Trojans Avoid Rank Behavior

That target USC has put on its back by being the only undefeated Pacific 10 Conference team and owning a seven-game winning streak grew larger when the Trojans entered the Top 25 this week.

But that doesn’t mean USC will start acting like the conference’s “glamour” team.

“Arizona is still [ranked] higher than us, Stanford is still higher than us and UCLA is higher than us [in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll],” Brian Scalabrine said. “I still don’t think people are gonna say, ‘Hey, USC is the real deal, we’ve got to go through them to win the Pac-10.’ It doesn’t sound right to them. The attitude is still, ‘We’ll beat USC, but can we beat UCLA?’ So I don’t know if the bull’s-eye is on us. Ask me again in a week.”

David Bluthenthal, coming off a huge week against the Arizona schools, agreed with Scalabrine.

“I think people still believe what we’ve done is a fluke,” Bluthenthal said. “People still feel Arizona and Stanford are the teams you want to beat. But if we continue to win, I think people will take notice of us.”

TONIGHT

at Oregon, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--McArthur Court, Eugene, Ore.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--USC 12-5, 5-0; Oregon 13-3, 4-1.

* Update--The 23rd-ranked Trojans put their winning streak on the line in arguably the loudest gym in the conference. But the Ducks do more than bring the noise; Oregon’s .501 field-goal percentage tops all Pac-10 teams. And don’t think anyone in Eugene has forgotten last season’s miracle finish by USC, when Adam Spanich hit a pair of three-pointers in the final 2.8 seconds for the victory.