FLOYD TRYING TO POINT USC IN RIGHT DIRECTION.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

It's a few hours before the fireworks will begin to celebrate Independence Day, but Tim Floyd is in his still-unfamiliar office at USC.

Much has been accomplished during the nearly six months since he was hired as the Trojans' basketball coach, but much remains to be done when taking over a team that finished last in the Pac-10 Conference and returns just four players.

By the time he was hired Jan. 14, Floyd said there were maybe 10 of the nation's top 200 high school seniors still unsigned, so forgive him any dirt under the fingernails.

``We immediately started tracking those guys down, and then looking under rocks all over the country and overseas and Canada for any players (who) could help us compete at the level we have to compete at,'' he said.

His belated first class included players from the Bahamas, Yugoslavia and Senegal, from Idaho, Louisiana and Florida.

Guys named Davis and Francis, and guys like Andoulaye Ndiave, whose last name he's still learning to pronounce.

``I couldn't help you,'' he said. ``I just call him Lye.''

He's trying to do this at a football school, while across town at legendary basketball school UCLA - a name he seems almost unable to mention - Ben Howland is trying to return the Bruins to national prominence.

And although Floyd said he spent 71 of his first 77 days as USC's coach on the road, although the moving van is still mysteriously somewhere between New Orleans and Los Angeles, although he said he has worked every day since his Jan. 14 news conference, and even if his chances of a winning year next season appear remote to most, Floyd seems energized by his oversized challenge.

``I don't know that I've been as excited about a job as I am this one,'' he said.

Floyd took the job without having set foot on the USC campus, or without having met athletic director Mike Garrett.

Yet he became convinced of USC's commitment to basketball, buoyed by the new $147 million Galen Center, scheduled to be completed next year.

``The burden of expectation that goes with that is one we welcome, because at this point in my career I really don't want to be at a place that doesn't want to win a national championship,'' he said.

Floyd is 51 and seemingly poised to make his great stand, to take hold in a place whose success he could be identified with.

He was a highly successful college coach at Idaho, New Orleans and Iowa State before his resume was bloodied in the NBA succeeding Phil Jackson as coach of a Bulls team almost younger than his new Trojans.

After parts of four dark years and a 49-190 record (.205), he left the Bulls. He coached the New Orleans Hornets to a 41-41 record and into the playoffs in 2004, but after the season was let go.

So after the Rick Majerus fiasco, Garrett made the call to Floyd, no doubt hoping to discover the same success he had tabbing Pete Carroll to lead the football program after his NFL struggles.

``We interviewed on the phone,'' Floyd said. ``I knew it was a great university. I had never met Mike Garrett.

``There was no real need for me to come out here. I knew I wanted the job.''

He wanted the job taking over a USC team, that despite laden with seniors, finished a disappointing 12-17 and faded to 5-13 in the conference. A team that returns only Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt, Lodrick Stewart and Dwayne Shackleford - all guards.

Starting late in the recruitment process and desperately needing size, he signed seven players.

The big men include 6-foot-8 Jeremy Barr from Houston, 6-10 RouSean Cromwell from Florida, and the 6-11 Ndiave from Dakar, Senegal, via the College of Southern Idaho. They're short on rep and long on potential, but that's where he's at in his first season.

``For us to get where we ultimately need to be,'' he said, ``at least two of our three big guys have to develop into guys who could play for Arizona and Washington, Stanford, those kinds of people.

``And we're really hopeful we can.

Notice the reference to three Pac-10 schools - but not UCLA. It has become a pattern.

Ask him if it's easier or more difficult to build up a program while the same thing at a more advanced state is going on in Westwood, and it's like he only heard part of the question.

``I've just always felt like competition is a great thing,'' Floyd said. ``I know that Arizona's been the dominant team in this league for the last 20 years. Our measuring stick has been the type of talent they've been bringing into their program.

``We have great respect for all the institutions in the league, but there's enough players out here for all of us.''

Getting hired so late already has left him behind in signing top players for next year. He has one commitment, from Andre McFarland, a 6-5 swingman from Durango High School in Las Vegas.

He should have four scholarships available in each of the next two seasons.

``That gives us eight shots at the really good young players,'' he said.

A new arena, new talent, and maybe a shot at his own fireworks.

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(color) New USC men's basketball coach Tim Floyd has hit the road hard in search of recruits for next season's team.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images