up again. The Wildcats had another title.
