Pacific 10 Addresses Officiating in Cal Loss

The letter of apology sent by the Pacific 10 Conference to Coach Henry Bibby -- in reference to the final seconds of the Trojans’ one-point loss at California last week -- not only acknowledged that the officials missed an obvious foul in the final 10 seconds when an elevating Derrick Craven was dragged down in the lane by A.J. Diggs, it also misidentified Craven as his twin brother, Errick, and misspelled his name as “Eric.”

“It is obvious to me our ‘center’ official missed this play,” Lou Campanelli, the Pac-10 coordinator of men’s basketball officiating, wrote to Bibby. “The Cal player did grab him as he went by on the dribble and we should have had a foul call. He has already reviewed the tape and admitted he was wrong in not making a call. He has been admonished by me.”

Working that game were Dave Libbey, Bobby McRoy and Ruben Ramos, though it is unclear who served as the “center” official.

The Trojans had also complained about Errick Craven’s being hammered on his last-second full-court drive to the basket.

Wrote Campanelli: “There were two knockdowns, both could have been offensive foul calls as the offensive man initiated the contact and both defenders had good position. I certainly expect our officials to make calls and I am not happy when there is no whistle in such critical situations.”

All of which may be of little solace to USC, since the result stands. “It is a closed matter as far as the game is concerned,” said Commissioner Tom Hansen, “but it isn’t closed in how [Campanelli] treats that official.”

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After Wednesday’s 76-69 victory over UCLA, the Trojans are looking forward to the weekend bye. Last year, the Trojans played nonconference games after beating the Bruins and had mixed results, getting thumped by Pennsylvania, 99-61, and handing Nevada Las Vegas its worst loss, 98-73, at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“We need the rest,” Bibby said. “It’s in midseason, we’ve had a lot of practices and guys are still not healthy. It’s really good now because we have more time to focus on the next game.”

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USC is looking to fill two games on next year’s nonconference schedule. The Trojans are tentatively scheduled to play host to Western Michigan, St. Mary’s, Brigham Young and Fresno State, and to travel to North Carolina and La Salle. USC will also play in the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, an eight-school field with Long Beach State, Hawaii, Alabama Birmingham, Clemson, Georgetown, Indiana State and Louisiana State.