Hutchinson Is Teased but Happy to Be Back

In his welcome-back-to-the-team party Monday afternoon, a BYOB-PG (bring your own back-up point guard) affair, USC’s Robert Hutchinson was the target of some good-natured ribbing by his teammates.

“They were clowning me, talking about welcoming back the old guy,” said the senior, whose nine-day leave of absence to clear his mind left USC with one point guard on its Oregon trip, an 0-2 stumble in which starter Derrick Craven fouled out of both games.

“It was a great feeling, a warm welcome.”

Hutchinson said pressure to take a coaching job back home in Georgia upon graduation had him distracted, necessitating his break from the team. He reached a conclusion on the job offer after long telephone conversations with his family. He would not elaborate, though.

He did say that he could not bear to listen to the Trojans’ loss to Oregon on radio or watch their loss to Oregon State on television.

With Hutchinson back for the final two regular-season games and a possible Pacific 10 Conference tournament berth, Craven likes the Trojans’ chances to end their six-game skid.

“It was a lot of fun today ... we were going against each other and he looked really good too,” Craven said. “Everybody knows what he was going through. We’re glad to have him back.”

USC’s best possible finish in the Pac-10 is sixth, which the Trojans would earn by sweeping Washington (1-9 on the road) and Washington State (0-10) at home if Oregon State loses on the road to both Arizona and Arizona State.

The Trojans, though, might not qualify for the eight-team Pac-10 tournament even if they tie for seventh or eighth. They would lose an eighth-place tiebreaker to Washington, which would have swept them head to head, and they would also lose out in a three-way tie for seventh with Washington and UCLA because the Trojans “best win” in conference would be against middle-of-the-pack Oregon, while Washington and UCLA have victories over, respectively, Stanford and California, which are higher in the standings.