When it comes to college basketball in Los Angeles, UCLA is king, and rightfully so. They have dominated the landscape for years, with USC playing the role of Clippers to the Bruins' portrayal of the Lakers. USC doesn't have nearly the lineage of UCLA, but one of the very best Trojans ever was Harold Miner, who turned pro 18 years ago. Jim Weber of The Dagger blog on Yahoo! Sports caught up with USC's all-time leading scorer recently, with a very nice and all too rare interview. Miner has been mostly private since retiring from the NBA at 25, because he was never comfortable with the limelight:
↵↵↵"I probably never got used to being in the spotlight," Miner said. "I'd say it's always been uncomfortable for me, not natural for me."
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In his final season at USC, in 1992, the Trojans were a number two seed in the NCAA tournament, but were upset in the second round by Georgia Tech. To this day, I refuse to write a team into my bracket until the game is actually finished thanks to this game, as USC was leading with 0.8 seconds left, but James Forrest hit a shot at the buzzer to end the Trojans' title hopes:
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A good thing about Miner's brief career is that, according to Weber, Miner has saved his money well, a far cry from the many stories of basketball players going broke so soon after making millions.