Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.
Southern California's future is right up Pacific Coast Highway, and he happens to be a legacy, too.
Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal currently resides in the most picturesque college basketball office in the land, a room with a stunning panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean.
Prying Westphal from that Malibu office should be Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett's lone objective as soon as this season ends.
In some form, ex-Utah coach Rick Majerus, who now takes up considerable space in ESPN's college hoops studio, has been contacted by USC, which released Henry Bibby of his duties this week.
Interim coach Jim Saia, who was part of a similar temporary transition at UCLA eight years ago when Jim Harrick was ousted in favor of Steve Lavin, could be relegated back to an assistant's role within two weeks.
The thinking here is that Garrett shouldn't be so hasty.
Before health concerns sidelined Majerus for good in Salt Lake City last season, his act had worn thin -- like all of his sweaters -- with many in Utah.
And Garrett believes Bibby was a tyrant who kept his players on a short leash? That stifling atmosphere would not change one iota under Majerus.
We also wonder about his doctor's orders and how coaching factors into his long-term well-being. Hopefully, he no longer orders four or five appetizers before that double main course arrives.
As for Westphal, nobody is a better fit, literally and physically, at USC, which will open its 10,300-seat Galen Center on campus in two seasons.
Westphal left the now-defunct Redondo Beach Aviation High, situated on a hill with its own stunning view of the Pacific, for USC in 1968, sat out a year because freshmen were ineligible and then had the bad timing of playing against the cross-town rival when it was the national power.
UCLA won national championships in 1970, '71 and '72. In '70-71, USC went 24-2 -- and those two defeats were to the Bruins. Westphal never played in an NCAA tournament because only the Pac-8 victor advanced to the showcase event.
Twice an All-American at USC, Westphal averaged 16.4 points in his career. Then he played in the NBA for 12 seasons. He also became the second-fastest coach to win 150 games in the NBA, when he did it in 208 games with the Phoenix Suns.
That professional experience, as a player and coach, combined with what he achieved in his athletic career at USC, would be priceless recruiting tools for the Trojans, whom he beat in his first season at The 'Dine in 2001-02.
"Everything's fine," former Pepperdine coach Jim Harrick always said, "at the 'Dine."
Harrick (to UCLA), Tom Asbury (to Kansas State) and Lorenzo Romar (to Saint Louis, then Washington) each used the Waves gig to launch themselves to major programs, and we suggest Westphal should be the next.
We also insist that Garrett watch Pepperdine's game Saturday against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, where the Waves also won in '01-02.
If the Bruins are as limp as they were in a loss to Boston College on Sunday in Anaheim, Westphal will improve to 2-0 against those hated foes on the other side of the tracks.
Westphal is evening the slate against UCLA. If Garrett wants to secure his basketball program's success, he'll make sure that Westphal's future victories against the Bruins are as USC's coach.
It wasn't even close, either, as the Cougars lost by 14 points and the Utes were doused by 26. Both games were played at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah, where Utah State has won four in a row over Utah.
BYU gets a shot at redemption by playing host to the Aggies next Saturday.
Former UNLV assistant coach Dave Rice landed nicely on his feet when he joined the staff of Aggies coach Stew Morrill, who is 148-48 in seven seasons in Logan and considered among the game's top strategists.
That winning 37-point effort tied for the third-fewest points scored in a victory by a Division I team since the institution of the shot clock in the 1985-86 season.
George Mason set the record, by scoring 35 points in a victory, against North Carolina-Wilmington in March 2001.
Then again, the pages don't have to be turned back to the '50s to find a team using slow-down tactics to its benefit. On March 3, 1984, Oregon State beat Oregon, 29-23, in the pre-shot clock era.
Northwestern.
So far, it doesn't look good for the Wildcats this season, either. They're 2-4, but they get DePaul at home Wednesday. They travel to Tempe, Ariz., to play Arizona State on Dec. 20.
However, Bill Carmody, a former Princeton coach who brought that pesky, back-door system to Evanston, Ill., has made a difference.
He inherited a team that had gone 5-25 and lost all 16 of its Big Ten games. Before this season, the fifth-year coach had won 30 of 43 home games, and he was tabbed Big Ten coach of the year even though the 'Cats had a losing (14-15) record last season.
Anderson, a junior guard, landed at Southern Utah after attending Victor Valley Junior College. He did travel with the Thunderbirds to their game at Weber State on Wednesday, but he did not dress and veteran coach Bill Evans plans to redshirt him.
Carter, a 6-foot-9 junior center who bolted from Colorado, has played sparingly at San Francisco. He's averaging almost 11 minutes for the Dandy Dons, having made two baskets and grabbed 11 total rebounds.
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