USC’s best bet might have been to unplug the satellite feed at Staples Center on Saturday afternoon. Maybe that way, the selection committee wouldn’t see what was happening to them three miles from their campus.

All the good vibes of two impressive victories at the Pac-10 Tournament seemed like yesterday’s news after USC’s worst loss of the year, an 81-57 debacle against No.16 Oregon in Saturday’s final.

USC coach Tim Floyd made a lengthy plea for a favorable seed in the NCAA Tournament — which will be announced Sunday afternoon — but he couldn’t help making one last comment.

“If they watched today, it might be a 16,” Floyd said.

USC had beaten Oregon narrowly the first two times the teams played and was coming off hard-fought victories over Stanford and No. 12 Washington State here.

“I’m going to watch with my team and with my coaches. I don’t care if they seed us last, I’m going to be happy regardless,” Lodrick Stewart said. “We’ve got an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament.”

As poorly as USC played - and it shot 32 percent - it also ran into a team on a serious roll. Oregon had won its first two games in the tournament, over Arizona and Cal, by scores of 19 and 18. It was riding a five-game winning streak overall.

Either the Ducks (26-7) are hitting their stride just in time for the NCAA Tournament or they’re due for a fall. Before the current streak, Oregon had lost six of its previous eight games.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and sometimes you can sense a team is on one of those special rides,” Kent said. “Well, we’re on it right now. Hopefully it’s not going to end any time soon.”

The Trojans weren’t in any mood to argue after Oregon hit 14 three-pointers and out-rebounded them by 17.

USC played marginal defense - its usual forte - and missed layup after layup. USC guard Gabe Pruitt, who had scored 26 points the night before, was 2 of 12. At one point, Floyd approached Pruitt on the bench and yelled, “Get your head up!”

The Trojans present their resume to the selection committee. It includes regular-season sweeps of Oregon and Arizona and a third-place finish in the Pac-10. After Saturday’s loss, the Trojans’ Ratings Percentage Index was 45, far from impressive but better than it was a week ago.

“I would hope we would have a similar seed to whoever else is a third seed in any other league in the country, but hopefully even better,” Floyd said.