Dowell’s Season Has Been a Lot Like the Team’s--Not So Good

Derrick Dowell and his sister, Cheryl, will sing the national anthem before today’s USC-UCLA game at 2 p.m. in the Sports Arena.

When the Dowells are finished, they will join their respective teams--Derrick as a junior forward for USC, and Cheryl as a freshman reserve for Cal State Long Beach, which will play the Trojan women after the men’s game.

Dowell will probably be more in tune with his sister than he, and some of the other USC veterans, have been with their freshman teammates this season.

The Trojans are seemingly a team out of sync. The harmony or chemistry or whatever just hasn’t been there and the Trojans are struggling. They have lost seven straight conference games and, with only five remaining, there’s a possibility they will not win again until next season.

This is a team with an unusual mix in the starting lineup--a senior, Larry Friend; a junior, Dowell, and three freshmen, Tom Lewis, Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers. Junior Rod Keller, a part-time starter, and senior Kevin Steward are also active players. Brad Winslow is the only sophomore on the team and the only ostensible link between the upper and lower classmen.

Dowell and point guard Friend were expected to provide leadership for Coach Stan Morrison’s young team this season, since they are the only returning starters from last year’s Pac-10 co-championship team.

Friend is a quiet type and Dowell has been an enigma. A strong inside player who leads the team in rebounding and is second in scoring, steals and assists, he was projected as an all-conference player.

He was certainly a factor last year when he averaged 8.3 rebounds and 11.6 points. He took the boards away from the Bruins with 21 rebounds in the first of two meetings last season.

But he hasn’t been much of a factor since USC lost to UCLA last month, 66-56. He has averaged only 10 points and 3.8 rebounds in the last five games, compared to season averages of 16 points and 8 rebounds.

He says he is bothered by a lingering flu bug and his playing time has been limited, thanks to foul trouble and his ejection from the Washington game Feb. 8.

Dowell has also been disciplined by Morrison this season. He has missed, or been late for, practices and has forfeited his usual starting assignment at times.

He didn’t start against Stanford in a 61-59 loss Thursday night after being late to practice Monday and he won’t start against UCLA today.

“In light of the fact that it wasn’t the first time he has been late to practice, the penalty (not starting) has been extended,” Morrison said Friday. “But he will play.”

Dowell didn’t elaborate on his punctuality problems. As for his sub-par performances, he said:

“Ever since I came down with the flu before the Washington State game (Feb. 6), I haven’t been 100%. I’m still coughing and sniffling. On rebounds, my mind says jump but my body doesn’t react. My legs feel rubbery.

“Then, I sprained my ankle before the Arizona State game last week and played only 19 minutes against Arizona after getting two quick fouls. It has been one thing or another.”

Dowell said that there had been a communication gap between the veterans and freshmen for most of the season, but added that the two factions are more compatible now.

“It was like my freshmen year when there were a lot of freshmen on the team,” he said. “We were alienating ourselves at the start of this season, not really bending over backwards to get to know one another. We just never got to that pinnacle we were trying to reach. When we played good basketball, it was shadowed by a loss.

“We socialized but it wasn’t to a point that everyone could feel totally comfortable. We weren’t that close, but the cohesiveness on the team is becoming more developed. We’re definitely getting to know each other better and it just happened in the last few games.”

Dowell said that if there were more sophomores on the team, there would have been more harmony earlier in the season, since the sophomores could have related to both the veterans and freshmen.

As for playing with the freshmen, Dowell said:

“The major problem in playing with them is that I’m trying to figure out what they’re going to do. How will they lean if they’re going to make a move to the hoop? Should I get in rebound position? Last year I knew what the others would do and that’s why I was always in position to rebound.”

Dowell was surrounded by seniors in 1984-85--Wayne Carlander, Clayton Olivier and Ron Holmes.

“Sometimes the freshmen are free lancing,” Dowell continued. “Last year, it was seldom when anyone shot out of the offense. The freshmen have a lot of talent, but as far as making the right decision at the right time, they don’t always know how to do it.

“It was the same when I was a freshman. There is a big difference between the freshman and sophomore years and, hopefully, they’ll learn from their experience this year. The talent is certainly there.”

Morrison said he didn’t program the team to provide the freshmen with as much playing time as they’ve been getting.

“The freshmen are playing more than I anticipated because the others didn’t improve enough to keep them out of the lineup,” he said. “I said at the start of the season that the success of this year’s team will be based on the improvement of our returning players. And I have a great disappointment there.”

The word around the Pac-10 now is that opposing players should attack Dowell, who is undersized as a 6-6 defending post man, and lure him into fouls.

Dowell has heard the same thing. “The Arizona coach (Lute Olson) told his players to go right at me, knowing that I’m not that big to play the post. I’m just compensating for the lack of what our team has.”

Dowell said it has been a frustrating season, but he can forget his cares for a few minutes today when he sings the national anthem with his sister.

“I’ve been singing since the fourth grade in Evansville (Ind.),” he said. “I’ve been living with choirs most of my life. And Cheryl has been singing in choirs since grade school. So she has been sort of following in my footsteps.”

Trojan Notes Today’s game will be televised by Channel 4 and broadcast by KNX and KMPC on radio. . . . UCLA is 12-10 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-10, and is in a four-way tie for third place. USC, 9-14 overall, is only half a game out of the conference cellar. Oregon is 3-11; USC 3-10. . . . UCLA is led by forward Reggie Miller, the conference’s leading scorer, who got 21 points in the first meeting between the teams last month. . . . USC shot only 35.7% from the field in that game. USC swept UCLA last year and the Bruins will be trying to do the same today.