Uninspired Southern Cal, Bibby face another long season
Southern California was a bad basketball program when Henry Bibby took over nine years ago, and it's a bad basketball program today. USC fans, the few that seem to care, aren't thrilled with Bibby.
Fair enough. Bibby isn't thrilled with them, either.
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| Errick Craven and his twin contributed to USC's lack of team chemistry last season. (Getty Images) |
Well, no. No one expects a championship -- national, conference or city -- from USC basketball. But a competitive team would be nice.
Sunday night, the Trojans were not. They were hammered 97-65 by jet-lagged North Carolina, which led by 31 in the first half.
That continued a trend. When the Trojans lose, they lose big.
When USC went 13-15 last season, nine losses were by at least 10 points. Seven were by at least 15, and these weren't necessarily against teams of North Carolina's caliber. Western Michigan thumped the Trojans by 18. Cal Poly won by 15. So did Arizona State and Washington State.
Chemistry was toxic last season, with Desmon Farmer jacking up shots while the Craven twins warred with the Stewart twins. Errick and Derrick Craven were juniors who had been the Trojans' starting backcourt for most of their first two seasons. Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart were freshmen who wanted those jobs.
It was Bibby's idea to bring those two groups of brothers together, and it was a bad idea. But it was consistent with his recruiting philosophy, which has veered off track since 2001, when the Trojans won 24 games and reached the Elite Eight with a mixture of role players and stars, each of whom fit into a precise position.
No more. Since then Bibby has loaded his roster with explosive but limited wings -- few who can shoot, fewer still who can create, and none who seem thrilled with his role.
Bibby's recruiting tactics are indecipherable, but then again, so is he.
He's a disciplinarian who gives his players 6 a.m. wind sprints for missing class and has suspended a player for failing to silence his cell phone before a team meeting. But he's also silly enough to have lured those players to Southern California by flooding them with recruiting mail -- sometimes sending 100 hand-written notes in a single day.
This season, Bibby is attacking the chemistry issue head on.
"He tells us we're a machine," says USC freshman forward Emanuel Willis. "'Don't let anyone break the machine.' The chemistry is good."
What is said is one thing, but what is done is another.
In the Trojans' second exhibition against Masters College, Errick Craven sparked a fast start with two 3-pointers and an alley-oop to Lodrick Stewart. The next time he had the ball, Craven embarked on a one-on-three fast break, which ended in a turnover and a heap. As he lay on the floor in pain, his teammates turned their backs. Two players from Masters College had to help Craven to the USC bench.
Afterward, Bibby was asked about the cohesiveness of his machine.
"I'm always trying to think of something," he said. "If everyone's in the groove, we are going to be a good machine. If everyone's in the flow, we'll be a good team."
If not? Another long season awaits. On the heels of back-to-back 13-victory seasons, Bibby probably can't afford another long one.
He doesn't give the vibe of a desperate coach in his final months on the job, but his current recruiting class has that feel. Bibby has signed one junior college player and has a commitment from another, 6-foot-11 Julius Lamptey, who wasn't cleared academically at Georgia in 2002, at Arkansas in 2003 or at Oklahoma State in 2004.
Bibby should know better.
There are no quick fixes for a basketball program still searching for a heyday. The closest USC basketball came to an apex was 1971, when it lost twice to UCLA in a 24-2 season. The Bruins had a star point guard named Henry Bibby and won the national title. The Trojans stayed home. Back then, only one team per conference was allowed into the NCAA Tournament.
A lot has changed since then. The NCAA field has more than doubled, from 25 teams to 65. UCLA has fallen back to the pack. The Pac-10 has had one Final Four team in the last six years, and last season it received three NCAA bids, the league's fewest in 16 years.
Some things haven't changed. Southern California basketball remains unimportant, and Bibby remains unfazed.
"I'm just the coach here," he said. "The players are players. Let the pieces fall where they may."
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