Cravens’ Trip to Oregon Schools Is Up in Air

The Craven twins’ fate for USC’s last trip of the regular season -- at Oregon and Oregon State next week -- will be decided Friday by the Pacific 10 Conference’s compliance and enforcement committee.

Because of “incidents” with California’s Richard Midgley on Saturday, Derrick and Errick Craven had been suspended initially by the Pac-10 for Wednesday night’s game against UCLA.

But with USC’s appealing the penalties and the Pac-10’s compliance and enforcement committee unable to hear the appeal until Friday morning, the two were allowed to play against the Bruins, Pac-10 spokesman Dave Hirsch said. Hirsch also said the Pac-10 would have no further comment until after the committee meets.

Bad feelings between Errick Craven and Midgley boiled over at Cal on Jan. 22 when Craven kicked a downed Midgley. Craven was kept out of the starting lineup in the Trojans’ next game by the school as punishment.

On Saturday at the Sports Arena, Craven came down hard on Midgley’s back under the basket after being pump-faked and Midgley had to be pulled back by officials as Craven walked away.

Later, Derrick Craven seemed to swing at Midgley after a midcourt collision.

USC senior associate athletic director Daryl Gross said the appeal was made because neither Craven was put on an initial probation by the Pac-10 before being suspended. He recalled that former Trojan Jeff Trepagnier was given probation after a fight with Arizona State’s Awvee Storey in 2000.

“We just want to get some reasonableness out of whatever the action is that’s going to be taken,” Gross said, adding that USC has tape of Midgley throwing a punch at Errick Craven after his foul.

“There’s no question about it,” Gross said. “We all saw it -- they fall down and Midgley does take a shot. So I think what you’re dealing with are two separate incidents.... Obviously they’re all tied together but probably should be dealt with separately. The fact of the matter is it’s very clear on the tape that Midgley takes a swing at Errick. There’s enough blame to go around for everybody.”