USC basketball: Trojans compare VCU to Washington; Rams compare USC to Old Dominion, Drexel ... UCLA?

USC Coach Kevin O'Neill has watched Virginia Commonwealth University more than a few times this season, and he has watched them quite a few more since it was announced Sunday that the Trojans (19-14) would face VCU (23-11) in the first round of the NCAA tournament here Wednesday night.

Who do the Rams remind him of?

Washington, a fellow Pacific 10 Conference school known to run and gun that was the preseason landslide pick to win the Pac-10; the Huskies didn't, for the record, but they did win the Pac-10 tournament -- on a spectacular shot, no less.

"They shoot 28 threes a game," O'Neill said Monday. "They press a lot. They’re very aggressive. They’re a strip-steal team. And extremely well-coached."

VCU led the Colonial Athletic Association in three-point field goals made per game (8.2), steals per game (8.5) and turnover margin (3.3).

And Washington led the Pac-10 in three-point field goals made per game (8.8), was fourth in steals per game (6.7) and second in turnover margin (2.6). 

So, as you can see, they are similar in several ways. 

But which team does VCU compare USC to? 

Philip Hersh: World gold burnishing Ligety's place in U.S. ski annals

 

Ted Ligety joined a select club Friday.

He now is one of only a half-dozen U.S. alpine skiers to have won gold medals at both the Olympics and World Championships.

Ligety's victory in the giant slalom at the 2011 worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, added his name to a list that includes Bode Miller, Phil Mahre, Lindsey Vonn, Picabo Street and Barbara Cochran.

(Technically, Gretchen Fraser and Andrea Mead Lawrence were doublers as well, but they earned both in one fell swoop, when Olympic medals also counted as world medals.)

Ligety's Olympic triumph came in the combined at the 2006 Winter Games.

He was more impressed by the world title because it came at a point when he had a reputation of success to defend.

I wrote last month how Ligety has been quietly been putting together one of the more impressive records in U.S. ski history, including the 2008 and 2010 World Cup season titles in giant slalom and a bronze medal at the 2009 worlds in the event.  To read that story, click here.

"The Olympic gold medal in combined and winning a world championship are very different,'' Ligety said Friday.  "The Olympics are bigger and I was the surprise victor in that event, so I didn't have the pressure on me to perform.

"But being able to perform when you're supposed to win is far more difficult than just putting it on the line like I did at the [2006] Olympics. To be able to put down two good runs and win is that much more special."

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Ted Ligety' Credit: Odd Andersen / Getty Images

 

Philip Hersh: In finishing 12th, Bode Miller adds to legend

Bode Miller showed again why he is the greatest and most charismatic skier in U.S. history.

And he did it by finishing 12th in Tuesday's Super-G at the World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

(Yes, at times -- notably the 2006 Olympics -- Miller also has been the most annoying and petulantly infuriating great skier in history, but we all saw a more mature, reinvented Bode at the 2010 Olympics, and his attitude does not appear to have changed.)

Anyway, Miller added another amazing chapter to his oft-picaresque biography when he lost his right pole after hooking his arm on a gate two-thirds of the way into Tuesday's race.  He still gained time on the leaders in the next 25 seconds before he could no longer control his line.

(For Universal Sports video of the race, click here.)

Miller insisted that even with both poles, he likely would have made a costly mistake.  Given his penchant for racing at the edge, that may be true.  But it seems just as possible he would have won.

He motivated Christoph Innerhofer of Italy to make a run that would end with his winning a first major title.

"I saw Bode Miller and I told myself that's how I had to race too," Innerhofer was quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. "Simply give your best, then you can't reproach yourself at the finish."

With what would have been about 16 seconds left to ski in this Super-G, Miller had the fastest interval time, 0.03 seconds ahead of Innerhofer.  Five seconds later, Miller went off line so badly he chose to stand up and coast to the finish.

"I wasn't out of the race when I hooked my arm. It was a matter of making it to the finish without a big mistake and I probably couldn't have avoided that mistake with a pole,'' Miller said.  "You saw Aksel [Svindal] blow out right there too, and Aksel is one of the best in the world.

"It's not the way I wanted to start it (worlds), but the speed is good. It's encouraging to see that I have the right tactics. I just need to hang on to all my equipment until I get to the finish."

This episode recalled his one-ski adventure at the 2005 worlds.  My story on that race, which I saw firsthand, is below:

Chicago Tribune
February 4, 2005 

One-ski feat only adds to Miller legend; American stays upright, on course for 90 seconds

By Philip Hersh, Tribune Olympic sports reporter.

BORMIO, Italy -- When Bode Miller was halfway through his run, an Italian TV commentator told his audience Miller's performance was going to be the highlight of the day.

Some would call what Miller did in the downhill portion of Thursday's combined at the World Alpine Championships a highlight for the ages--or at least several "SportsCenter" cycles, which define a sporting eternity these days.

After all, it isn't often a racer goes more than a mile down a precipitous, bumpy and icy mountain at speeds near 50 m.p.h. . . . on one ski.