Apparently the Pac-10 edition of Playboy is going to be a little light on the ladies of Troy.

A couple of my Notre Dame friends are gleefully pointing me to this story:

USC player Dominique Byrd’s broken jaw was a result of a fight with teammate Steve Smith, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Smith told the paper that the two argued over money a few weeks ago. … Neither has been disciplined for the fight.

“The way these guys battle and they do stuff, they live together, there’s going to be issues,” coach Pete Carroll told the Times. “Did you ever fight with your brother? … I’m sorry that somebody got hurt but other than that it’s not a big deal. They’re fine about it.”

I don’t think it’s a big deal, either, but the Domers are loving it. I guess when you lose to your archrival for three straight years by a combined score of 130-37, you cling to whatever good news you can find…

Sweet.

Henry Bibby, fired by USC in December, is now a WNBA coach. He’s been hired by the Los Angeles Sparks.

Hat tip: Yoni Cohen, who comments, “Good for him. Bad for the Sparks.” Heh.

Just got this bulletin via e-mail from my beloved SoCal VoCals, USC’s premier a capella singing group:

VOCALS ON NATIONAL TELEVISION
Make sure to watch the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, March 31 (airing nationally on TNT), as your beloved SoCal VoCals will be at the game to sing the National Anthem!

Woohoo!

The game is at 10:30 PM Eastern time. I just marked it on my iCal. :)

USC will play #9-seed Louisville in the first round… and then probably #1-seed Michigan State in the second round.

I’m picking them to pull the upset (I can’t help myself :), thus opening the door wide for a Final Four berth for the winner of the potential Sweet Sixteen game between #2 Stanford and #3 UConn.

My initial, tentative Final Four: LSU, Baylor, Tennessee and Stanford. I’m tempted to pick Arizona State over Baylor as a dark horse, though.

USC is playing #2-ranked Stanford in the Pac-10 women’s basketball semifinal. The Women of Troy lead, 15-13 in the first half. The winner gets ASU tomorrow.

UPDATE: USC leads 37-32 at halftime! They got a loooong, desperation three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to move ahead by five.

FINAL UPDATE: Stanford survives, 73-69. :(

USC played an excellent game, but they were a bit sloppy in their clock management during the final minute, which killed them. Oh, well. They’re considered a lock for an NCAA at-large bid (projected here as a #9 seed), and today they proved they can play with the big boys girls. Watch out for the Women of Troy in the Big Dance.

On a tangentially related note, one of the worst examples I’ve ever seen of gender bias in sports announcing occurred when the Fox Sports Net announcer promoted next week’s men’s Pac-10 tournament during the USC-Stanford women’s game by saying, “Coming Thursday: the Pac-10 tournament.” Umm, buddy, we’re watching the Pac-10 tournament! I realize the assumption is generally that you’re talking about men’s sports unless you specify “women’s” (I even fall into this trap with some of my links at left), but when you’re watching a women’s event, and you want to promote the identical event on the men’s side, you should specify “men’s.”

Hooray for the Women of Troy!

Freshman Brynn Cameron posted her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as every USC starter scored in double figures in a nail-biting 80-77 win against crosstown rival UCLA in front of a season-high 5,222 fans at the Sports Arena on Saturday (Feb. 26).

USC improved to 18-9 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-10 to finish in a three-way tie for second with Oregon and Arizona State, Troy’s best Pac-10 finish since winning the league title in 1994. It’s also USC’s most wins since going 20-9 in 1997, also the last year the Women of Troy went to the NCAA Tournament.

Troy’s win over UCLA, however, should go a long way into persuading the NCAA Tournament selection committee to include the Trojans regardless of what happens at the 2005 Pac-10 Tournament.

Tomorrow, the Fighting Irish host the UCLA men. I’ll be there. Here’s hoping for a bad Bruin weekend all around! :)

Today’s South Bend Tribune has an analysis of the Notre Dame men’s basketball team’s position in the Big East and its NCAA Tournament hopes.

On Sunday, the Irish begin a season-ending three-game homestand when they play UCLA at 2:00 PM at the Joyce Center. I’ll be there, and at last, my Irishness and my Trojanness will be able to speak with one voice and proclaim: BEAT THE BRUINS!!! :)

Alas, USC lost to the Bruins last night, so I’ll have to hope the Irish can do what the Trojans could not. A Notre Dame win could crush UCLA’s tournament hopes; the Bruins are currently very much on the bubble. (The Trojans have no postseason hopes whatsoever. They probably won’t even qualify for the Pac-10 tournament.)

Notre Dame is also a bubble team, albeit one in somewhat better shape than the Bruins, according to most analyses. I’d say the Irish must beat hapless Rutgers on Wednesday to stay alive for an NCAA berth — but if that’s all they do, it’ll be a tense Selection Sunday. A win over either UCLA this Sunday or Pittsburgh next Saturday would probably virtually assure them of a bid.

The ND women’s basketball team, meanwhile, isn’t sweating out Selection Sunday; for the #10-ranked Irish ladies, the only question is whether they’ll get a #2 or a #3 seed. Their final home game is Saturday at 2:00 PM against West Virginia.

Also on Saturday in women’s basketball, USC plays UCLA at the Sports Arena. Both teams are on the bubble. FIGHT ON, WOMEN OF TROY!!! BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

Charlie Weis has been spewing a lot of hot air the past couple months about “that team from out West” and their head coach, Pete Carroll. Recently he said that Carroll has “never really done great against me.” Well, despite what he has said, Charlie Weis has about as much room to talk about Pete Carroll’s success in the NFL against Weis as Freddie “1 catch for 11 yards” Mitchell has room to talk smack about Rodney Harrison. One man has done an analysis (at my and others’ urging):

(more…)

I was tempted to title this post “More on Leinartgate,” just to annoy David and my dad. :) But I’ll refrain, for now. Anyway… The Casual Observer has lots of interesting thoughts on the Matt Leinart-Norm Chow-Pete Carroll-Supplemental Draft situation. His conclusion: Leinart probably isn’t going pro, but if the Trojans are going to have a successful season, Coach Carroll has some fences to mend with his star quarterback.

UPDATE: BoiFromTroy pokes fun at the newspaper that initially reported that Leinart was considering a supplemental draft:

Prompted by an item in the New York Post that USC quarterback wanted to leave the school to be Dick Gephardt’s Vice Presidential Running Mate enter the NFL Supplemental Draft because of Norm Chow’s departure to the Tennesee Titans…

LOL! (Here’s an explanation of the reference, for those who may have forgotten.)

Matt Leinart’s dad says the USC QB is upset about Norm Chow’s departure, and the New York Post reports that he’s considering entering a supplemental NFL draft. But according to the Daily Trojan, the dad denies that:

Bob Leinart, father of USC quarterback and defending Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, denied that his son would petition for a supplemental draft to enter the NFL.

“No, he’s not going in the supplemental draft,” the elder Leinart said Thursday. “He can’t, because he’s not taking enough units this semester to graduate. But even if he could go in the supplemental, he wouldn’t.”

(Hat tip: Chris.)

I didn’t make it to the 6:00 AM Charlie Weis rally this morning (nor did I make to class this morning… or this afternoon… but nevermind that), but the AP article fills me in on what I missed, including the money quote:

Weis drew laughter and applause from the students when he said that USC coach Pete Carroll was a friend of his, “but he’s never really done great against me.”

But Weis said the two-time defending national champion Trojans, who have beaten Notre Dame by 31 points for three straight seasons, clearly are a much better team than the Irish right now.

“That’s the problem,” he said. “Notre Dame has got to get to the point where that’s the ability of players we have here.”

That would be nice — to have Notre Dame improve to the level where they’re a legitimate rival for the Trojans again. And then to have the Trojans beat them anyway. :)

Anyway, read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Alex T.)

Here is Arash’s take on the Norm Chow controversy. He thinks there was indeed tension between Carroll and Chow, but he concludes, “it’s hard to say that the Force is still not with the Trojans, with or without their Yoda.” Heh.

The inevitable is now official:

USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow said Tuesday night that he is taking a similar job with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, thus ending one of the most successful coaching partnerships in college football history.

:(

Chow says he and his family have “enjoyed being part of the Trojan family and will continue to cheer for the Trojans.”

P.S. The article quotes Matt Leinart as referring to the Trojans’ post-championship assistant-coach exodus as an “avalanche.” No kidding! The USC coaching staff is breaking up faster than President Bush’s first-term cabinet! :) Let’s review:

Offensive coordinator Norm Chow: Offensive coordinator, Tennessee Titans
Quarterbacks coach Carl Smith: Offensive coordinator, Jacksonville Jaguars
Offensive line coach Tim Davis: Offensive line coach, Miami Dolphins
Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron: Head coach, Ole Miss
Graduate assistant Dennis Slutak: Special teams coordinator, Ole Miss

The NCAA champion Trojans are in essentially the same boat as the NFL champion Patriots, who have lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching jobs.

It’s good to be the king. Except when it’s not.