Basketball Roots

There’s been criticism this season about USC’s offense. I ran Tim Floyd’s response a couple weeks ago, when he mentioned the offense was second in the Pac-10 the previous two years.
One thing to note is that Floyd’s mentor is the late UTEP coach Don Haskins. A mentor to Haskins was the late Oklahoma State coach Henry “Hank” Iba. They both used a slow, methodical offense and many blame the USA’s controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympics on Iba’s slow-down approach.
So that at least explains where USC’s offense originates in its roots.

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Early Start

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin will start spring practice on March 10. The only SEC coach to start sooner is South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, who starts March 3.

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Night Reading

Here’s a column from the NFL combine on linebacker Brian Cushing and the issue of steroids.

Here’s a couple excerpts: “I don’t understand where it is coming from,” Cushing said. “I was tested last December at USC and passed, one of several tests I have passed.

“An NFL general manager, requesting anonymity, said: “We’ve been warned it is an issue and might have been one since high school. We are considering that. As unpleasant as it is, this is an issue with this player that only a negative test here is going to clear up right now. It’s unfortunate, because no one wants to kill the kid, but the issue is a reality.”

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Post-Practice Reaction

Here’s DeMar DeRozan following today’s practice:
“One thing they stressed was just don’t let this tear us apart, just let this bring us closer together and we keep moving on from that. Adversity can either make you or break you and in this instance we could tell by today’s practice it really made us. We came out here hard like it was the first day of practice.”

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