Robert Farah and Kaes Van't Hof won the NCAA Doubles Championship in Men's Tennis in Tulsa, OK today in straight sets, 7-6 (10), 7-6 (6). They faced doubles teams from Ole Miss in both the semifinals (Bram ten Berge, Matthias Willerman) and final (Jonas Berg, Erling Tveit). Tenacity and mental toughness were obviously key to their victories, as the Trojan duo had to win tiebreakers in every set in both the semifinal and final. This is the first USC doubles title since 1989. Van't Hof is a senior, but Farah is only a sophomore so hopefully he'll be back next year to compete with a new partner. Congrats guys - fight on!

Bumped- Not really surprised but this cannot continue in the future-  Paragon

The NCAA Academic Progress Report was just released and USC men's basketball was called out for missing the mark. The team scored an 863, while the minimum score to avoid penalties was 925. The data collected represents the 4-year period from 2003 to 2007. Yes, the calculation is negatively impacted by any underclassmen who bolt for the NBA without finishing out the school year, but that can't be the only excuse. This is clearly an area of concern for Coach Floyd and Mike Garrett moving forward, since we lost 2 scholarships because of it. The bottom line is that the men's basketball team is now limited to awarding only 11 scholarships next year.

No other USC teams missed the mark, and most were way above it (kudos to women's golf and cross country for rocking perfect scores of 1000). The football team came in with a 948, which has us tied with Washington at 3rd in the Pac 10, following Stanford and UC Berkeley.

Here's a link to the story in USA Today (NCAA links included in that):

Link

UPDATE:

From All Things Trojan:

USC was informed of the punishment in the fall and given the option of taking the hit this past year or next year. They decided to take the hit sooner rather than later.

The lost scholarships were a result of Gabe Pruitt, Lodrick Stewart, and Nick Young not attending classes after the 2006-07 season.

USC officials are optimistic that things will improve next year because O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson did finish out their classes this semester.

Ahhhhh.......the gift that keeps on giving

"If everyone's here, University of Ohio State."

With those (ahem) words and nary a Hummer limo or an excess of hair product in sight, this year's next-great-thing in the world of hs qbs made his commitment to "Coach Tress," igniting a wave of enthusiasm in Columbus and a wave of nausea in Ann Arbor. Rich Rodriguez can finally stop texting TP and start texting any one else who might be able to run his spread offense at UM. No doubt TP's dismissal of Penn State with "I don't like that place" will also guarantee him a warm welcome in Happy Valley next year. Meanwhile, I'm sure PC and company will make sure TP gets the same kind of welcome to cfb when he comes to visit the Trojans as last year's golden boy, Jimmy Clausen, got in South Bend.

You read it here first (or 2nd maybe)! Final Four - USC defeats North Carolina, Texas defeats UCLA

Ok, so it's Page 2 at espn.com AND the hook is that their projections are based on star power aka the more celebrated alums your school has, the farther you'll go in the NCAA Tourney.

Who knew Newman was a Bulldog? Kirstie Alley dropped out of both Kansas AND Kansas State? Huey Lewis went to Cornell? Suge Knight went ummmm anywhere? (UNLV, actually) Kathie Lee Gifford is an alum of Oral Roberts? Ok, maybe that one's not so surprising. Any way, it's pretty funny... and it has us in the championship against Texas! However, the smothering guard play of David Geffen and Matthew McConaughey apparently pushed the Longhorns over the top. Yes, you read that right - David Geffen and Matthew McConaughey. Whatev.

Actually, almost as entertaining are the comments from people going apesh*t who clearly didn't even read the story and assumed the projections were based on actual basketball skill/strength or likeliness of events.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=celebrities/080317&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4po s2

So, reasonable folks feel the sweep of Cal-Stanford has us as locks for the NCAA tourney. We had a nice win over the Cardinal, although I also think they had to be hungover from getting ripped by the refs at Westwood High. Unlike in football where a coach has at least a week to fire up his team following a hard loss, that game happened Thurs night and they had to show up at Galen for an 11am game Saturday. Oh well, s*cks for them - and the deteriorating rep of Pac-10 officiating.

Any way, we stepped up (especially on the boards) against Stanford and didn't allow Cal to come from behind, so I hope it gets us fired up for the Pac-10 tourney. See ya at Staples. Fight On!

Bumped - It's never too early to start thinking about next season but we can't get ahead of ourselves in thinking about winning a BCS title. Lets see how we look in spring practice first. Paragon

Because it's never too early to start hyping a season that doesn't even start for another six months, the LA Times has a column with the above-quoted headline. Upon reading the column, one learns that this prognostication is based on cfb fans weighing in with their predictions at bodoglife.com. At that site, USC is the champ now at 3-1, with Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma all running 2nd at 6-1. Reigning champ LSU is 11-1, while USC's favorite b*tches UCLA and Notre Dame weigh in at 60-1 and 70-1, respectively. The Times writer only adds fuel to the flames by also positing that USC was perhaps "the best team in the country at the end of last season" (a title both meaningless AND cumbersome).

Trojan fans must now gear up - yes, even before those Rose Bowl roses have had a chance to completely dry out - for the return volley sure to follow from those who are sick to death of our beloved institution and its incredible powerhouse of a football team (aka everyone else in the cfb world). Verbal brickbats will be posted accusing USC of being incredibly arrogant and presumptuous, in return prompting USC backers to howl that we do not, in fact, own the major media outlets in the U.S., and, thus, have no control over how or when or to what degree they choose to fellate us. Those pleas for understanding will be ignored and the hatin' will continue - an unexpected, yet overwhelming affirmation of the Pete Carroll era for USC followers everywhere.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-lines22feb22,1,683171.story

[editor's note, by DC Trojan] Bumped from the diaries - a result for men's volleyball that's been a long time coming. - DC Trojan

After traveling across L.A. to that sketchy part of town (http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_8128198), the #11-ranked USC men's volleyball team swept (that's right, swept!) the #4 Bruins in their own gym last night, 30-24, 30-24, 30-24. USC hit .350+ in the match and outblocked at net, 16 to 7. By contrast, UCLA's hitting was atrocious (dude, seriously) and the aggressive nature of USC's play clearly threw them off their game. The Bruins tried to rally in the 3rd game but USC was just too dominant.

Juan Figueroa had 15 kills and both C.J. Schellenberg and frosh sensation Murphy Troy (yes, that's his last name) were also in double digits, and Luke Morris had some incredible digs for us. With the win last month at the Galen Center (which was a lot closer), this is the first time since 1991 that USC has smoked the Bruins in both matches in the same season. It's also the first time since '91 that we've swept all 3 games in a match against them. I wasn't able to enjoy the match in the comfort (hold for laughs) of Pauley Pavilion, but the Sam Adams on tap at Chili's in Mission Viejo with some rowdy fellow Trojans made for a fun night.

The Trojan men travel to UC Irvine Friday to play a #8 Anteaters team that upset #5 Pepperdine tonight so that should be a great match. The Trojans really seem to be on fire now - here's hoping that continues as the season amps up. Fight On, Men of Troy!

BTW, the current (Lexus) Gauntlet standings:

USC 40
UCLA 10

No, not that the Pac-10 rep lost. The only promise they've consistently delivered on is being inconsistent. One of the most damning indictments of the Dorrell era is that this rep for yo-yo gameday showings became such a given that NO loss could ever truly shock (unless you're drinking some seriously powder-blue koolaid). The shock was that I actually kinda felt bad for them when Forbath's kick was blocked. They fought hard and stayed in the game all night, Davis was his usual lockdown self, and Bethel-Thompson(!) had flashes of greatness. If this team lands a decent coach, they might actually be a legit conference threat again.

On a happier note, the loss didn't hurt my bowl game pick'em sheet.

Gene Menez at SI.com floated TT a question that allowed USC to bask momentarily in the glow of the heavenly aura surrounding the already legendary (in Gainesville), possible Heisman-winning Gator QB:

SI.com: If you could put a game on the Gators' schedule next year, who would you like to see Florida play?

Tebow: I think it would be really fun to play USC. That would be awesome. No. 1, I think Pete Carroll is a very good coach. I think they have great players. I really respect their team. I think they're a great team. They're one of the best teams in college football. They might not be up there for a national championship, but they're a really good team. I think it would be an honor to play them.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/gene_menez/12/06/tebow.interview/index.html

I also learned I have something in common with Tebow; neither one of us has a Facebook account.
At the same time, I was kinda disappointed to find out he doesn't own any jorts and that infamous pic of wearing those with some Birkenstocks was photoshopped.

http://www.jorts.com/assets/img/photos/O63466.jpg

He actually comes across in the interview as the enthusiastic, yet humble guy he probably is in real life.

I can't believe some of the comments I am reading and hearing. I don't just mean here at CC, but in other places too. I couldn't care less what our rivals think of us. The talking heads can take their shots. And god knows that the vast majority of cfb fans didn't lose sleep learning we lost our game this weekend. In the same position, I'd be sick of us by now, too. However, I guess I have a fairly different perspective on what it means to be a fan. Booing your own team? STFU. You boo a bad call, you boo a late hit, you boo unsportsmanlike conduct, you boo an Ashlee Simpson halftime performance. You don't boo your own f*cking team... especially one that consistently brings pride and excitement to USC and its alums and fans.  If you can't be bothered to support your team when its going through a rough patch, then, please, don't let the door hit you in the a*s on the way out.

As USC fans, we do have high expectations, but does any real fan of our program believe that ANYBODY hates the Stanford loss more than Pete Carroll? High expectations are fine, but that's not the same as expecting perfection. Until some distant future date when cyborgs rule the world, this game is played by college kids - many of them still teenagers. It doesn't matter how many 5-star recruits a team has or how much money the coach is paid, there is still the human element involved in all of this. Our team's performance Saturday is nowhere near the embarassment as is the petulant behavior of some of its followers; your choices do far more to damage USC's rep than any loss of any athletic team ever could. In an earlier response to the Stanford loss, another poster explained that he had seen USC lose its "fair share of games," then mentioned the 2 losses last year. Hell, I'll even throw in the Rose Bowl against Texas and the heartbreaking loss to Cal at Berkeley a few years ago and say HA! The vast majority of schools would kill for that "fair share of losses."

USC is, what, 69-13 (84% win record) under Pete Carroll? He's been named Pac-10 coach of the year 3 times since 2003. We've been ranked in the AP Top 10 for something like 60+ weeks. We have 25 wins over AP Top 25 teams. Our record with PC as head coach is truly staggering, especially considering the changes that have brought so much parity to the cfb game. Runs like we've had (and are having) happen very very very rarely. The fact is that USC remains the pre-eminent cfb program of the millenium and that's not gonna fall apart because of the Stanford game. To expect that our team isn't going to have off days or make mistakes or (gasp) lose a game now and then is just unrealistic and immature. I am all for asking questions and considering options as our season moves forward, but I also think Coach Carroll and the team have done far more than enough to warrant our support and encouragement, especially at a time when it would be most appreciated. If you can't wrap your head around that, maybe you'd be less frustrated confining your football enjoyment to NCAA Football 08 .

So yes, the loss Saturday stunk it up bigtime... to Stanford... playing their 2nd-string quarterback... in the Coliseum. Let the suicide watch begin. Please.