The USC men's club team after winning the N.I.R.S.A Tournament at Cal State University Northridge

When the UConn Huskies beat the Kentucky Wildcats on Monday to win the NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship, it brought an end to March Madness across the country. But based on the performances of USC’s basketball teams, it seems as though March Madness skipped USC altogether. The USC men’s basketball team "just" missed out on the postseason with a 2-16 conference record, and the women’s team lost on a buzzer-beating three to St. Johns in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. However, one team has stepped up to fill the void. The USC Men’s Club Basketball team has embarked on a Cinderella run that will take the seven-man squad to North Carolina, where the Trojans will compete in the National Club Basketball Tournament at North Carolina State University next week.

To qualify for the national tournament, the team participated in the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association in March at Cal State University Northridge. The Trojans posted a 5-0-1 record in the tournament, beating Cal Poly, Cal State University Northridge, Colorado, Stanford and Arizona. The one tie came against Arizona State, thanks to a bizarre rules quirk where teams can tie in pool play, since pool play is only used to seed teams in a bracket for the championship round. The wins were dominant, as the Trojans won every game by more than 10 points, four games by more than 20 and the championship game by 30. They only trailed once in the entire tournament, for about 30 seconds.  

“I fully expected very impressive results from this team,” forward Ryan Hurst said. “We are each very successful on an individual level, but I knew our collective defensive efforts were the key to success. As it turns out, we were the most intense defensive team in the tournament and the results showed this.” 

The members of the team have had plenty of individual success prior to the tournament. Shooting guard Matt Padavick broke his high school team’s record for three pointers in a season in his junior season. He then broke his own record the following year. Given his success in high school, Padavick hoped to play in college. His hoop dreams initially took him to St. John’s University in Queens, but after not making the team, he transferred to USC after two years. Another player on the team, point guard Mitchell Ito, served as a scout team player for the USC Women’s Varsity team, and also participated at Impact Training Facility, where he worked with NBA players Nick Young, Gilbert Arenas and Austin Daye.  

It was at USC that Ito, Padavick and the rest of the team came together. All seven members of the team had experience playing together in the Lyon Center, and the team formed specifically for this tournament. Padavick, who attended Royal High School in Simi Valley, also played high school basketball against another member of the team, David Webb, who attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills.

Despite a lack of experience playing together in official games, Padavick was confident heading into the tournament. “I liked our team heading into the tournament,” he said. “We have a great deal of size (four players over 6'3") mixed with guys that can really shoot the ball. Our point guard [Mitch] is a great distributor. Our team is well balanced. I thought we were capable of winning the tournament with our talent, but we knew a lot of great teams were going to be playing so we did not think the championship was a lock by any means."

While the team cruised to the title in the March tournament, they face a tougher test coming up in April. The team will play two games in pool play, and if they win one they will advance to the championship rounds. With the tournament fast approaching, Padavick is confident this Trojans team has what it takes to cut down the nets. “I firmly believe that we have the team to win the title,” he said. “With our balance of size and speed, post game and three-point shooters, and defensive intensity, I think we will make it difficult on a lot of teams. We really stepped up our defense in the Regional Tournament (the intensity overwhelmed teams), which got our offense started and as long as we stick to that formula, I believe we will be successful."

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