Looking Past Westwood ... to Tucson

A tradition-rich Pacific 10 Conference program should be the barometer for USC basketball, or at least that’s the way new Coach Tim Floyd views things.

Floyd signaled his desire to raise the bar early in his introductory news conference Friday at Heritage Hall, praising the conference’s marquee power that’s led by a high-profile coach whom he admires.

It was the type of let’s-go-get-’em stuff Trojan fans would have hoped for from a coach determined to elevate USC into UCLA’s neighborhood, but Floyd has even richer tastes.

The Arizona Wildcats were Floyd’s focus as he outlined his vision for the future of USC basketball, which won’t be anything like its recent past if Floyd has his way.

He figures everything is in place for USC to be all it can be, which for Floyd means being better than UCLA. Arizona is the target, and Floyd doesn’t care how that’s perceived in Westwood.

Forget about keeping up with the Howlands. Floyd wants to live the life of Olson.

“That’s the plan,” said Floyd, who repeatedly reiterated his intention to eclipse the Bruins, just in case anyone arrived late.

“I know [UCLA Coach] Ben Howland ... he’s a terrific coach. I just think that this place [can be] as good as we want it to be, and I’m not going to use UCLA as the barometer. I’m using Arizona as the barometer.”

It seemed obvious to Floyd, considering the Wildcats have been a perennial national power for three decades under Hall of Fame Coach Lute Olson.

UCLA leads Arizona, 11-1, in NCAA championship banners, but the Wildcats have maintained a standard of excellence second to none in the Pac-10 since the late 1980s.”They are the team, in my opinion,” Floyd said. “We all are trying to get to that level.”

Aspiring to achieve anything less than what Arizona has accomplished would be silly to Floyd, whose coaching history indicates he isn’t aiming too high.

Floyd quickly turned around an abysmal program at Idaho, had a .686 winning percentage at New Orleans and led Iowa State to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Those schools weren’t exactly in prime recruiting areas, so Floyd crisscrossed the country to get the players who helped build those programs.

Along the way, Floyd, 50, developed a reputation as a tireless recruiter and excellent teacher who knew how to help players improve.

USC has only four scholarship players who currently have eligibility next season, so it’s good for the Trojans that Floyd maintained a network of recruiting contacts while in the NBA.

“I kept a lot those guys on mailing lists,” he said, “because there’s always that chance in the NBA that you’re going to get fired.”

One-liners aside, Floyd is an outstanding recruiter.

Anyone who has sustained success at Moscow, Idaho; New Orleans and Ames, Iowa, knows how to sell a program.

The talent-rich Southland is now Floyd’s primary recruiting area, and the 10,258-seat Galen Center, scheduled to open for the 2006-07 season, provides the centerpiece of his sales pitch.

Which brings it all back to Arizona.

Olson raised Arizona by luring talented players to the desert, including many from the Los Angeles area. Floyd doesn’t have to travel as far to find talent, so it should be even easier for the Trojans to reach new heights.

“Arizona has been playing at a high national level on a consistent basis while turning out NBA players, and they’ve been doing a lot of their work right down here,” Floyd said. “They will be our staff’s measuring stick. I consider Lute a guy to look at with great respect.”

Floyd went on about the other “terrific, terrific basketball coaches” in the Pac-10, but the mission is clear: Get Arizona.

Of course, Floyd wouldn’t be chasing the Wildcats if he had caught the Lakers.

Floyd had a major career downturn with the Chicago Bulls (49-190) and New Orleans Hornets (41-41), though his bank account improved.

An ESPN college basketball analyst said Floyd was not as “sexy” a hire as ESPN college basketball analyst Rick Majerus, who resigned the USC coaching position after five days.

Floyd won’t be the last successful college coach to struggle in the NBA. Just ask former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, who isn’t having much fun in his first season with the Pacific Division’s last-place Golden State Warriors.

Both are considered excellent with Xs and O’s, but there are variables in the NBA that don’t exist in college.

Perhaps Floyd would still be in the pros had he coached Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in their prime, instead of taking over the dismantled Bulls.

Maybe USC would still be searching for a coach if injuries hadn’t contributed to the Hornets’ first-round exit in last season’s NBA playoffs.

But Floyd is at USC, and his eyes are on Arizona.