USC Seeks to Stretch a Single Into an NCAA Run : Trojans: A tournament appearance signals a corner has been turned. Now, the key is consistency.

USC guard Harold Miner got a big buildup before the Trojans played Florida State in an NCAA tournament first-round game at Louisville, Ky., last season.

Sportscaster Dick Vitale, calling Miner one of the best players in the nation, named him to his 1991-92 All-American team.

A columnist for the Louisville Courier Journal lavished praise on Miner, comparing him to Miner’s idol, Michael Jordan.

But Miner didn’t live up to the hype, missing 20 of 27 shots as Florida State ousted the Trojans, 75-72.

After enduring one of the worst shooting performances of his career, Miner is determined to lead the Trojans back into the NCAA tournament.

“It’s just something that happened,’ he said. “It wasn’t meant to be, as far as the tournament was concerned. It’s nothing you can worry about. It was no big deal to me. I don’t have any big revenge thing in mind. I’m just coming back to play.”

The Trojans finished 19-10 and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985.

“We want to get back, and we want to get a lot further than we did last year,” Trojan guard Duane Cooper said.

Miner again will play a major role for USC. A two-time All-Pacific 10 selection, he has averaged 22.1 points over the last two seasons. He averaged a team-high 23.5 points last season, scoring at least 20 points in 24 of 29 games.

Ranked as one of the top three shooting guards in the nation, Miner considered leaving school for the NBA last season but decided to return because he thought he wasn’t ready for pro basketball.

Asked if he might leave USC after this season, Miner said:

“As of now, I’m leaning toward staying in school. I’m just going to take it one year at a time. I feel I can pretty much do most of the things, skill-wise, but I want to make sure I’m ready to handle all the things off the court, like the travel. That’s a big adjustment.”

The 6-foot-5 junior appears fit and averaged 41 points in two exhibition games.

“Obviously, this team possesses one of the country’s outstanding basketball players in Harold Miner,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “Certainly, one could build an argument as to whether Minor is among the top five players in the country or the top 10 or the top 15. But I don’t think there would be many people who would argue that he isn’t among the elite of college basketball.

“And any time you have a player who possesses the innate abilities of a Harold Miner, it makes it awfully easy for you to approach the game in a positive manner.”

However, with the graduation of forward Ronnie Coleman, USC’s all-time scoring leader, and guard Robert Pack, who averaged 13 points over the last two seasons, the Trojans may rely too much on Miner.

“Being a one-man team concerns me a lot,” Raveling said. “But in our two (exhibition) games, Harold hasn’t taken more than two bad shots a game. It’s a difficult process. You can’t take your best player and tie his hands behind his back. And the others have to step up and be assertive.”

The Trojans will employ a three-guard offense for the second consecutive season.

Joining Miner in the USC backcourt are Cooper, a 6-1 senior, and Dwayne Hackett, a 6-1 junior.

After sitting out the 1989-90 season because of a broken right foot, Cooper averaged 7.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds as a starter last season.

Hackett, a transfer from Polk Community College in Winter Haven, Fla., averaged a team-high 19.1 points, 6.6 assists and 2.1 steals in leading his team to a 31-6 record and the state JC title.

Center Yamen Sanders, who started 15 games last season, joins forward Mark Boyd in the front court.

A 6-9 senior, Sanders averaged 4.9 points and 4.4 rebounds. Raveling hopes that Sanders can stay out of foul trouble. He averaged one foul every 5.5 minutes last season, fouling out of five games and finishing six other games with four fouls.

Boyd, a 6-7 sophomore, averaged five points and 3.9 rebounds last season.

Raveling says this is the deepest team he has had in six seasons at USC.

Keith Greeley, a 6-8 junior swingman, joins freshman forwards Lorenzo Orr, Wayne Butts and Tremayne Anchrum as front-court reserves.

Greeley averaged 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in 21 games as a reserve last season. Orr, a 6-7 prep All-American at Pershing High in Detroit where he averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, sat out last season because he didn’t meet USC’s admission requirements. Butts, a 6-6 forward from Baldwin High in Milledgeville, Ga., averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds there last season. And Anchrum, a 6-5 freshman from Montbello High in Denver, averaged 20 points and 18.2 rebounds last season.

Junior guards Rodney Chatman, Phil Glenn and junior swingman Tim Vanitvelt are the backcourt reserves.

Chatman, 6-3, averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds last season; Glenn, 6-2, averaged 2.3 points last season, and Vanitvelt, a 6-5 transfer from Mott Community College in Flint, Mich., averaged 19.1 points there last season while setting a school three-point shooting record.

After two last-place finishes in his first four seasons at USC, Raveling hopes that the Trojans have turned the corner and will be able to build on the momentum of their third place in the Pac-10 last season.

“I think we have to be mindful of the fact that we got up to home plate last season and we hit a home run,” Raveling said. “Now the question is, ‘Can we hit home runs on a regular basis?’ Obviously, when you equate intercollegiate basketball, the home run is if you make the NCAA tournament or not. We’ve got to be able to make the NCAA tournament on a consistent basis.”

USC Roster

No. Player Pos Yr Hgt Wgt 34 Tremayne Anchrum F Fr 6-5 230 33 Mark Boyd F So 6-7 220 41 Wayne Butts F Fr 6-6 190 00 Rodney Chatman G Jr 6-3 190 12 Duane Cooper G Sr 6-1 185 4 Keith Greeley F-C Jr 6-8 245 11 Phil Glenn G Jr 6-2 155 10 Dwayne Hackett G Jr 6-1 170 44 Kirk Homenick C Fr 7-0 200 25 Bosco Kante G So 6-0 190 22 John Masdea G So 6-2 180 23 Harold Miner G-F Jr 6-5 210 21 Lorenzo Orr F Fr 6-7 200 42 Yamen Sanders C Sr 6-9 230 5 Tim Vanitvelt F-G Jr 6-5 190

Coach: George Raveling. USC Schedule ALL TIMES PACIFIC

Date Opponent Time Nov. 22 Tennessee Martin 5:30 Nov. 25 at Nebraska 7:35 Nov. 30 Cal State Sacramento 2:00 Dec. 2 St. Louis 7:30 Dec. 4 at Gonzaga 7:30 Dec. 6 Kent (at UC Irvine) 9:00 Dec. 7 at UC Irvine 8:00 Dec. 21 Ohio State 4:30 Dec. 28 Robert Morris 2:00 Jan. 6 Notre Dame 7:30 Jan. 9 at Arizona 6:30 Jan. 12 at Arizona State 3:00 Jan. 16 Oregon State 7:30 Jan. 18 Oregon 2:00 Jan. 23 at Stanford 7:30 Jan. 25 at California 1:00 Jan. 29 at UCLA 7:30 Feb. 6 Washington State 7:30 Feb. 8 Washington 2:00 Feb. 13 at Oregon 7:35 Feb. 15 at Oregon State 1:00 Feb. 20 California 7:30 Feb. 22 Stanford 3:00 Feb. 27 UCLA 6:30 Mar. 5 at Washington 7:30 Mar. 8 at Washington State 1:00 Mar. 12 Arizona State 7:30 Mar. 14 Arizona 1:00