Second Fiddle

Once upon a time, USC’s men’s basketball program was among the best in the country.

The Trojans advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1940 and 1954 and--perhaps even more important--won 42 consecutive games against UCLA from the 1931-32 season into 1942-43.

From 1960-1975, the Trojans finished first, second or third in the then-Pacific 8 13 times in 16 seasons. Under Coach Bob Boyd, they won 24 games in 1971 and 1974, and were second in the Pac-8 with teams that sent Paul Westphal, Ron Riley and Mo Layton to the NBA.

Too bad the best team in the country was across town, at UCLA. The Bruins had moved into Pauley Pavilion in 1966 and were winning 10 NCAA titles in 12 seasons under John Wooden. In 1971 and ‘74, before March Madness, the NCAA invited only 25 teams, 16 conference champions and nine independents. That left USC--and all other second-place teams--on the outside looking in, a position it still occupies in many respects.

“Sports Illustrated said if [USC and UCLA] weren’t in the same league, we might have faced each other in the NCAA title game,” said Jim Hefner, an assistant to Boyd and now an analyst on USC radio broadcasts. “UCLA had great players. You talk dynasties, UCLA had one. It wasn’t just USC that couldn’t beat UCLA, it was the nation.”

Although UCLA takes a 10-game winning streak over USC into their game tonight at the Sports Arena, the Bruins are no longer the perennial power they once were. Even so, the Trojans haven’t escaped the shadow of the Bruins’ past triumphs.

“When UCLA was budding, the system worked against the second-place team in the conference,” USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said. “A lot of people said we were the second-best team west of the Mississippi, but many others don’t know the history.

“That’s the stem of all these problems. When Wooden was winning, Pauley Pavilion became a big thing. We were at the Sports Arena, and we were always second best. It became a negative image.”

Sometimes, perception is reality. During Wooden’s reign, UCLA became known as a basketball school and USC as a football school. And it was USC’s bad timing to be merely very good when UCLA was great and TV was transforming college basketball into a national obsession.

“For UCLA, it wasn’t a matter of recruiting,” Hefner said. “It was a matter of selecting who they wanted. They had Lucius Allen and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. . . . They had the best players. We can start with a given. Usually teams with the best players are dominant and win.”

Which means they continue to draw those players and to win.

“Kids go to UCLA because of who it is. That’s what I did and Walt Hazzard did,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said. “Why did it happen? Back then, one or two players could make a difference in a program. But today, you can’t build with just two great players. You need more.

“The schools who are winning get four or five top high school players every year. We can get one or two super good ones, but it doesn’t make the difference. Add that to our past history of not being on TV as much, not winning games, not looked upon as a school for basketball, and it hurts you.”

Over the years, the Trojans have produced quality players in Westphal, Gus Williams, Harold Miner, Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum, but they have never had the equivalent of Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Walton. They have produced six NBA head coaches--Westphal, Sharman, Hannum, Bob Kloppenburg, Mack Calvin and Tex Winter--but their lone marquee player in recent years was Miner.

In the last 20 years, USC has had 10 winning seasons and 10 losing seasons. UCLA has had 20 consecutive winning seasons.

The Trojans have also experienced some instability. They got within a buzzer-beater of defeating Georgia Tech in the second round of the 1992 NCAA tournament under George Raveling and made it to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament in 1993. But Raveling was seriously injured in a car accident before the 1994-95 season and had to resign. Charlie Parker was 21-28 before being fired and replaced by Bibby. They have also lost some players to transfers, such as Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.

But of all factors, those formerly and still involved in the program say the lack of a campus facility is the key reason the Trojans haven’t become more than a one-round-and-out tournament team, as they were in the 1997 NCAA against Illinois and the NIT against Wyoming last spring. The rundown Sports Arena is not only a deterrent to recruits, it’s a turnoff to students. USC’s top home attendance average was 7,403 in 1970-71. For conference games, the top average was 9,205 that season. They averaged 2,389 in their first four home games this season.

“No one said it better than John Wooden once said it to me about having Pauley Pavilion built,” said Stan Morrison, who was 103-95 as the Trojans’ coach from 1980-86 and is now athletic director at UC Riverside. “He said, ‘There is nothing that can replace having your own place on campus.’ You’ve got a better chance to get a marquee player with an on-campus arena.”

Said Garrett: “Ask people from UCLA, Washington, and both Oregon schools. They may not talk about it, but they use [USC’s arena] against you. Our community too, though our crime rate is less than theirs. They won’t say it. We’ve been hammered until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

After years of debate, USC announced plans last October to build a $70-million events center on the southeast corner of Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard. It’s in the design stage, and Garrett said the 12,000-seat arena is on target to open in 2002.

“The arena is everything to us,” he said.

That may be overstating it, but it’s undeniably a major move.

“The first question I was asked when I got the job at USC was, ‘When you go and recruit, how will you handle it when everyone hammers you about being the only Pac-10 school that doesn’t have an on-campus arena?’ ” Morrison said. “I said, ‘Give me 10 tough kids who practice and compete and we will play on an outdoor court. We will change the culture.’ No one asked again.

“Having said that, the mind-set of kids now has changed. The spoiling of the American intercollegiate athlete has transcended the attitude I attempted to bring there in 1979 when I took the job. It’s now, ‘How nice is the locker room? How many amenities do you have? Is there a juicer? Do they supply me with after-shave?’ ”

Boyd, who was 216-131 from 1967-79, recalled discussions about an arena in 1971, when his team was 12-2 in the Pac-8, 24-2 overall--both losses were to UCLA--and fifth in the polls.

“There was a time during my time at USC that we used the Sports Arena as a field house,” he said. “They made locker rooms available and six baskets were installed. For a year or two, we had a place to practice. But for quite some time, the university never saw the need to have an on-campus facility. . . . There was talk we should have made a stronger push back then. I think it has been a major stumbling block.

“Indiana University makes $275,000 for each home game and you play 16 or 18 home games and that’s millions of dollars of revenue coming into the university. I don’t follow it that closely, but they tell me Georgetown doesn’t have a campus arena. Can you name me another school that doesn’t? It’s just absurd a university with the reputation of USC doesn’t have one. It’s been a real problem.”

The arena plans have already made a difference for USC’s women’s program.

Coach Chris Gobrecht believes she got a commitment from Ebony Hoffman of Harbor City Narbonne, the country’s top-rated post player, because of the new arena. That in turn lured top-five guard Aisha Hollans of Berkeley. Gobrecht anticipates that the men’s program will reap similar benefits.

“[Hoffman] didn’t choose USC just because of the arena,” Gobrecht said. “She understood everything else we have going for us--being in L.A. and having a strong alumni community, but it was the swing vote. It’s, ‘Should I go to Tennessee and play in an electric atmosphere, or should I go to USC?’ I do believe we would have lost her if we didn’t have the arena. . . .

“This is an elite private university with much to offer. The Sports Arena isn’t a great place. This school has everything going for it. The only thing missing is the facility.”

Bibby agreed that the arena will help, but he sees other needs.

“Getting a new arena is big, but it’s only a part,” he said. “It’s a commitment everyone has to make to the program, from students to the community, to make the program go. I think we are bringing some excitement to the program that hasn’t been here in the past. We are getting student-athletes who want to win basketball games.”

Boyd, who lives in Palm Desert, said he has had no contact with Bibby and is removed from the program. However, he would like to see USC regain its basketball luster, and he thinks a new arena will be a boost.

“Although the top schools seem to perpetuate themselves and always be in the top 20, I could see USC getting back in that situation,” he said. “It’s prominent nationally as a university. It could easily happen, but I don’t know when it might happen. It’s going to take a lot of good people. You’ve got to have a nice facility, good coaching, good recruiting and players that want to get it done.”

Said Garrett: “We’re on the right track and we’re very excited. I believe we’re about a year or so away, and we may even surprise you this year.”

*

Times staff writer Mike Terry contributed to this story.

Tonight’s Game

USC vs. UCLA

At Sports Arena

7:30

Fox Sports Net

Radio: XTRA (690), KXTA (1150)

Season-by-Season

Overall victories by UCLA and USC since 1966, when UCLA moved into Pauley Pavillion.

Researched by HOUSTON MITCHELL / Los Angeles Times