Martin Took Steady Course in USC’s Chaotic Basketball Times

Imagine being caught in a bad dream for four years. A period in which your individual growth is overshadowed by chaos all around you.

That has been the case for senior guard Brandon Martin, who will play his final game for USC today against Washington in the Sports Arena at 5 p.m.

“I knew that deciding on a college is like rolling the dice, where you’re taking a gamble because you never know what is going to happen,” said Martin, who averaged 31 points his senior year at Washington High in Los Angeles. “But this has been like a nightmare. I really didn’t envision my college career going like this.”

Recent problems surrounding USC’s basketball program have been well documented.

Three coaches in two years, numerous player suspensions, two lengthy losing streaks and a 1-19 record in February and March over the last two seasons are only some of the negatives Martin has endured in his college career.

Through it all, Martin has been:

--A three-year starter who this season is second on the team in scoring (14.9), free-throw shooting (84%), field-goal shooting (47%) and three-point baskets (30).

--A dean’s list student who has made the honor roll every semester and is expected to graduate this spring with a degree in education and a 3.4 grade-point average.

--An Arthur Ashe Jr. Award winner as one of 20 NCAA Division I African American scholar-basketball players.

“He’s what coaching student athletes is all about,” said Charlie Parker, who helped recruit Martin and coached him until his firing Feb. 7. “I always told our younger players that if they needed to pattern themselves after anyone, they should look at Brandon because he is so dedicated with every thing that he does.”

His teammates call him “the Machine” because of his consistency on and off the court. Whether it’s shooting jump shots for hours after practice, getting in extra study time before bed or simply watching his diet, Martin applies the same work ethic he learned from his parents, Earl Martin and Eleanor Harrison.

“Brandon has held a lot in,” Harrison said. “I could tell that he was frustrated, but he kept working hard.”

Said Earl Martin: “We just tried to keep him focused, because we really wanted him to get his degree at USC. We’re proud of him because he’s worked really hard to graduate in four years.”

USC’s program was anything but unstable when Martin decided to play for the Trojans in 1992.

Harold Miner was a consensus All-American and George Raveling was national coach of the year after the Trojans finished 24-6 and were ranked eighth nationally.

When Miner decided to skip his senior year for the NBA, Martin thought that he would be able to fill Miner’s role as a freshman. Instead, he found himself on the bench for the first time in his playing career.

“Like every other freshman, I always thought that I was the exception and that I was a good enough player to play right away,” said Martin, who averaged 2.2 points as a freshman. “That was a difficult year for me basketball-wise.”

Martin’s sophomore year was better. He started 23 of 26 games and averaged 12.4 points and helped the Trojans to a National Invitation Tournament berth.

Raveling was forced to retire after a near-fatal auto accident before the start of the 1994-95 season. With Parker taking over as interim coach, Martin was lost in a new up-tempo offense instead of Raveling’s more deliberate style that featured his outside shooting.

Martin started only 17 games, and his scoring average dropped to 9.6 as USC lost its final 14 games of the season to finish 7-21.

“I tried to make adjustments to this new style, but I kind of got caught up in all of the off-the-court problems the team was having,” Martin said. “Once we started losing, it got real bad. There wasn’t a lot of unity on the team, and a lot of people started stabbing each other in the back.

“The team went through some changes having Rav leave so suddenly. It affected people in different ways. Some handled it positively and some negatively.”

This season has been even worse, with Parker’s firing and assistant Henry Bibby taking over. “By far, this has been the most chaotic year,” Martin said. “I’ve matured a lot as far as how I view life now.”

Martin has refused to quit during the Trojans’ struggles and is keeping alive his hopes of playing in the NBA. Laker scout Mitch Kupchak said, “Martin has had a very good senior year,” and other scouts have said that he has an NBA-type body (6 feet 4 and 205 pounds) and should get a chance to play at the next level.

“I feel a little bad for Brandon because I believe that he didn’t really empty his well at USC,” Raveling said. “In another arena, in another time, hopefully we will get an opportunity to see his true offensive skills.”

Martin knows he has options other than professional basketball. He has been contacted by some agencies for a possible modeling career, but Martin wants to teach and coach high school basketball, then either become a college coach or a high school principal.

“When you’re an underclassman, you always think that you’ll keep playing,” Martin said. “Thinking that you always had one more year to play and to be with your friends. As negative as my career has been at USC at times, it is still sad to see it end now. But I know that this just begins my initiation to the real world.”