ROOT OF PROBLEM WAS BIBBY.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN College Basketball 

The public embarrassment for USC began, most folks believe, when word leaked out Saturday about Rick Majerus changing his mind and deciding his ``dream job'' of coaching the Trojans was nothing more a nightmare.

However, such is not the case. Not even close.

It really dates back to when USC hired Henry Bibby as its coach in 1996, when few people around the country even cared about USC hoops.

Bibby came in and, even during his run to the Elite Eight, made sure USC became synonymous with everything but basketball. Bibby constantly threw kids out of practice, and punished them through censorship by not allowing them to speak to the press.

And the administration, including athletic director Mike Garrett, accepted it.

When Bibby made an annual ritual of blowing off a Los Angeles tip-off luncheon attended by every other Division I coach in the L.A. area, nothing was said publicly. Instead of Bibby promoting his program, he made it the brunt of jokes and disgusted head shakes.

Still, the administration did nothing to change the behavior.

Bibby tried to pull his scholarship point guard Gary Johnson once, but found out he couldn't and had to take the kid back. Johnson led the team in scoring the following season.

So a few weeks ago Garrett decides four games into a season Bibby isn't the answer, and needs to be replaced. Yeah, the Trojans were plastered by North Carolina and embarrassed by La Salle. But a year ago USC lost to Cal Poly.

This season's current soap opera had Rodrick Stewart transferring to Kansas and his brother, Lodrick, almost leaving after having problems with Bibby. Emanuel Willis also left the program because of his dislike for Bibby.

But none of this came as a surprise, because nothing was surprising when it came to Bibby, and his relationship with his players. Disenchantment was part of USC's fabric for years, and, again, it was tolerated by the administration.

Yet, all those problems lacked public sex appeal, which is where Majerus came in. (It's also the only time sex appeal and Majerus were linked). He was to elevate a program in desperate need of a new start as it readies to open a new arena in two years, but because of issues with health, both his own and that of USC's program (three scholarship players return), he quickly backed out.

It was embarrassing, indeed, but far less embarrassing than the way Bibby constantly conflicted with his players, and reportedly treated so many people close to the USC program because of his abrasive personality.

In the locker room after a loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, Bibby was lobbying a writer to say he was a candidate for the Rutgers job and might leave USC. This was about 10 minutes after the game had ended.

And Majerus leaving is no more embarrassing than having senior associate athletic director Daryl Gross now courting Majerus' replacement, hard-nosed competitor Tim Floyd, while walking around with one foot already off USC's campus.

Yes, while Gross is trying to sell a coach on USC, he is selling his house. By the end of January he will be the athletic director at Syracuse, where the decision of whether to retain one-time successful football coach Paul Pasqualoni awaits him.

It is all done with the blessing of Garrett, who is proving USC to be the football-first school everybody believes it will always be. And the pawns are USC's players, all of whom are caught in a serious of unfortunate, and embarrassing, events.

--Painful transition: Ever heard of Longwood University? It's the school that keeps popping up on the tickers, and likely is met with a ``who is that?''

Well, The Lancers are located in Farmville, Va., (check your atlas) and are in their second year of the NCAA's required four-year re-classification period to move from Division II to Division I.

And the move has been nothing short of ugly, with few promises of it getting downright embarrassing in the next week.

In its first transition year, Longwood went 5-22. Currently, the Lancers are 1-12, losing its 12 games by an average of 21.5 points to an array of opponents nobody usually cares about. Longwood lost by 22 to Old Dominion, by 30 to William & Mary, by 27 to Quinnipiac and even dropped a 13-point decision to Columbia.

Why does it matter? Well, Monday, Longwood faces No. 1 Illinois, and then plays Cincinnati on Thursday. And there's also the Feb. 23 matchup with Wake Forest.

--Adding a game: The NCAA already nixed exhibition games against teams run by shoe companies and AAU organizations, mostly after accusations some schools were paying the teams more money so perhaps an AAU coach would steer a kid to said school, and next on the docket could be just doing away with exhibition games in general.

There are on-going discussions about eliminating all exhibition games and bumping the schedule from 27 to 28 games. Coaches love as much practice time as they can get, so they may not favor the move as much as administrators, who see it as a chance to increased revenue via ticket sales and television.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Henry Bibby's run as USC basketball coach was as embarrassing as the Rick Majerus fiasco.

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Box:

(1) FAST BREAK

(2) DAILY NEWS/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

- Brian Dohn