Selection Sunday: USC earns No. 10 seed in NCAA men’s basketball tournament

The Trojans will play their first round game in Columbus against No. 7 Michigan State.

The 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket has been finalized and for the third year in a row, the USC men's basketball team has made the field. The Trojans earned a No. 10 seed in the East region and will play No. 7 Michigan State in the first round in Columbus on Friday at 9:15 am PST.

If USC wins that game, they'll play the winner of No. 2 seed Marquette and No. 15 Vermont. 

Here's a look at the East Region:

Purdue received the No. 1 seed, Marquette is the No. 2 seed, Kansas State earned the No. 3 seed and Tennessee received the No. 4 seed. Another team to watch is Duke, the No. 5 seed, after the Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament over the weekend. They'll play No. 12 Oral Roberts in the first round. 

Kentucky is the No. 6 seed and will play No. 11 Providence in the first round. Memphis is the No. 8 seed and will take on No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic. 

MICHIGAN STATE BREAKDOWN

The Spartans are 19-12 and finished in fourth place in the Big Ten. In the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan State lost its first game in the quarterfinals to Ohio State 68-58. 

The Spartans are ranked No. 33 in the NET rankings and No. 32 in KenPom. USC is ranked No. 50 in the NET and No. 36 in KenPom.

Three Michigan State players average double digit scoring outputs. Senior guard Tyson Walker leads the Spartans scoring 14.6 points per game. Senior forward Joey Hauser averages 14.2 points per game and junior guard A.J. Hoggard scores 12.5 per contest.

Hauser leads MSU in rebounding, averaging 6.9 per game and Hoggard dishes out a team high 6.0 assists per game.