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If you are an SC Basketball fan 60 or under, odds are your favorite player is Harold Miner. If you are a college hoops fan 60 or under, odds are that when you think of USC basketball, you think of Harold Miner, and rightfully so. Though he only played at USC three years, the results were impressive:
Harold was a basketball prodigy from early on. He was constantly with a basketball, and even slept with one. When he played against his brother he told him to shove him around so he could get used to it. He would pick up the nickname Baby Jordan, both a blessing and a curse, because of his mannerisms and his dunking ability. He was picked to play one-on-one against MJ at a camp when he was a Freshman in High School, and was up 4-0 in a game to 5 (he didn't win). He was a local legend playing at Rogers Park in Inglewood. One time when playing he took a water break and his ball disappeared. He told some other locals there for reasons other than basketball, and pretty soon one of them left, then returned with a brand new leather ball for Harold. He was recruited by all the local high schools, but played at Inglewood, where as a senior he averaged 29.5 points, and 10.5 rebounds, with a single game high of 47 points and 18 rebounds. One of the things that made Miner so special was that he was actually well short of his listed 6-5 height. I am 6-4 and he was a good inch shorter than me when I saw him in a pick up game at SC his Soph year. Even so he averaged seven rebounds a game his last year at SC.
It was a foregone conclusion that Miner was going to North Carolina, because he wanted to play for Dean Smith. UNC recruited him hard, but then Smith dropped the ball when the assistant recruiting Miner, Roy Williams, took the Kansas job. Smith assumed Miner would follow Williams to Kansas, and stopped recruiting him. Kansas was going on probation, so Miner instead looked at UCLA, DePaul, Pitt, and USC. Raveling's persistence, knowing Miner was the recruit he needed to jump start the program, paid off, with Miner choosing SC because of the relationship established with Raveling. who called him "Heh-wold" because George had trouble with the letter R.
When Miner got to SC Raveling was hard on him during practice, remembering how Bobby Knight treated Jordan on the 84 Olympic team. It was his freshman year when his very unique personality started to come out. Miner liked to touch his nose to things, rub his fingers together because he liked the sound they made, and his eating exploits became legendary.
Harold got off to a bit of a slow start at SC, averaging 12.5 his first six games, but then averaged 22+ from there, including two 37 point games. He also shot 42% from 3. SC now for the first time under Raveling started to look competitive, having added players like Robert Pack, Rodney Chatman and Phil Glenn the same year as Miner, with Mark Boyd and Yamen Sanders being added the next year. In 90-91 Raveling and SC finally got things back on track, finishing the year on a 10-3 run, including a huge win at home against #5 Arizona, with Miner scoring 36 points. SC would finish 19-9, Raveling's first winning season at SC, third in the P10, and make their first NCAAT since 1985. They would lose to Charlie Ward and Florida State by 3 in the 1st round, but the stage was set for one of the top 5 seasons ever at SC the next year.
Next time: 92 Season, GT game, and Raveling's crash
- Sports Illustrated National Player of the Year in 1992
- Consensus All American in 1992, along with Jim Jackson, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner and Shaquille O'Neal
- Pac 12 Player of the Year, 1992
- Pac 12 Freshman of the Year, 1990
- Only USC player to score over 2,000 points
- SC leader in most points in a season
- Career SC Scoring Average leader at 23.5
- Single Season SC Scoring Average leader at 26.3
- Scored 30 points in a game 19 times, ten more than #2 on the list, John Block
- Leader in FTs made, 490, and FT%, .814
Harold was a basketball prodigy from early on. He was constantly with a basketball, and even slept with one. When he played against his brother he told him to shove him around so he could get used to it. He would pick up the nickname Baby Jordan, both a blessing and a curse, because of his mannerisms and his dunking ability. He was picked to play one-on-one against MJ at a camp when he was a Freshman in High School, and was up 4-0 in a game to 5 (he didn't win). He was a local legend playing at Rogers Park in Inglewood. One time when playing he took a water break and his ball disappeared. He told some other locals there for reasons other than basketball, and pretty soon one of them left, then returned with a brand new leather ball for Harold. He was recruited by all the local high schools, but played at Inglewood, where as a senior he averaged 29.5 points, and 10.5 rebounds, with a single game high of 47 points and 18 rebounds. One of the things that made Miner so special was that he was actually well short of his listed 6-5 height. I am 6-4 and he was a good inch shorter than me when I saw him in a pick up game at SC his Soph year. Even so he averaged seven rebounds a game his last year at SC.
It was a foregone conclusion that Miner was going to North Carolina, because he wanted to play for Dean Smith. UNC recruited him hard, but then Smith dropped the ball when the assistant recruiting Miner, Roy Williams, took the Kansas job. Smith assumed Miner would follow Williams to Kansas, and stopped recruiting him. Kansas was going on probation, so Miner instead looked at UCLA, DePaul, Pitt, and USC. Raveling's persistence, knowing Miner was the recruit he needed to jump start the program, paid off, with Miner choosing SC because of the relationship established with Raveling. who called him "Heh-wold" because George had trouble with the letter R.
When Miner got to SC Raveling was hard on him during practice, remembering how Bobby Knight treated Jordan on the 84 Olympic team. It was his freshman year when his very unique personality started to come out. Miner liked to touch his nose to things, rub his fingers together because he liked the sound they made, and his eating exploits became legendary.
Harold got off to a bit of a slow start at SC, averaging 12.5 his first six games, but then averaged 22+ from there, including two 37 point games. He also shot 42% from 3. SC now for the first time under Raveling started to look competitive, having added players like Robert Pack, Rodney Chatman and Phil Glenn the same year as Miner, with Mark Boyd and Yamen Sanders being added the next year. In 90-91 Raveling and SC finally got things back on track, finishing the year on a 10-3 run, including a huge win at home against #5 Arizona, with Miner scoring 36 points. SC would finish 19-9, Raveling's first winning season at SC, third in the P10, and make their first NCAAT since 1985. They would lose to Charlie Ward and Florida State by 3 in the 1st round, but the stage was set for one of the top 5 seasons ever at SC the next year.
Next time: 92 Season, GT game, and Raveling's crash
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