USC’s Floyd applauds Palisades’ effort against Fairfax
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Palisades High boys’ basketball coach James Paleno had a surprising but encouraging message waiting on his answering machine upon returning to campus Monday after the Dolphins’ 59-49 victory at Western League rival Venice.
It was USC men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd calling to compliment Paleno’s Dolphins for their effort in a 57-53 home loss to Fairfax last Friday. Floyd had attended the game (as did representatives from every Pac-10 school) and wanted to congratulate Paleno personally. Fairfax entered the game ranked No. 7 by The Times and Palisades was No. 24.
Paleno left his own cell number on Floyd’s voice mail and, sure enough, the next day Floyd called him back and the coaches chatted for a few minutes.
‘He just called to commend us on how hard we played and that he liked some of the plays we ran,’ Paleno said. ‘He said except for a few calls your team could’ve won it. I’m impressed that he took the time to call me twice and I told him he should come out to the Westchester game [Wednesday] to see his guy.’
Of course, ‘his guy’ was a reference to the Comets’ 6-foot-8 forward Dwayne Polee, who has committed to USC. Westchester is ranked No. 3 by The Times.
-- Steve Galluzzo, guest blogger