LSU Coach Isn’t Buying USC Rumor

Butch Pierre, Louisiana State associate head coach, has been mentioned prominently as a potential candidate to join incoming USC Coach Tim Floyd’s staff.

Just don’t mention that to LSU Coach John Brady, a longtime friend of Floyd’s who coached under him at the University of New Orleans in the early 1990s.

Pierre did not wish to comment after LSU’s season-ending 82-68 loss to Alabama Birmingham late Thursday night but Brady, who had been asked what Floyd would bring to USC, concluded his thoughts by saying tersely, “And Butch Pierre is not going to work for him.”

You don’t think so?

“Think so? Pffft,” Brady huffed as he walked away.

Floyd, a New Orleans native, takes over officially on April 1 and although he has not returned recent calls, he has said he wanted his staff in place before the Final Four, which begins a day later in St. Louis.

Pierre, considered one of the country’s top recruiters, is credited with landing Brandon Bass, Glen Davis, Ronald Dupree, Jabari Smith and Stromile Swift for LSU.

-- Paul Gutierrez

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UCLA’s first-round loss to Texas Tech on Thursday night drew a 5.2 rating and an 8 share on Channel 2, and the Lakers’ game at Miami got an L.A. rating/share of 3.4/6 on TNT. That translates to 429,000 viewers for UCLA in the L.A. market, and 266,000 for the Lakers.

Nationally, the Laker-Heat game got a 1.7 rating, compared with a 5.7 for CBS’ NCAA tournament coverage at the same time. Last year, when TNT had an NBA doubleheader on the first night of the NCAA tournament, the first game got a .6 rating, compared with a 6.2 for the tournament.

-- Larry Stewart

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Ohio basketball Coach Tim O’Shea has signed a two-year contract extension through the 2009-10 season, a reward for getting the Bobcats to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.