Friendship Measures Up : USD’s Musselman (5-7) and Thompson (7-0) See Eye-to-Eye on Everything

They stand head and shoulders apart.

In other words, when 5-foot 7-inch Eric Musselman stands next to 7-0 Scott Thompson, his head is even with Thompson’s shoulders.

But that’s not the long or short of it. They also are best friends, roommates and teammates on the University of San Diego basketball team.

Silly how opposites attract. One of them, is headed perhaps for the NBA, his best basketball clearly ahead of him. He is insecure in his talents and in his ability to relate. He’s as quiet as a mouse, yet as big as a moose.

The other is headed for a 9-to-5 job, his best basketball clearly behind him. He’s an extrovert--in that he takes extra time to get dressed in the morning. Why? He needs to ask everyone how he looks. He’s cocky. And he should be. His dad is a celebrity.

The other night, they had a game. Thompson started, and Musselman sat. But then the coach told Musselman to get in there. He played as well as he could, dribbling up against the press, getting the ball inside to his buddy, making his only open jump shot.

They won.

Scott Thompson and Eric Musselman walked off the court, arm in arm.

They are good for each other. Thompson, every other game or so, gets lazy. He walks up on offense or he doesn’t run back on defense.

Musselman shouts to him.

“I’ll cuss at him sometimes, too,” Musselman said.

Thompson listens to the shrimp. First, he knows he needs to improve. Second, he knows Musselman knows his hoops.

Musselman’s dad is Bill Musselman, the coach. He coached at the University of Minnesota and had a team there with Ray Williams (formerly New York Knicks) at guard, Mychal Thompson (Portland Trail Blazers) at center, and Mark Olberding (Sacramento Kings) and Mark Landsberger (formerly Los Angeles Lakers) at forwards. At the time, he also was recruiting a kid named Kevin McHale.

Little Eric Musselman watched practice everyday.

Later, Bill went on to coach the San Diego Sails of the now-defunct American Basketball Assn. Then, he coached the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, he coaches the Tampa Bay Thrillers of the Continental Basketball Assn. Eric, of course, has stayed in touch.

So, he knows his hoops.

Every so often, Eric talks to his dad about Thompson. “Heard what the scouts are saying?” he says. And every so often, Thompson picks up the phone when Bill Musselman calls his son.

“Heard anything?” Thompson asks.

“Well,” Musselman says, “Rod Thorn (formerly of Chicago) and Rick Sund (of Dallas) say they like you.”

“Oh,” Thompson says.

Later, the two roommates talk it over. Little Musselman is one reason why Thompson has become more talkative in general.

“When I was younger, I just hung around and didn’t have too much to say,” Thompson said. “I guess if I did have something to say, it was worthwhile. I don’t know if this is because I was tall, but I was shy.”

Said his dad, Leonard Thompson: “A lot of times, we’d go fishing, and he may not say anything while we’d drive, and then he’d go off somewhere by himself and fish on his own.”

This was all before Musselman began talking his ear off.

“Scott’s quiet, and I’m outgoing,” Musselman said. “He sometimes won’t go to a big party with a lot of people there, and I will. He’ll want to be alone with a friend, and I’m more comfortable with crowds . . . But we go to breakfast, lunch and dinner together and to practice together. And on the road, we room together. Usually, you’d want to get away from each other at that point.

“Why is this? I don’t know. Some people click, and we just clicked . . . And the more I get to know him, the more I like him. He’s very sensitive. I don’t think he opens up to too many people, but he has to me. We talk about anything that comes to mind. Just the other day, it was religion.”

One day, someone asked Thompson what class he had in the afternoon.

“Ask Eric,” he said.

They have the same schedule.

They came such different routes. Thompson is from the Sacramento area, and only played basketball because he was tall.

“I’d go around somewhere, and they’d say ‘You must play basketball,’ ” Thompson said. “I’d say: ‘No, I play polo.’ Of course, I played basketball.”

He wasn’t very coordinated. Most big men aren’t, unless you’re Ralph Sampson or somebody. Even today, Thompson has his shot blocked by little 6-7 guys. He can’t jump too well.

“Well, he can slam it,” USD Coach Hank Egan said when asked about Thompson’s vertical leap.

He averaged 30 points and 16 rebounds as a senior at Mesa Verde High School, and former USD Coach Jim Brovelli recruited him, saying Thompson would prosper in the Toreros’ slow tempo.

As a freshman, he was named the West Coast Athletic Conference’s rookie of the year.

As a freshman, he met Musselman.

Musselman had come to San Diego because his dad knew Brovelli. Still, he’d been an outstanding point guard in the Cleveland area and attracted a lot of attention for a tiny guy.

One night, Boston College came in to scout him, and his dad told him to make sure he impressed them with his passing. In the opening half, Eric had 11 assists, one short of the school’s single-game record. But Boston College people also were wondering if Eric could score. So Bill Musselman ran down to tell Eric to start shooting.

He finished with 47 points.

But those also were troubled times. The Cavaliers, the team his dad coached, were the laugh of the league, and local fans took it out on Eric during those high school games.

They threw hot dogs at him one night.

“Eric grew up under the microscope,” Bill Musselman said. “And I admire him for that. I really respect him. He’s so disciplined. His senior year in high school, I told him his weekend curfew was midnight. And every Friday and Saturday night, he’d be in by 10 of 12 or 5 of 12. Not once was he late. It was like clockwork.

“He’d always tell me: ‘Don’t be so hyper, dad.’ He’d tell me what he was thinking. He’s had to put me in my place a few times. He’s not a son. He’s my best friend.”

Being a best friend means never having to say “I’m sorry.”

As freshmen two years ago, Musselman dragged Thompson to a game of three-on-three touch football. On the opening kickoff, Thompson stubbed his toe and, since it was basketball season, he said: “Guys, I better quit.”

“You wimp,” Musselman said. “You can’t quit.”

So they played on, and Musselman caught the winning touchdown pass, diving on a cement sidewalk to do so. But when Thompson went to the trainer, he found he had played on a broken toe.

The biggest game of the year, against 7-2 center Nick Vanos and the University of Santa Clara, was just days away.

But Thompson borrowed a shoe from Derek Smith, then with the San Diego Clippers. It was a wider shoe, and with special padding, Thompson could go against Vanos. And he outplayed him.

Musselman never had to say “I’m sorry.”

Lately, Thompson has been helping Musselman more and more because his buddy has been depressed about a lack of playing time. “Stay ready,” Thompson keeps telling him.

Then, the other night, Musselman had that good game. When it was over, before they walked off arm in arm, Musselman was grateful for the advice and wanted to give Thompson a high five.

He jumped his highest so he could reach.