Lewis Cites ‘Turmoils’ at USC, Then Recants

Tom Lewis, USC’s star freshman forward, said Tuesday afternoon that he was disturbed about some “problems and turmoils” in the school’s basketball program, but he wouldn’t elaborate.

Apparently, whatever disturbed him lasted only a few hours. Later, in the early evening, Lewis said that whatever turmoils he perceived had been straightened out to his satisfaction and added that he had no intention of leaving USC and transferring to another school.

Lewis is USC’s leading scorer, averaging 18.1 points a game. He has been a starter since the second game of the season, so he isn’t complaining about playing time.

But earlier in the day he said he was disturbed about some other things, such as frequent losses--USC is 9-8 overall--being removed from games by Coach Stan Morrison without any reason given and, perhaps, preferential treatment accorded to some players.

“I am concerned about some of the problems and turmoils going on in the program,” Lewis said. “But I don’t want to go into that now with the UCLA game coming up (tonight at Pauley Pavilion). If I go into that other stuff, it might bother teamwork. I don’t want to bring the other players into it. It’s just not fair to the other players.

“Right now I’m happy at USC and I don’t plan to transfer.”

But Lewis, who was one of the most heavily recruited players in the country when he was at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, didn’t sound or look happy as he aired some of his feeling after a USC-UCLA Rotary Club luncheon Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

Although USC has a young team with four freshmen playing regularly and is not expected to make much of an impact this season, losing seems to gnaw at the 6-foot 7-inch Lewis.

“It’s the the most I’ve lost in the past four years,” said Lewis, who at Mater Dei played on teams that compiled an 86-5 record.

“It has been hard. I guess some players see it differently than others. I don’t accept losing at all. I take it really personally. I get upset about it. It takes me a couple of days to recover. It’s hard to come back the next day and practice.

“I think the (other) players should feel the same way I do, but that’s not why I’ve been upset the past few days.”

He was quoted Tuesday morning by the Orange Country Register as saying that some USC players are accorded preferential treatment. Those players were not identified.

But his tone was milder Tuesday when he was asked about so-called preferential treatment. “In some sense, maybe, but (Morrison) always says that each player is treated differently. So it’s up to him how he treats different players.”

Lewis said later after talking with Morrison that he now understands why some players are treated differently than others and accepts it.

As for being benched from time to time, Lewis said: “It bothers me when I get jerked and I don’t understand why. I’ve been jerked a lot and I don’t know why.”

Lewis said that he has no particular quarrel with Morrison, saying that the USC coach was strict at the start of the season but has eased up a bit lately.

Morrison said: “All it comes down to is who is playing and who is doing what in the course of a game. You’re looking through a freshman’s eyes, a junior’s eyes and a coach’s eyes. You see three different pictures.

“If our team is in turmoil, given the way we’ve played over the last four games (USC has won three of four), I’ll work very hard at substantiating turmoil.”

Morrison added that he isn’t interested in long conversations with his players when he makes substitutions.

Lewis has been in a shooting slump lately, having made only a combined 7 of 28 shots in a 62-61 loss to California Wednesday night and an 88-74 win over Arkansas Saturday afternoon.

“My shooting has nothing to do with it all,” said Lewis, in reference to the turmoil that he won’t identify.

Lewis said he has had no problems adjusting to college life. In fact, in an interview with The Times last week he had no specific complaints.

“I thought everything would work itself out,” he said.

Derrick Dowell, USC’s star junior forward, recalled that he was frustrated and homesick when he was a freshman and thought at one time of leaving school.

“It’s just part of maturing and growing up,” Dowell said of Lewis. “He’ll come through and deal with it. If he has any problems off the court, he doesn’t let them distract him. He always gives 100%.”

Dowell said he didn’t know what Lewis meant when he hinted at preferential treatment. “A coach can’t treat all the players the same way because they have different personalities,” he said.

Morrison said: “Any time you have a major turnover in players, as we’ve experienced this year, and when you have four freshmen who play such a significant role on your team, problems are predictable.

“When returning players are replaced by younger players, that’s always difficult for some people to handle. I don’t treat any two players the same way. I treat them the way they deserve to be treated, the way they need to be treated.”

Morrison has four talented freshmen in Lewis, Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and Rich Grande, the cornerstone of his program in future years.

But the USC coach has had problems with blue-chip athletes in the past, all for varying reasons. Purvis Miller was dismissed from the team midway through the 1980-81 season, Ken Johnson quit the team at the start of the 1982-83 season and transferred to Michigan State, and Gerry Wright also quit the team late in the same season and transferred to Iowa.

Lewis said that he has no intention of transferring now and that he will take things one day at a time.