USC’s rather dismal men’s basketball season continued Thursday with a 73-67 home loss to #21 Stanford. Not that the unranked Trojans were expected to win — but they should have. USC had plenty of chances down the stretch, but kept missing critical shots, taking stupid shots at key moments, and basically just failing to capitalize on their opportunities. Becky and I were there, and saw the miserable scene unfold before our eyes.

Of course, it didn’t help that the refereeing was horrible. USC got called for several ridiculous fouls late in the first half and early in the second half that resulted in Stanford getting points that would later prove crucial. And the Cardinal got away with a number of blatant fouls near the basket that prevented USC from scoring. And one point, I yelled out in the referees’ direction, “How much is Stanford paying you?” Becky later stated, “You are the worst referees in America! We should drop you on Iraq!”