USC Finds Some Peace at the End

His final words were: “Peace, love and soul.”

Henry Bibby, who had just been fired as USC coach, bade farewell to the Trojans on Dec. 6 after eight-plus years and strode out of the basketball offices in his crushed velvet purple sweat suit, having offered his former players a Holy Trinity of advice while waving a victory sign at the stunned gathering.

In the wake of Bibby’s firing four games into the season and, three months later, the Trojans’ last-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference for the first time in a decade, a perhaps more fitting trio of descriptors would have been confusion, dissension and exasperation.

Especially with six seniors, a nationally rated recruiting class and a staff that knew the season was do-or-die from the opening tip.

Not even the Trojans’ season-ending 78-68 victory over Oregon State before 2,755 at the Sports Arena on Saturday night could change that.

Even with the win, USC (12-17 overall, 5-13 in Pac-10) finished with its worst record since 1998 and was shut out of the conference tournament, although senior guard Errick Craven, who had not played since Feb. 10 because of a sore right ankle, scored a career-high 30 points with six steals in 25 minutes.

Oregon State’s record fell to 16-13 and 8-10 but the Beavers finished fifth -- their best finish since Gary Payton roamed the Corvallis court in 1990 -- and will meet UCLA on Thursday at Staples Center.

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Looking for a flashpoint as to when USC’s season went so horribly wrong? Try the first minute of the loss at La Salle, the third game, when Jeff McMillan, coming back from off-season foot surgery, suffered a broken hand.

Deflated after their senior power forward went down, the Trojans were embarrassed, 71-62, by the Explorers, considered one of the worst teams in the nation. Lodrick Stewart quit the team on the trip but returned, and Saturday acknowledged that he had fathered a child born last month. His brother Rodrick transferred, as did Emanuel Willis, both at the semester break.

Not even a subsequent defeat of Brigham Young could save Bibby. Jim Saia, who had been on campus for all of four games, was installed as interim coach.

Then came the Rick Majerus mess -- he resigned his “dream job” after five days -- and the ensuing hiring of Tim Floyd, who takes over April 1.

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Floyd took in the game and entertained recruit RouSean Cromwell while the oft-maligned seniors showed more heart in one night than they had all season. Derrick Craven played with confidence, Nick Curtis got nine rebounds, and McMillan (season-high 20 points and 12 rebounds) and Rory O’Neil (13, 10) both posted double-doubles.

The cupboard is not bare for Floyd, but it’s close. USC returns only four players next year, all guards. Gabe Pruitt, Nick Young and Stewart were USC’s top three scorers; Dwayne Shackleford was a calming influence.

With a new campus arena, the Galen Center, scheduled to open in 2006, Floyd will coach in the antiquated Sports Arena one season. And with schools such as North Carolina and St. Mary’s on USC’s tentative schedule, there are already rumblings at Heritage Hall about USC possibly buying out a game or two.

Floyd said he planned on having his staff in place by the Final Four and said Bibby holdover Bob Cantu’s current role in recruiting “doesn’t mean anything.

“Right now, it’s been a total emphasis on recruiting, period,” Floyd said. “We have no commitments right now.”