Francis' mom invited
Floyd said he talked to Paulette Francis last week, when he knew USC would be in the NCAA Tournament, and invited her to attend on the university's dime.
``I told her I wanted her to come,'' Floyd said. ``She said she'd be there if it's not Buffalo. I'm going to try to hold her to it. I heard she was crawfishin' on me yesterday, saying that it's a long way and this and that, but we'll talk to her and find out.''
Matthew Kredell broke into the Daily News in 1998, working part time
at the paper while going to USC. The basketball team’s Elite Eight
run in 2000-01 was USC’s athletic highlight in his time at the
school, when the football team was stuck in the Paul Hackett-era.
After graduating in 2001, he started writing for the Daily News full
time. He’s in his second year covering USC, which coincides with the
rise of the program. He’ll take credit for the success, though Tim
Floyd may have more to do with it. A third-generation Los Angelean,
he grew up reading the Daily News while at El Camino Real High School
in Woodland Hills.