Charissis Had Hoped for More

He didn’t think it would end like this, not this season, not his career.

Kostas Charissis, USC’s senior center who often disappears at the end of the bench, will be making his final Sports Arena appearance today and the Trojans, two years removed from playing in the Elite Eight, have to beat lowly Washington State to clinch a spot in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament ... or hope for some help.

“I didn’t think about it even a couple of months ago,” said Charissis, who will be honored in a pregame ceremony with point guard Robert Hutchinson and walk-on forward Derek Roberts.

“Especially not after the UNLV win. I thought we’d keep rolling. Not the Arizona game, but the others.”

Instead, it has been the Trojans who have been getting rolled, dropping seven consecutive games since handing the Runnin’ Rebels a 25-point pounding on Feb. 9.

“It’s like we can win by 20 [points] or lose by 20,” he said.

Charissis, though, was anything but melancholy when reflecting on his oft-injured career at USC, where he has averaged 2.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.4 minutes of 80 games, 38 starts.

Maybe it’s because Charissis, a native of Athens, Greece, harbors hopes of playing for his home country in next summer’s Olympics. Or maybe it’s because he’s resigned to the possibility of not starting on senior day.

“I don’t think so, to be honest,” he said. “I would like to but we’ve had a crazy year. I don’t know what to expect.”

*

USC Coach Henry Bibby held a team meeting and emphasized that while the Trojans have been close in almost every game -- proving they are a good team, in his words -- they cannot finish. The Trojans are only 4-11 in games decided by single digits and have lost four in a row that have been within six points.

*

TODAY

vs. Washington State, 5 p.m.

Fox Sports Net

Site -- Sports Arena.

Radio -- KMPC (1540), KPLS (830).

Records -- USC 10-16 overall, 5-12 in the Pac-10 ; Washington State 7-19, 2-15.

Update -- Trojan junior Desmon Farmer, averaging 20.1 points in Pac-10 play, is 31 points from becoming the 27th member of USC’s 1,000-point club. Washington State, 0-11 on the road, has one win at the Sports Arena since 1987.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Scene Setter

The scenarios facing USC:

* If USC beats Washington State and UCLA beats Washington, USC is seeded No. 7 and will play either Stanford or California in the first round in the Pac-10 tournament.

* If USC beats Washington State and Washington beats UCLA, USC is seeded No. 8 and will play Arizona in the first round.

* If USC loses to Washington State and Washington beats UCLA, USC is seeded No. 8 and will play Arizona in the first round.

* If USC loses to Washington State and UCLA beats Washington, USC is out of the tournament at No. 9.