NIT : Minnesota Looks Familiar to Raveling

On Tuesday, USC Coach George Raveling found some positives about the Trojans’ National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal game against Minnesota tonight at 6 at Met Center in Bloomington, Minn.

He did not talk about how the Trojans had only 14 hours between the end of their 71-59 victory over Pepperdine on Monday night until they began traveling over two time zones to play another game before a national audience on ESPN.

Nor did he mention that Minnesota (19-10) is the NIT favorite after two impressive home victories, including an 86-72 second-round rout of Oklahoma on Monday.

Instead, Raveling noticed, after watching tapes of Minnesota until 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, that the Gophers play a style familiar to that of the Waves.

“They run the exact same offense as Pepperdine, and that softens our preparation a little,” Raveling said. “So, instead of one day to prepare, we really have (had) a week.”

USC easily handled the Waves behind three-point shooting of Dwayne Hackett and the inside work of Lorenzo Orr.

The Trojans (18-11) are playing their best basketball of the season and have won five of their last seven games.

The game is being played at Met Center because Williams Arena, the Gophers’ campus court, is being renovated and Target Center will be the site of an NBA game.

So Met Center, the 15,000-seat home of the NHL’s North Stars, was the choice.

Raveling hopes playing at the Met Center will reduce Minnesota’s home-court advantage. “It helps us because I don’t think that there has been a (basketball) game played at the Met Center since George Mikan played there,” Raveling joked.

USC finished the regular season with defeats at Arizona and Arizona State, the Sun Devils beating the Trojans in the finale, 101-67.

Since then, however, USC has handed Nevada Las Vegas its eighth defeat in 10 years at the Rebels’ Thomas & Mack Center, and then routed the Waves.

“After the Arizona loss, everyone was frustrated and down because our NCAA tournament hopes were killed,” USC assistant coach Charles Parker said. “But we’re refocused and on a mission now. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to reach the NCAA tournament, but now its to go to New York (for the NIT semifinals).”

Raveling credits his assistants--Andy Greer, Craig Fertig and Parker--for the Trojans’ resurgence.

“I have never said this before, but I’ll put my assistant coaches up against any in America,” he said. “They do a lot of things well, and game preparation is one of them.”

The winner tonight goes to New York for Monday’s semifinals.