MORE THAN A GAME USC'S YOUNG CARRIES THE HOPES OF HIS ENTIRE FAMILY.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer

Nick Young couldn't help but think he was being left behind.

He and Jordan Farmar came up together playing basketball at rival high schools, Young at Cleveland of Reseda and Farmar at Taft of Woodland Hills.

When Farmar committed to UCLA, Young picked USC with the purpose of extending that rivalry.

Now Farmar was off to the NBA -- to the hometown Lakers no less -- to play for Young's favorite team alongside Kobe Bryant, the player he most idolizes.

``Knowing I had him crosstown was like my motivation,'' Young said. ``I thought we were always going to have that connection. He'd go and I'd go. He'd get drafted and I'd get drafted.''

When Farmar went to the Lakers in the first round of the draft last June, it magnified Young's urgency to get to the NBA. He began the season with impressing NBA scouts on his mind. It started weighing on his every shot, causing him to struggle.

To know the pressure Young experiences to make it to the NBA, one has to understand that basketball is more than a game to him.

His family rallied around his success in the sport to rise up from a downward spiral caused by the murder of his oldest brother, and he fears the consequences if the centerpiece of their recovery is taken away.

``I think a lot about what will happen if I don't make it,'' Young said.

Tragedy strikes

When Young was 5 years old, his brother was murdered by a 14-year-old gang member.

Charles Jr. was 18 at the time, engaged to be married and taking classes in business. He was the brother with whom Nick spent the most time.

The family was torn apart.

The second-oldest brother, Andre, fled to Milwaukee to live with grandparents and never returned. John, the first basketball player in the family, went through the loss of his brother at the same time he was realizing he did not have a future in basketball. He had a mental breakdown and remains institutionalized. He talks as if his childhood idol, Magic Johnson, is still playing in the NBA.

Charles Sr. turned to alcohol to drown the grief of losing his first son. Young's mother, Mae, considered whether life was worth living before clinging to her two youngest children, Terrell and Nick, as reasons to keep going.

Caught up in it all, Nick became closer to Terrell, fouryears his senior. The two spent every day playing basketball at Robertson Recreation Center, a small park a mile from Hamilton High with a gym so tiny that the halfcourt line is a regular college 3-pointer and the walls serve as out of bounds.

Nick grew to be a park legend. The story of how a 16-year-old Young dunked over former Lakers forward Cedric Ceballos is passed along to all newcomers.

``He's done some amazing things in this gym, I'll tell you right now,'' said Curtis Presley, sports coordinator at the center. ``He still comes by in the summer and puts on a show. The kids love him. He's the one guy from the park that everyone has high hopes for right now.''

Yet, as dynamic as Young is on the offensive end, his talents came precariously close to never being seen outside of Robertson park.

Mae didn't like her sons putting so much focus on basketball.

``After what happened to John, I didn't want them playing,'' Mae said. ``I hated basketball with a passion.''

At his mother's behest, Young gave up the sport for a year from eighth into ninthgrades. Unfocused, he flunked out of Hamilton his freshman year.

Young transferred to Dorsey High and found himself sharing classrooms with members of the Bloods gang that killed his brother. He couldn't stand to be in class, so he wouldn't go. He flunked out again.

It was at this time that Young's cousin, Adrian Pascascio, was spotted dribbling a basketball by AAU traveling team coach Derrick Cooper. Cooper invited Pascascio to come to a practice and bring some friends.

A second chance

Young showed up at Inglewood High as his cousin recommended. Unable to find the AAU team, he ended up playing a three-on-three game on an outside court when Cooper came out and spotted him.

``I challenged him to come into the gym and show what kind of skill he had,'' Cooper said. ``And boy, did he have skill. He was the best player in that gym. I knew Nick was special, he was just in the wrong environment.''

Cooper ended up being the first in a long line of people that helped Young get to where he is today. Young wants to make it to the NBA in order to prove their support was warranted.

It adds to his pressure.

Cooper grew up in South Central Los Angeles but was bussed to Cleveland High. He urged Young to transfer to Cleveland, and asked Cleveland coach Andre Chevalier and principal Al Weiner to take care of him.

Young became like a pet project to the school.

``Nick was really a test for the whole school, and the whole system,'' said Weiner. ``Here was a person not reaching his full potential. How can we change that?

``Obviously, Nick was a gifted athlete. But we really were more concerned with Nick as a human being, and felt that the educational system had let him down.''

Chevalier introduced Young to discipline, on the court -- where he needed to lose his playground mentality and learn to play a team game -- and off.

Chris Howe, an assistant coach who had degrees from Harvard and Oxford, began tutoring Young in academics.

``Everyone at Cleveland wanted me to do better,'' Young said. ``Being around an environment like that just changed me. I started going to class and doing the right things.''

Because he flunked out at his first two high schools, Young needed a fifth year to earn his degree. Although he had played only two years of prep basketball, his eligibility was used up. The school fought for him to return, and he was granted an extra year on his third appeal.

Young gave USC an early oral commitment, but it appeared doubtful he'd ever make it in. He was having trouble getting anywhere near the necessary score on his SAT.

Farmar, his toughest competition on the court, came to his aid. By their senior year, they had become friends from playing on the same AAU team.

Having already passed the SAT and secured his spot at UCLA, Farmar gave all of his test guides to Young and helped him study.

``It was just about him getting a chance to better his life and get a higher education,'' Farmar said. ``I did what any friend would do.''

Young found out on graduation day that he received a qualifying score of 890, prompting him to run around in his cap and gown dishing out chest bumps.

``When coach Coop took Nick to Cleveland, everything changed,'' Mae Young said. ``My life, Charles' life and everybody. It was salvation for Nick. They saved him.''

A family reborn

As Young became a standout at Cleveland, his family found hope.

``The spirit at my household just changed a lot,'' Young said. ``Everybody is talkative, getting along and having fun. There was a point where it was down. Everyone's spirit was dead. Things just weren't going right. I can say that basketball has changed a lot in my family. My mom always says that if one of us makes it, we all make it.''

Mae and Charles Sr. are fixtures at USC home games. Mae, who once hated basketball, is the team's most noticeable fan. She stands by the railing over the tunnel that leads to the locker room waiving a towel and yelling. Charles Sr. sits silently by her side.

The importance of Young's basketball success to his family could best be seen on Feb. 19, 2006, the last time USC played UCLA.

It was 15 years to the day since Charles Jr.'s death, usually a somber day in the Young household. But Nick was playing, so the family headed out to the Sports Arena and stayed positive.

With ``Junior'' written on his wristband, Young led USC in scoring as the Trojans upset the eventual Pac-10 champion and NCAA Tournament runner-up Bruins.

Future prospects

When prep superstar O.J. Mayo -- the most-anticipated recruit in USC history -- committed to the Trojans for next season, Young, perhaps prematurely, indicated that he planned to return for his senior year at USC.

The truth is that after each season, Young hopes NBA personnel will tell him he's projected as a first-round pick.

It didn't happen last year. He was told he needed to improve his game, especially on the defensive end and in offensive consistency.

If informed he would go in the first round after this season, Young said Tuesday he ``more than likely'' would declare for the draft and leave behind a chance to play beside Mayo.

``Coach (Tim Floyd) told me if I'm going to be a first-round pick and it's guaranteed, he'd push me out,'' Young said. ``It just depends how the season goes, how far we make it and how it goes for me.''

It appeared to be a moot point at the beginning of the season as Young struggled on offense.

The pressure he puts on himself could be seen in USC's biggest games. On national television at then-No.12 Kansas, Young scored a season-low eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Then, in front of the biggest number of NBA scouts that has watched USC this season, he made 3 of 8 shots and scored nine points in a loss to Kansas State at the Las Vegas Classic.

``With Jordan going, I knew everyone was looking for me to go this year too,'' Young said. ``I thought I had to have big performances, that I had to score 30 or something. It didn't go that way.''

After he was benched for the beginning of the Wichita State game Dec. 23 and called out for his lackadaisical effort by Floyd, Young responded with his best play during USC's toughest stretch of the season to date.

Entering the game midway through the first half, he equaled his season high with 24points in the upset of then-No. 8 Wichita State and followed it up with 25 points in beating No. 14 Washington the next game.

Last week against No. 16 Oregon, he scored 19 points and hit the winning shot.

In the past five games, he is shooting 64.9 percent from the field.

``I'm not really focusing on the NBA right now,'' said Young, who is averaging 16.5points per game after averaging 17.3 last season. ``I let myself be bothered by all the hype coming in, am I going pro this year and everything. I'm just more calm, more humble and more focused on trying to win each game and trying to improve.''

Continued improvement and a run to the NCAA Tournament -- which suddenly seems possible for the 13-4 Trojans -- could give a dramatic boost to Young's draft prospects.

Young keeps close tabs on Farmar, who has become a surprise rookie contributor for the Lakers.

Farmar plans to be in attendance today when USC faces UCLA at Galen Center. For Young, it will be the first time in six years that he's played a rivalry game without Farmar on the court.

``He'll get a chance to play against me again,'' Farmar said. ``He'll be in (the NBA). He's very talented. He'll make it here.''

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) USC guard Nick Young is averaging 16.5 points per game this season for the 13-4 Trojans.

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

(2) ``I can say that basketball has changed a lot in my family,'' USC's Nick Young says. ``My mom always says that if one of us makes it, we all make it.''

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Box:

USC vs. No. 4 UCLA

- Matthew Kredell, Brian Dohn