COLLEGE BASKETBALL: 1993-94 SEASON PREVIEW : Right Choices : Raveling Says Four Freshmen Help Give Him His Deepest USC Team

There’s a sign hanging in the USC North gym that greets the Trojan basketball team every morning as practice begins at 6 a.m. It reads: “I will or I won’t. I can or I can’t. The choice is yours.”

In previous years, Coach George Raveling would use similar messages to help motivate his team for the Pacific 10 Conference season.

This season, however, Raveling wants his team focused on bigger things.

“I would be very disappointed if we didn’t make the tournament, and I’m not talking about the NIT,” Raveling said at the Pac-10 media day. “I feel that we have the talent to make it.”

Raveling is thinking big because he has three starters back from last season’s 18-12 team, which reached the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament, and four highly touted freshmen. “I like our team a lot,” said Raveling, who has a 99-106 record in his seven seasons at USC. “This team has the most depth and the most talent we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Lorenzo Orr, a 6-foot-7 junior, will lead the Trojans after finishing strong last season. Orr averaged 12 points and seven rebounds a game in Pac-10 play and 18 points and eight rebounds in the NIT.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Lorenzo is one of the top five players in the conference,” Raveling said. “At the end of last season, he was playing as well as anybody.

“One reason why I think Lorenzo played so well the last nine games of last season was that he became comfortable being our go-to guy. He likes being the man.”

Orr played near the basket his first two seasons but will get a chance to move outside and do more this season.

“He will have to play perimeter defense, he’ll have to pass the ball more and he’ll have to handle the ball more,” Raveling said. “Those are not skills that he’s lacking, just skills he lacks experience with. I’ve given him permission to move outside, but when we need to score more, I’ll put him back inside.”

Senior forward Mark Boyd, who averaged seven points and seven rebounds last season, is a four-year starter for the Trojans. He is the vocal leader of the team and the player Raveling counts on to do the little things on the court.

“He has a great command on the floor,” Raveling said. “He’s made severe sacrifices in his game to help the team. He makes other people on the floor better by leading by example. He’s the guy who’s always diving on the floor, taking charges and setting screens.”

USC’s backcourt will miss the three-point shooting of Phil Glenn, Dwayne Hackett and Rodney Chapman, who graduated, but sophomore point guard Burt Harris is back. Harris, who lost 20 pounds during the summer, will be counted on to score more this season and is coming off an impressive performance in the U.S. Sports Festival.

Joining these returning starters will be four talented freshmen: Stais Boseman, a 6-4 guard from Inglewood; Claude Green, a 6-3 guard from Washington D.C.; Avondre Jones, a 6-11 center from Artesia, and Jaha Wilson, a 6-5 forward from San Francisco.

“The key for us is going to be how long it will be until the freshmen get comfortable with our system,” Raveling said. “There’s no question that they have the talent.” The two who might make an impact for the Trojans early are Boseman, who was also a standout football player in high school, and Wilson, who can play either guard or forward.

Jones, who averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds as a senior at Artesia High, gives the Trojans size inside that they have been lacking the last few seasons.

“The last few years, we’ve run a three-guard offense that featured the three-point shot,” Raveling said. “Now, we don’t have the shooters like we did and we have more size and depth. I don’t feel that we’ll be a smooth team until midway into the season because I don’t think we’ll have a consistent starting lineup until then.”

USC Notes

Junior forward Tremayne Anchrum, who started 14 games last season, is the top returning rebounder in the Pac-10 and is expected to be key backup if the Trojans continue with a three-guard offense. Returning players in the backcourt are Damaine Powell, a 6-1 senior, and Brandon Martin, a 6-4 sophomore. David Crouse, a 6-11 sophomore, will redshirt this season. . . . USC will play an exhibition tonight against High Five America at Rancho Bernardo High at 7. The Trojans will play their regular-season opener Saturday against Pennsylvania, the Ivy League champion, at the Sports Arena at 1 p.m.