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Ah, logic.

I took a class in it once. And only once, if you know what I mean.

Aside from remembering little more than “if P, then Q,” I think I left that class with a sense of just how gratifying it can be to make fun of people who think they know what they’re talking about yet, well, don’t.

I guess there’s no more natural segue than that to talk about USC.

Thanks to two Trojan men’s basketball players who chose to share their arrogant or naive words of wisdom, I think more than anything, UCLA men’s basketball needs to win tonight to do one thing: Put the Trojans in their place.

To see what I mean, just take the case of USC senior Jeff McMillan, a power forward for the basketball squad. The Los Angeles Times quoted him Tuesday as saying that since his team was ahead by 18 at the half against UCLA on Jan. 29, all his team will have to do tonight is play the whole game like it did that half.

Meaning not blow the huge lead to lose like before.

Now I grant you that I’m no basketball strategist. But if the Trojans think they’ll win by entering Pauley Pavilion with this idea, just what’s going to happen when the Bruins show up to play the way they did in the second half of that January game?

I’d say overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit is nothing for Tommy Trojan to shake his sword at.

However, when given the chance to diminish Thursday’s opponent, UCLA coach Ben Howland took an alternate approach. Howland was quick to credit the Trojans, remembering the fight they put up against his Bruins last time around.

“Gabe Pruitt is playing incredibly. McMillan is a load to handle,” Howland said, showering praise on a team whose record doesn’t warrant it.

“This is a very talented team we face on Thursday.”

In general, it appears the Bruin team has its head on its shoulders.

Maybe last-place USC can learn a lesson from the Bruins about finesse and refinement.

Or let me put it this way: Until the Trojans can put their money where their mouth is, that collective mouth needs to be as shut as the door to any hope of postseason action already is for them.

Thankfully the Bruins already have shown they have the skill to put behind the quiet confidence. They beat No. 13 Washington and almost topped No. 11 Arizona the first time around. Those teams are the respective second- and first-place teams in the Pac-10, not to mention those national rankings next to their names.

What matters, though, is the here and now, especially when a win against USC would help to confirm the turnaround from previous seasons we’ve hoped to see for so long. A win would show that the Jan. 29 end to UCLA’s four-game losing streak against USC wasn’t a fluke.

Especially when so much of the postseason is riding on the Bruins’ ability to win the last few games of conference play.

So what threat, then, could the 10th-place team of the conference’s 10 teams pose to the seemingly superior Bruins?

Well, despite McMillan’s cheap talk, his point remains that the Trojans looked as if they were going to take their streak to five against UCLA during the first half of their meeting back in January.

Unless the Bruins come out strong and stay strong, unless they show up pairing their skill with merited confidence – which is something the Trojans can only talk about – they won’t have a chance at any play beyond the March 5 bout with Oregon.

I guess I’m overlooking a postseason possibility for the Bruins. Probably because I hate even thinking of it as a possibility.

Let’s just say UCLA has no choice but to perform in gloating-worthy ways from here on out. A loss to any of the three teams would be devastating come Selection Sunday.

Tonight’s game is crucial for the Bruins. Not only for bragging rights, but for the possibility that remains in that a loss tonight to that three-letter school we consider our crosstown rival might mean a spot in that three-letter bane of reputable NCAA programs: NIT.

E-mail Looper at elooper@media.ucla.edu.