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Pregame Shootaround 12.3.12: A quiet Monday night

Kevin O'Neill, Jio Fontan

Southern California head coach Kevin O’Neill, right, speaks as senior guard Jio Fontan, left, listens during Pac-12 NCAA college basketball media day, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

AP

Each day, CollegeBasketballTalk brings you the “Pregame Shootaround,” which will be posted at 2 p.m. ET and lay out a preview for the slate of games that night. We’ll take a look at some key match-ups and important games, as well as make some predictions and point out what you need to watch for. Take a look below at today’s edition:

Game of the Night: USC at Nebraska, 8:00 p.m. (Big Ten Network): This is how you know it’s a quiet night: the best game of the night pits a 3-3 USC team against Nebraska, who you can probably pencil in as a double-digit seed in the Big Ten tournament. The intrigue here lies with USC. The Trojans were a team that a lot of people thought could make some noise in the Pac-12 this season, but with a month of the season gone, they have wins over a Long Beach State team that is missing three players, a Texas team without Myck Kabongo, and Coppin State. Throw in a home loss to San Diego State in a game the Aztecs were essentially missing two starters and a 30 point loss to Illinois out in Maui, and the Trojans could really use a win on the road tonight.

Who’s getting upset?: No. 23 San Diego State: I have to pick someone, and I don’t think that Syracuse is losing at home to Eastern Michigan, so the Aztecs it is. Chase Tapley and Deshawn Stephens are banged up and Texas Southern is fresh off of taking Colorado to double-overtime last week. Keep an eye on Omar Strong. He had 39 points in that loss to Colorado.

Mid-Major Matchup of the Night: Long Beach State at Fresno State: Eight days ago, Peter Pappageorge scored 23 points to give the 49ers a win over the Bulldogs, and while it will be interesting to see if Fresno State can put together a rebuttal, this matchup is nothing but a tease. Braeden Anderson, the former Kansas-signee, still isn’t eligibile for Fresno State, while LBSU is waiting on Keala King and Tony Freeland to get eligible.

Five things to watch for:

1. Syracuse hosts Eastern Michigan, who is coached by former Cuse assistant Rob Murphy and counts former Syracuse player Da’Shonte Riley as their leading rebounder.

2. That Syracuse-EMU game also happens to be the only one of the night that features two teams above .500.

3. MEAC plays gets started! Defending champ Norfolk State heads to South Carolina State.

4. There are five teams -- Tennessee Tech, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, VMI and McNeese State -- playing non-Division I opponents. Will we see any upsets?

5. Long Beach State and Fresno State have now played twice in eight days after going 20 years without playing each other.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.