Trojans represent at the LA Sports Awards

The 2008 LA Sports Awards were held Friday, bringing together some of the biggest names in the Southland. Mark Sanchez was on hand, and while he kept mum about the NFL, he did pose for a picture with Phil Jackson. Sanchez was also spotted last week at a Lakers game.

A media panel selected by the LA Sports Council named the top 10 moments of the year, and the Trojans' continued dominance of Pac-10 football -- a seventh straight conference title -- was selected as Los Angeles' seventh greatest moment of 2008. Ken Norton Jr. was there to pick up the hardware. When asked if the Trojans will experience a drop-off on defense next season, he said they might surprise everybody and be even better.

Every local team was honored for its greatest moment, based on an Internet fan poll. USC's top moment was its athletes or alumnis winning 21 medals in the Beijing Olympics. If the school were a nation, it would have been 13th in the world in overall medals and eighth in the world with nine gold medals.

Curiously, the media's favorite USC moment (winning the Pac-10 in football) wasn't even among the three choices that fans had: the Beijing Olympics, the NCAA women's golf championship and the NCAA men's water polo championship. Those three nominees were selected by the school.

The Dodgers' acquisition of Manny Ramirez and the subsequent "Mannywood" craze was the top winner. Staples Center stars dominated the individual awards, with Kobe Bryant being named sportsman of the year, Candace Parker sportswoman of the year, Phil Jackson coach of the year and Mitch Kupchak executive of the year.

A presentation of the awards ceremony will air on PrimeTicket this Friday, with several repeats in the following days.

-- Adam Rose
Photos by Jon SooHoo, courtesy LA Sports Council

Crowe's Eye View

USC plays heavily in Jerry Crowe's column today:

Seven former Pacific 10 Conference players made the NBA Finals this month and seven more -- USC's O.J. Mayo, UCLA's Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, Stanford's Brook and Robin Lopez, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and Cal's Ryan Anderson -- are projected to be first-round picks tonight. . . .

Also projected to be a first-round pick is JaVale McGee, a 7-footer from Nevada and son of Pam McGee, who teamed with twin sister, Paula, and Cheryl Miller to lead USC to NCAA women's basketball titles in 1983 and 1984. . . .

Paula at the time was Darryl Strawberry's girlfriend. . . .

Former USC forward Brian Scalabrine of the Boston Celtics wasn't the only bench-riding athlete with Southland ties who donned a uniform for a championship-clinching celebration after a game in which he did not dress. . . .

Ageless defenseman Chris Chelios, who summers in Malibu, did the same with the Detroit Red Wings after sitting out the Stanley Cup finals. . . .

Paola Moreno, a senior on USC's NCAA champion women's golf team this spring, and incoming Trojans freshman Jennifer Song are among the amateurs competing this week in the U.S. Women's Open at Edina, Minn. . . .

Among the seven Pac-10 players in the NBA Finals were Trojans Brian Scalabrine and Gabe Pruitt.

White House Honors Trojans

The USC women's soccer and golf teams were honored at the White House yesterday along with other  NCAA champions from the last year.

• Click here for a copy of the president's remarks.
• Click here for a video of the president's remarks.
• Click here for a news release from USC.

As the president called out some of the teams, it seems a certain group of Trojans did more than a golf clap. From the President's transcript:

The USC Women's Golf Team set a school record with five All-Americans on their championship team.  (Applause.) And all five just yelled.  (Laughter.)

Photos by Eric Draper, courtesy the White House.

Women's Golf Wins National Championship

The Women of Troy claimed a national championship heading into Memorial Day weekend in Albuquerque, taking home the school's second-ever title in women's golf.

USC overcame some wild weather to finish with a six-stroke lead over cross-town rival UCLA, though there was little doubt of the outcome on the back nine of the final round.

"Back in December, we had a party for the team and I had a cake made that said, 'Believe in the Dream,' " head coach Andrea Gaston recalled. "I told them throughout the season to believe in the dream. We talked about it all year long. And it came true. It's incredible." After the tournament, Gaston was named NGCA coach of the year.

The NCAA title is the school's 86th overall (excluding football), good for a comfortable third place in college sports history. The Women of Troy have 13 of those championships. Thanks to the success of soccer and golf, they should take sole possession of 8th place on the all-time list at the end of this year.

For more on USC's championship:

• Click here for the USC press release.
• Click here for the AP recap.

Photo by Dan Avila / Courtesy USC

Weekly Roundup

Women's Basketball - The Trojans recovered from a rough road trip by returning to the Galen Center and sweeping the Washington schools. USC is 11-1 at home. Against Washington State, the Women of Troy were led by Nadia Parker (23 points) and Heather Oliver (21 points), who both had career highs. The WSU game was on Think Pink day at USC, a tribute to raise awareness for breast cancer. It was also the Trojans' chance to host Coach June Daugherty, who has made a comeback this season after a different sort of medical crisis.

Women's Tennis - No. 8 USC fell in the consolation quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships this past weekend. It was the Trojans' third straight 4-3 decision, and came after a seven-hour match the night before. Top singles Lindsey Nelson and Amanda Fink won their matches.

Men's Tennis - The Trojans are 7-0 after downing No. 27 Boise State at home this weekend. They're head to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships ranked sixth in the nation.

Men's Volleyball - No. 9 USC has had one loss and one victory in all five weeks of league play, but last week's win was a sweep of rival UCLA -- pushing Troy even further ahead in the Lexus Gauntlet.

Golf - In men's action, sophomores Rory Hie and Jamie Lovemark tied for fifth individually at the UH-Hilo Intercollegiate in Waikoloa. During the tournament Hie shot a school record 62 on the par-70 course. The Women of Troy are competing at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes.

Swimming and Diving - USC's men's and women's squads both lost to No. 3 Stanford over the weekend in their final competition this season at McDonald's Swim Stadium. Next up, Pac-10 Championships.

Weekly Roundup 5

Now that we're settling into the fall, I'm going to make a concerted effort to schedule certain features more regularly. I'll be shooting for Weekend Roundups (like you see below) to run on Monday night/Tuesday morning. That will allow the dust to settle (injury reports, ranking announcements, etc.) while keeping everybody up to date with results that probably won't be on Sports Center. This edition is late in the week, so there are a couple nods to the coming weekend. I may also experiment with separate posting on weekend previews. Let me know if there's anything you want (or don't want) to see.

I'll exclude football and men's basketball from roundups, since those tend to be covered ad nauseum. If you need to know who won the football game, I've got a feeling you didn't start your search here. That said, I haven't covered hoops very much. That will change quickly.

Of course, special articles and announcements can happen here at any time.

Women's Volleyball - The USC-UCLA rivalry draws first blood of the school year tonight at 7 when the Women of Troy invade Westwood ... After losing its first game of the year to Stanford last Thursday, USC rebounded with victories over Cal on Sunday and UC Irvine on Tuesday ... Jessica Gysin helped lead the Trojans in a come-from-behind against the Anteaters. She's seeing more time due to an abdominal strain suffered by Diana Copenhagen.

Men's Water Polo -The #1 Trojans struggled against #7 Long Beach State last weekend, coming back to win, 9-8, and maintaining their home winning streak. Tommy Corcoran had a career-high four goals ... USC will face an even bigger test on Saturday when it puts its perfect record on the line against #3 Stanford at home.

Women's Soccer - The Women of Troy are enjoying a week off after a big surge last week. They had a fifth consecutive shutout on Friday at Long Beach, then took down Portland, one of the nation's top teams, at home on Sunday ... Amy Rodriguez was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week after getting an assist against Long Beach and the game-winning goal against Portland. Freshman Megan Ohai earned her first national honors by making the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week. She scored against Long Beach and assisted on both goals against Portland ... The women's soccer top 25 rankings shifted almost as much as that "other" football sport. In Soccer Buzz, the Trojans went from 14th to 7th while Portland fell from 3rd to 8th. USC was unranked by Soccer America but jumped to 10th (Cal made a similar jump from unranked to 12th). Top Drawer only upped USC from 24th to 23rd, but smacked Portland from 1st to 10th. NSCAA has the Trojans at 13th. Confused yet?

Baseball - USC announced a number of events this week. The annual golf tournament fundraiser will be at Dove Canyon Country Club on Nov. 19 (for more information or to register, click here) ... Scout Day is Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. ... Fall practice will conclude with the Cardinal and Gold Series at Dedeaux Field at 3 p.m. on Nov. 1 and 2 p.m. on Nov. 2 ... The Alumni Game is Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. (213-740-5762 for more info) ... Check out the posts just before and after this one for more info on the new Rod Dedeaux Research for Baseball Institute.

Women's Tennis - Doubles pair Amanda Fink and Gabriela Niculescu have advanced to the second round of the main draw at the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships. They face Clemson today and could be pitted against UCLA if they make it to Saturday ... In singles action, the nation's #2 seed Lindsey Nelson withdrew due to injury after losing her first set on Thursday. #10 Sarah Fansler lost her match.

Men's Tennis - After three matches on Thursday, Robert Farah is the only Trojan left standing. He advanced in singles play to the third round of the Polo Ralph Lauren Men’s All-American. Kaes Van't Hof lost his singles matchup. The two paired up in doubles action, failling to Alabama.

Women's Golf - Overlooked from last week, #4 USC lost by one stroke to Duke in the NCAA Preview tournament.