Bibby Has Doubts Now About the Tournament

Now that his team is becoming one of the “haves” in the Pacific 10 Conference, USC Coach Henry Bibby is having second thoughts about the virtues of a postseason league tournament.

Bibby is not as vehemently opposed to the idea as Arizona’s Lute Olson or Stanford’s Mike Montgomery, but he is hedging.

“Three games in a row makes it tough to keep everybody healthy,” Bibby said of what would be required to win the tournament. “I kind of wanted it before because we always got a little bit better as the year went on and it could save your year by knocking off one of the top seeds.

“If I had to vote again, I’d probably vote against it.”

Critics have charged that a league tournament for a conference as strong as the Pac-10 can only hurt its top teams and their NCAA seedings through possible injuries and upsets. Olson and Montgomery have complained about more missed class time. The Pac-10 will play a tournament for the first time since 1990.

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A rivalry developed in December at the Forum when Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal, annoyed with USC calling numerous timeouts at the end of the game, mockingly showed the game-winning three-point play he had drawn up to Bibby from down the sideline.

Monday, a notch was added to the rivalry when the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches named Westphal and Bibby District 15 co-coaches of the year.

“That makes me feel good,” Bibby said. “That brings a smile to my face.”

The NABC also named Trojan senior forward Sam Clancy as a third-team All-American.

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X-rays taken Monday of Kostas Charissis’ broken left ankle showed enough healing that the junior center will ditch his crutches Wednesday and begin putting pressure on the foot. Charissis would not play until sometime in the NCAA tournament.