Will Raveling Take High Five?

The USC basketball coach sat down with the athletic director recently to talk contract renewal.

George Raveling drew up a list of demands.

Mike McGee agreed to meet all of them.

What Raveling has in front of him now is a five-year contract that USC believes he cannot refuse.

A substantial pay raise and additional perks are included in the package.

But Raveling, whose Trojans sent Northeast Louisiana south in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional Thursday night, is not without a choice.

He has a longstanding offer to become executive director of the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches.

He probably will not make a decision before the conclusion of the NCAA tournament April 6, a night that he hopes to spend on a team bench in the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

The USC job would pay him considerably more than the executive position in Kansas City.

Reportedly, the university has agreed to build a campus practice facility and offices for the coaching staff.

Raveling, 54, signed a five-year contract at USC to replace Stan Morrison in 1986 and a one-year extension in 1991.

He took a lot of heat after his first four teams lost 78 games and won 38.

McGee, who has been called “the Executioner” by detractors, showed loyalty by standing by his coach during the lean times.

But most of those closest to Raveling, a man with wide interests, believed this would be hislast season in the coaching profession.

Of course, none of them expected the Trojans to finish second in the conference and sixth and eighth in the national polls.

In one night at the Bradley Center, they equaled their number of NCAA tournament victories of the previous 30 years.

Good ol’ Northeast looked as though it belonged on one of Raveling’s regular-season schedules.

Tougher for Tremayne Anchrum and company will be Georgia Tech in the second round Saturday.

“Did you see how big they are?” McGee said after watching the Yellow Jackets eliminate Houston, which had been described as the sleeper of the Midwest Regional.

During the matinee in downtown Milwaukee Thursday, another team from Southern California discovered how difficult it is to beat Memphis State.

The Tigers, who upset USC in football six months ago, scored a far more formful victory over Pepperdine, 80-70.

The Waves weren’t half bad.

They were horrible in the first half but drew cheers in the second half that hadn’t been heard since the appearance of the Memphis State dancers at halftime.

Two of the nation’s better players, senior guard Doug Christie of Pepperdine and sophomore swingman Anfernee Hardaway of Memphis State, made it interesting for NBA scouts most of the 40 minutes.

Christie led his team in points (23) and rebounds (seven) and was second in assists (four).

Hardaway led his team in points (21), rebounds (eight) and assists (seven).

Christie on Hardaway: “He does a lot.”

Hardaway on Christie: “He makes everybody go.”

Look for Christie at an NBA arena near you next season and Hardaway not long after.