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LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
CONFERENCE: Pacific-10
LAST SEASON: 15-13 (.536)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 7-11 (t-7th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Trojans
COLORS: Cardinal & Gold
HOMECOURT: Los Angeles Sports Arena (15,517)
COACH: Henry Bibby (UCLA '72)
record at school 41-52 (4 years)
career record 41-52 (4 years)
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ASSISTANTS: David Miller (Springfield '85)
Silvey Dominquez (New Mexico '75)
Paul Mokeski (Kansas '79)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 7-11-17-9-15
RPI (last 5 years) 193-116-54-177-85
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in NIT first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Perhaps no one has pegged Southern Cal better than coach Henry Bibby, who said of his club, "With us, anything could happen." The statement is as much a review as a forecast. USC has been among the Pac-10's most difficult teams to assess in recent years, and this season brings another dose of uncertainty. Gradually, though, the Trojans may be creeping toward stability. Now beginning his fourth full season, Bibby believes this team is capable of making a run at an NCAA Tournament bid. The Trojans closed out last season with three victories in their final four Pac-10 games and earned a spot in the NIT, where they promptly dropped an 81-77 decision at Wyoming. With four starters back from a team that finished strong, Bibby has every right to feel optimistic. But the one-time All-America guard from UCLA doesn't easily commit to a single point of view. "You start a new year, it has nothing to do with last year," he said. "We have to come out with a different mindset, thinking we can win more games. Our goal is the NCAA this year. We want to make it to the big tournament." Certainly there are reasons Pac-10 rivals will be wary of USC.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C+ BENCH/DEPTH B
FRONTCOURT C INTANGIBLES C
Coach Henry Bibby, with his pedigree as a star for the powerhouse UCLA teams of the John Wooden era, knows just how difficult assembling a winner is. He doesn't expect it to happen overnight, but he is starting to see progress.
"I think we're headed in the right direction," he said. "It will take years for it to get where you want it to be, on a level playing field with the traditional schools in the conference."
This USC team remains young, but has more experience than a year ago.
Few players are more explosive than Jeff Trepagnier or more versatile than Brian Scalabrine. Sam Clancy and Brandon Granville learned some valuable lessons as rookies last year, and should be improved.
But the Trojans will have to work hard to become a better rebounding team without great size, and they don't have sufficient depth. They also must develop a level of consistency that escaped them at times last year.
Bibby believes he knows the key to that.
"Every team has enough offense," Bibby said. "We have to play defense much better than we did last year. I expect us to play hard. That's going to get you a good number of wins."
But enough to reach the NCAA Tournament? We'll see. Enough to dream about it? For sure.
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Juniors Brian Scalabrine and Jeff Trepagnier and sophomores Brandon Granville and Sam Clancy combined last year for 100 starting assignments, contributing nearly 40 ppg and 20 rpg. And they're no longer Pac-10 neophytes. "I'm happy we have four returning starters. That's the key," Bibby said. "We played with two freshmen and two sophomores as starters last year, and I'm very pleased having those guys back who played monumental minutes." The 6-9, 240-pound Scalabrine (14.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 68 assists, .531 FG, .792 FT, 31.0 minutes) was one of the league's biggest surprises last season after transferring from Highline Community College in Des Moines, Wash. Able to play forward or center, Scalabrine was chosen Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year and was an honorable mention all-conference choice. "Brian's one of the top players in the Pac-10. He's a workhorse," Bibby said. "He has a passion for the game of basketball. He loves it every day, and that's something you can't teach. "I'd like him to maybe rebound the basketball a little better, but I'm not asking him to do any more than he did last year." How could he? Scalabrine is a versatile contributor with the muscle to play inside and the guile to step away from the basket. He's a good passer, a decent shot blocker and a dependable mid-range shooter. Scalabrine was held to fewer than eight points just once last season, topping 20 on six occasions. Complementing Scalabrine on the wing is 6-4, 185-pound Trepagnier (11.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 38 assists, 50 steals, 30 blocked shots, .492 FG), one of the league's most improved players. A 7-foot high jumper for the Trojans' track team, Trepagnier is a spectacular athlete who averaged 16.4 points and 10.2 rebounds over the final five games last year. "Jeff's game has improved drastically," Bibby said. "He ended up shooting the basketball outside, which was the knock on him when he got here. We played him at four positions last year, and at every one of them he did well. There's so many areas he can help this team." Trepagnier had 22 points and 10 rebounds and keyed a late-season victory over Washington, then logged 24 points and 17 rebounds_both career highs_in the NIT loss at Wyoming. The Trojans got encouraging play a year ago from two freshmen. The 5-9 Granville (7.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 140 assists, 4 steals, .365 FG, .347 three-point percentage, .764 FT, 27.6 minutes) started all but two games at point guard. Granville was inconsistent, but had a lot heaped on his shoulders when sophomore Kevin Augustine quit the team seven games into the season. "The best part of Brandon Granville is that he's a sophomore this year. Any freshman is up and down," Bibby said. "Brandon had a 21-point game against Stanford, and came back and went 0 for 10 against UCLA. This year we're looking for some consistency from Brandon. We know he can do that. He brings us some cerebral play at the point guard." Granville's 21 points versus Stanford included a 5-for-10 effort from beyond the arc and helped trigger the Trojans' upset of the eventual Pac-10 champions. He scored a season-high 22 points against UC Santa Barbara. Clancy (5.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 39 blocked shots, .480 FG) is a 6-7, 240-pound forward who experienced similar growing pains as Granville. He had four double-doubles last year, including a 12-point, 10-rebound effort at Stanford and an 11-point, 14-rebound performance against Oregon. In 15 other games, however, he scored five points or less. "We need Sam to score a little more this year than he did last year," Bibby said. "As a freshman, he had a tendency to get lost a little bit. But he's a big-time player. We expect him to hit the boards and give us a little more offensive play. He can shoot the jump shot and post up." The fifth starting spot_a wing position_is up for grabs. The most likely candidates are 6-8, 230-pound senior forward Jarvis Turner and 6-7, 215-pound sophomore forward David Bluthenthal. Turner (5.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, .407 FG, .509 FT, 13.2 minutes) scored in double figures four times last year, including a season-best 16 points versus St. Bonaventure. The club's lone senior, he averaged 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds as a sophomore, indicative of his physical potential. Turner had a 19-point, 11-rebound game in an upset of Arizona that season, but has not shown the consistency Bibby wants. "Hopefully, he realizes what the game of basketball is all about and how hard he heeds to work," said Bibby, who will play Turner at small forward and shooting guard. "He's another versatile player. He could step in there." Or it could be Bluthenthal (2.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg, .500 FG, .667 FT, 7.6 minutes), who saw action in 20 games last season. Bibby likes the improvement he has seen in Bluthenthal's perimeter game, and will try to use him at small forward, giving the Trojans a big lineup. Bluthenthal was MVP this summer of the Jewish Gold Games in Mexico. Gone from the mix is 6-6 junior forward Shannon Swillis (1.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg, .368 FG, .333 FT), who saw his minutes dwindle to 5.5 per game last season after an encouraging freshman season in which he started nine games and scored a career-high 13 points against Tennessee. In early September, Swillis transferred to Fresno State to play for his hometown school. Two other players unhappy with their playing time decided to transfer at the end of the 1999 spring semester. Junior forward Greg Lakey (4.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .472 FG, .872 FT) transferred to Loyola Marymount, and senior guard Quincy Wilder (5.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .431 FG, .512 FT) departed for Boise State. Five newcomers, four of them freshmen, complete the squad. The non-freshman among that group is 6-2 junior point guard Rashad Jones (15.7 ppg, 8.0 apg, 3.1 spg, San Jose CC/San Jose, Calif.). "Rashad should bring us a lot of experience," Bibby said. "He comes from a very, very good program at San Jose City, and we think we found a little steal there." Two freshmen, 6-3 Nate Hair (15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, Capistrano Valley HS/Mission Viejo, Calif.) and 6-4 Malachi Thurston (24.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, The Hotchkiss School/Lakeville, Conn.) will compete for immediate playing time at the wing positions. "Malachi is a slasher and shoots the ball well from the outside," Bibby said. "Nate Hair is just an athlete. He jumps as well as Jeff (Trepagnier). I think they can have impact." Less likely to provide much immediate help are two big men with largely undeveloped skills. Luke Minor (7.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.0 bpg, Blue Ridge Academy/Dyke, Va.) is a 7-3, 320-pound center who helped transform his prep team from 3-13 in 1997 to 20-8 in '98 and 19-6 last season. Another long-term project is 6-11, 240-pound Konstantinos Charissis, a native of Athens, Greece, who averaged 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in limited action as a reserve center for the mid-level club team Papagou-Athens. His recruiting trip was his first visit to the U.S. "We're going to see how they both fit in," Bibby said with caution. "We're not putting any added pressure on them to come in and help us right away. Hopefully, both guys will prove during the exhibition season that they deserve some minutes. They give us a lot of size."
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