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It took George Raveling probably two years more than he expected to get SC basketball to where he wanted, but after four tough years SC made the NCAAT in 90-91, and was poised for a strong year in 91-92. That season SC would have an incredibly reliable group of starters in Duane Cooper, Phil Glenn, Harold Miner, Mark Boyd and Yamen Sanders. Only Boyd did not start all 30 games, and he started 27. SC also had a strong bench with Lorenzo Orr, Rodney Chatman and Duane Hackett. It was really a perfect mix on player around Miner, with Boyd, Sanders and Orr playing big in the paint.
An important note for the 91-92 roster is one player not on it..... Ed O'Bannon, who was a year younger than Miner. Raveling was as persistent in recruiting O'Bannon as he was with Miner, although O'Bannon was pretty much committed to Tark the Shark and UNLV. He didn't sign a LOI, and when UNLV was put on probation there was heavy buzz he would join Miner at USC. O'Bannon attended an SC home game at The Lyon Center that year, and SC rolled out the red carpet, including a Miner + O'Bannon banner. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise when he committed to UCLA. At the time my neighbor was a pretty prominent LA Times sports reporter. When I asked him about it he answered carefully, but basically Raveling and SC weren't willing to match a number set by Jim Herrick and UCLA. The spirit of Sam Gilbert was alive and well.
SC was unranked to start the 91-92 season, and it got off to a rocky start with a nine point loss at Nebraska. SC then ripped off five wins in a row to set up a nationally televised game against #4 Ohio State at the Sports Arena on Dec 21st. In a very tight back and forth game, SC won in OT off of a lob dunk from Cooper to Miner, who finished with 31 points. SC then lost at home against ND and got blown out at Arizona, so was 7-3 on Jan 10, 1992.
Next came the best run of hoops for SC in 20+ years. Raveling's team would finish out the year 15-2, with the only losses being at OSU and WSU in the second game of the two game road trips. The run included a 10 point win at #24 Stanford, followed by a win at Cal where they trailed most of the game. SC returned to the rankings at #25, and next up was the showdown against undefeated and #2 ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. SC dominated the game, leading by as many as 14, but UCLA clawed back to make it close. In the end a tip-in by Mark Boyd sealed the deal, and SC had its biggest win since beating #1 UCLA at Pauley back in 1970.
After an OT win vs Stanford at the Sports Arena, it was the return match against #4 UCLA. It was a hard fought back and forth game, but in the second half Miner provided one of the greatest single moments in SC hoops history with a game defining drive down the lane and two handed slam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PxQ4UJ0TE
SC won by four, and I got great joy out of how Don McLean described it on the Pac 12 Network show that named the greatest basketball players in conference history. For the Harold Miner segment (the only other SC player named was Westphal) McLean said, "my senior year we would have been undefeated in Conference, but no one could figure out how to guard Harold Miner."
The final game of the regular season was against #2 ranked Arizona at the Sports Arena. USC had lost 12 of the last 13 against the Wildcats, with that one win being the year before at the Sports Arena. UCLA had beaten Arizona on the previous Thursday to win the conference with only 2 losses, both to USC, so this game would be for the outright conference #2 spot. Once again it was a back and forth affair, with Arizona leading by 1. SC missed the front end of a one-and-one, and a scramble ensued with Mark Boyd ripping the ball away and finding Duane Cooper, who shot an air ball. The ball, however, found Rodney Chatman who shot it, and made it, at the buzzer for a one point win.
There was no Conference tourney at the time, so SC ended the regular season 22-5, which was the third best season win % wise in 70 years, and included beating the #2 ranked team in the county twice and the #4 ranked team twice. This led to SC's highest NCAA seed ever, before or since, as #2 in the Midwest Region behind #1 seed Kansas. SC would play the first two rounds at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The round one game against 15 seed Louisiana Monroe was a blow out, with SC up 13 at half, and winning by 30. Next up was #7 seed Georgia Tech.
Tech finished fourth in an extremely tough ACC that year, were ranked #13 mid season, were led by SR guard Jon Barry, and had five players average double figures, so a very stout seven seed. The game was back and forth, with SC leading by 1 at half. Miner was held to 5 of 17 shooting, but strong games by Cooper, Boyd, Sanders and Hackett carried the team. It came down to SC with possession, 22 seconds left, in a 76-76 game. Chatman had the ball at the top, and Miner dropped to the right, then cut to the top of the circle with Barry denying the pass. The right side just sorta opened up, so Chatman drove and hit a one-hander off the glass to give SC a two point lead with 2.2 seconds left. GT called time out, and had to inbound it under the basket. it came into Barry, who drove it up the left side, but bounced it off Chatman's foot with .8 seconds left. It was side out. SC played it pretty well, with the inbounder looking for someone at the top of the key, saw no one open, so he had to fire it down the line to James Forrester, who had both Miner and Boyd on him.
What happened next is my most personally painful sports memory ever, followed a close second by the 2006 Rose Bowl. For work I had to spend the next week in Atlanta, which was torture. The WORST part about it is if Barry doesn't bounce the ball off Chatman's foot, or the shot doesn't go in, SC's path to the Final Four would have been 6 seed Memphis, then 4 seed Cincinnati. Waiting in the Final Four would have been the Fab Five, then Duke. I'm not saying they would have won..... but what if.
I don't think we give enough love to the 91-92 team because of the painful way it ended, but what a ride it was.
The next two years were 500+ years, with two NIT appearances. In the 93 NIT SC beat #25 UNLV at the Thomas and Mack by 17, before falling to eventual champion Minnesota in the quarters. Raveling was also building his next power team, with freshman Stais Boseman, Jaha Wilson and Avondre Jones all playing minutes in 93-94. As we know, however, if it wasn't for bad luck SC basketball would have no luck at all, so on September 25th 1994 Raveling was in a severe car crash. At first he played it light, saying he would be back with the team soon, but he ended up being in intensive care for two weeks due to internal bleeding. After a month and a half of recovery he made the call to hang 'em up, and had to have his attorney announce his retirement at a press conference on November 14. Once again USC was thrown into a trauma coach replacement exercise.
I don't know if SC has had any recognition for Raveling at the Galen Center, but if they haven't it needs to be done quickly, as George is 86 years old.
An important note for the 91-92 roster is one player not on it..... Ed O'Bannon, who was a year younger than Miner. Raveling was as persistent in recruiting O'Bannon as he was with Miner, although O'Bannon was pretty much committed to Tark the Shark and UNLV. He didn't sign a LOI, and when UNLV was put on probation there was heavy buzz he would join Miner at USC. O'Bannon attended an SC home game at The Lyon Center that year, and SC rolled out the red carpet, including a Miner + O'Bannon banner. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise when he committed to UCLA. At the time my neighbor was a pretty prominent LA Times sports reporter. When I asked him about it he answered carefully, but basically Raveling and SC weren't willing to match a number set by Jim Herrick and UCLA. The spirit of Sam Gilbert was alive and well.
SC was unranked to start the 91-92 season, and it got off to a rocky start with a nine point loss at Nebraska. SC then ripped off five wins in a row to set up a nationally televised game against #4 Ohio State at the Sports Arena on Dec 21st. In a very tight back and forth game, SC won in OT off of a lob dunk from Cooper to Miner, who finished with 31 points. SC then lost at home against ND and got blown out at Arizona, so was 7-3 on Jan 10, 1992.
Next came the best run of hoops for SC in 20+ years. Raveling's team would finish out the year 15-2, with the only losses being at OSU and WSU in the second game of the two game road trips. The run included a 10 point win at #24 Stanford, followed by a win at Cal where they trailed most of the game. SC returned to the rankings at #25, and next up was the showdown against undefeated and #2 ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. SC dominated the game, leading by as many as 14, but UCLA clawed back to make it close. In the end a tip-in by Mark Boyd sealed the deal, and SC had its biggest win since beating #1 UCLA at Pauley back in 1970.
After an OT win vs Stanford at the Sports Arena, it was the return match against #4 UCLA. It was a hard fought back and forth game, but in the second half Miner provided one of the greatest single moments in SC hoops history with a game defining drive down the lane and two handed slam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PxQ4UJ0TE
SC won by four, and I got great joy out of how Don McLean described it on the Pac 12 Network show that named the greatest basketball players in conference history. For the Harold Miner segment (the only other SC player named was Westphal) McLean said, "my senior year we would have been undefeated in Conference, but no one could figure out how to guard Harold Miner."
The final game of the regular season was against #2 ranked Arizona at the Sports Arena. USC had lost 12 of the last 13 against the Wildcats, with that one win being the year before at the Sports Arena. UCLA had beaten Arizona on the previous Thursday to win the conference with only 2 losses, both to USC, so this game would be for the outright conference #2 spot. Once again it was a back and forth affair, with Arizona leading by 1. SC missed the front end of a one-and-one, and a scramble ensued with Mark Boyd ripping the ball away and finding Duane Cooper, who shot an air ball. The ball, however, found Rodney Chatman who shot it, and made it, at the buzzer for a one point win.
There was no Conference tourney at the time, so SC ended the regular season 22-5, which was the third best season win % wise in 70 years, and included beating the #2 ranked team in the county twice and the #4 ranked team twice. This led to SC's highest NCAA seed ever, before or since, as #2 in the Midwest Region behind #1 seed Kansas. SC would play the first two rounds at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The round one game against 15 seed Louisiana Monroe was a blow out, with SC up 13 at half, and winning by 30. Next up was #7 seed Georgia Tech.
Tech finished fourth in an extremely tough ACC that year, were ranked #13 mid season, were led by SR guard Jon Barry, and had five players average double figures, so a very stout seven seed. The game was back and forth, with SC leading by 1 at half. Miner was held to 5 of 17 shooting, but strong games by Cooper, Boyd, Sanders and Hackett carried the team. It came down to SC with possession, 22 seconds left, in a 76-76 game. Chatman had the ball at the top, and Miner dropped to the right, then cut to the top of the circle with Barry denying the pass. The right side just sorta opened up, so Chatman drove and hit a one-hander off the glass to give SC a two point lead with 2.2 seconds left. GT called time out, and had to inbound it under the basket. it came into Barry, who drove it up the left side, but bounced it off Chatman's foot with .8 seconds left. It was side out. SC played it pretty well, with the inbounder looking for someone at the top of the key, saw no one open, so he had to fire it down the line to James Forrester, who had both Miner and Boyd on him.
What happened next is my most personally painful sports memory ever, followed a close second by the 2006 Rose Bowl. For work I had to spend the next week in Atlanta, which was torture. The WORST part about it is if Barry doesn't bounce the ball off Chatman's foot, or the shot doesn't go in, SC's path to the Final Four would have been 6 seed Memphis, then 4 seed Cincinnati. Waiting in the Final Four would have been the Fab Five, then Duke. I'm not saying they would have won..... but what if.
I don't think we give enough love to the 91-92 team because of the painful way it ended, but what a ride it was.
The next two years were 500+ years, with two NIT appearances. In the 93 NIT SC beat #25 UNLV at the Thomas and Mack by 17, before falling to eventual champion Minnesota in the quarters. Raveling was also building his next power team, with freshman Stais Boseman, Jaha Wilson and Avondre Jones all playing minutes in 93-94. As we know, however, if it wasn't for bad luck SC basketball would have no luck at all, so on September 25th 1994 Raveling was in a severe car crash. At first he played it light, saying he would be back with the team soon, but he ended up being in intensive care for two weeks due to internal bleeding. After a month and a half of recovery he made the call to hang 'em up, and had to have his attorney announce his retirement at a press conference on November 14. Once again USC was thrown into a trauma coach replacement exercise.
I don't know if SC has had any recognition for Raveling at the Galen Center, but if they haven't it needs to be done quickly, as George is 86 years old.
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