Derrick Craven: ‘I’m a Nice Guy’

Derrick Craven issued a plea to the fans.

Errick Craven was unusually tight-lipped.

Coach Henry Bibby held steadfast to his position.

And Tom Hansen, commissioner of the Pacific 10 Conference, took a page from Dean Wormer’s book and essentially said that Errick Craven had been on double-secret probation all along.

Just another day at an Animal House-like USC?

Hardly. But with the Craven twins talking Monday for the first time since the Pac-10’s compliance and enforcement committee Friday upheld Hansen’s one-game suspension of them for their respective incidents with California guard Richard Midgley, it was the topic of the day.

“I’m a nice guy,” said Derrick Craven, who must sit out the Trojans’ regular-season finale at Oregon State on Saturday, a game that could have huge implications on the league tournament seedings. “I want the public to know I’m a nice guy, really a nice guy. I’ve got nothing against Midgley.

“There’s no resentment, things just got a little out of hand.”

In the last minute of the Trojans’ 70-60 victory over Cal on Feb. 21, Derrick Craven and Midgley collided after a Craven steal. Replays showed Craven taking two swipes at Midgley with an outstretched right arm just after the collision, Craven connecting with the forearm to the side of Midgley’s head with the first swing.

Errick Craven was slapped with his suspension, which will be served Thursday at Oregon, because of the early foul he committed on Midgley, landing hard on Midgley’s back as Midgley drove past him.

Replays showed Midgley taking a swing at Errick Craven with his left arm as Craven went over his back. Hansen said no suspension was warranted for Midgley.

“With the angle we had, you can’t really tell if [Midgley] hit anything or not,” Hansen said. “Regardless of that, the man had just had Errick Craven assault him from behind, grabbing him around the neck and slamming him to the floor. I think you have to consider that some nature of self-defense.

“We thought the very, very rough nature of the act committed by Errick prompted that response. That’s how we distinguished between [swings taken by Midgley and Derrick Craven].”

Still, Hansen said that Midgley was on a probation, of sorts.

“We certainly are going to have an eye on him,” Hansen said. “But I think you have to look at the sequence -- he had been tackled ... by Errick Craven before he did that.”

Hansen also said that Craven’s earlier act of kicking Midgley in the teams’ Jan. 22 meeting factored into the punishment, even if Craven had already been punished by USC and was not on an official probation.

“He was on a heightened sense of observation,” Hansen said. “We certainly took that into account that he had kicked Midgley ... and now here he had just really violently assaulted him as he went to the basket.”

While ripping the Pac-10 on Friday, Bibby wondered if Arizona, Stanford or UCLA would have received the same punishment. Hansen said Bibby would not face a reprimand for his comments.

Said Bibby: “I said I thought it was unfair, which I still think is unfair. But you live within this group of people that make decisions.”