LOS ANGELES_So much for the idea that local college basketball teams could provide a distraction from the mediocrity of the Lakers and Clippers.
USC was a projected top-10 team with UCLA close behind, but their seasons haven't unfolded as they anticipated, with both teams unranked, still weighed down by the scandals that ensnared their respective programs.
"It's been a very challenging year for us so far," USC coach Andy Enfield said.
The nation's preseason No. 10 team, the Trojans are 6-4 heading into their game Friday against Akron in Hawaii.
USC's most recent defeat, an overtime loss to Princeton on Tuesday, could be explained by the absences of two starters, Bennie Boatwright and Jonah Mathews.
The same excuse couldn't be applied to any of their three previous losses, however, as Boatwright and Mathews started against Texas A&M, Southern Methodist and Oklahoma.
USC returned more or less the same team as last year that defeated Texas A&M and Southern Methodist. The most notable player who was missing? Sophomore guard De'Anthony Melton.
Melton, an elite defender, hasn't played this season because of his connection to a federal bribery and corruption case that resulted in the indictment of assistant coach Tony Bland. Melton hasn't been publicly accused of any wrongdoing, but has been declared ineligible by USC.
UCLA, which is 8-3 and scheduled to take on No. 7 Kentucky on Saturday, is also short on manpower, the infamous shoplifting case in China costing them three freshmen expected to be in their rotation. Coach Steve Alford said last month the absences prevented his team from employing the full-court press as liberally as they would have liked.
"In the beginning of the year, that was definitely in our package, when we were 11 deep," he said. "Right now, we're not very deep."
