PACIFIC 10 BASKETBALL / DAN HAFNER : With Imaginary Gun Loaded, USC’s Chatman Is Hitting Target

This was the season that Rodney Chatman was going to be the leader of the USC basketball team.

With Harold Miner and Duane Cooper gone, Chatman would be the key man on George Raveling’s young team. He seemed ready to take charge.

In preparation for his important new role, Chatman burned up the L.A. Summer League. He was averaging 37 points a game, best in a league that included UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon and several other highly rated collegians.

But just before the end of the summer season, a player dived into the back of Chatman’s right leg, injuring his knee.

Arthroscopic surgery in October revealed just a few bone chips. But the damage to USC was irreparable. Chatman was still hobbling when the season started, and it was just recently--probably too late to get the Trojans into the NCAA tournament--that he reached full potential.

Lately, hardly anyone has played better than the 6-foot-3 guard from New Smyrna Beach, Fla. In a recent three-game span, Chatman, the best USC defensive guard, even when hobbled, scored 37, 18 and 30 points, respectively. He made 28 of 46 shots (60.9%), 12 of 19 from three-point range.

“It was an amazing feeling,” he said as the Trojans prepared for a trip to Arizona and the final two games of the regular season. “I felt as though every shot was going in. I was surprised when one didn’t. I’ve heard of that happening to shooters, but it never happened to me.

“The pain hasn’t disappeared completely, but I no longer worry about it. Coach Raveling told me about three weeks ago to just go out there and let the game come to me. It sure is doing that.”

Chatman has moved in as the scoring leader, with a 12.7-point average, but it is far below expectations.

“The way we had things figured, Rodney was going to be our leader,” Raveling said. “We figured he would score at least 18 points a game. He and Phil Glenn would make it easier for the guys inside, and Lorenzo Orr would probably average 16. The knee surgery wrecked our plans.

“The slow recovery was frustrating to Rodney. It made him feel that when he did get in there, he had to do it all. I had to keep reminding him that there were four other guys out there. But now he feels more comfortable, and when I returned him to the lineup three weeks ago, he was ready.”

Last season, with the pressure on Miner and Cooper in clutch situations, Chatman was left open for shots that won several key games. Included was a jump shot at the buzzer to upset Arizona, 70-69.

Chatman was asked why he decided to attend USC when he was a highly recruited in two sports. He was all-state in football and basketball.

“There were two main reasons why I came to USC,” he said. “No. 1, probably, was that my mom liked Coach Raveling.

“The other reason was that I felt I should go to college away from home. As the only boy with three sisters, I thought I should go away and grow up. I have never regretted the decision. I like it out here.”

He went about as far away from Florida as he could.

“I feel pretty good that I’m finally making the kind of contributions to this team I thought I could all along,” he said. “It was great beating UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. The fans were not very nice to our song girls, and they were on us all night.”

After the 10-point victory, Chatman and Glenn stood in front of the Bruin rooting section and imitated shooting a gun.

“It’s something we do in the dressing room before a game,” Chatman said. “We say to each other, ‘Have your gun loaded,’ meaning put those three-pointers in the basket. We were just reminding the Bruins that we had our guns loaded.”

Chatman will be playing his final games for the Trojans at Arizona Thursday night and Arizona State on Saturday night, unless he and Orr can lead the Trojans to upsets. Is so, with a 18-9 record, the Trojans would have a shot at the NCAA tournament or the National Invitation Tournament.

*

The Pacific 10 is concerned that there is a tendency in the rest of the country to underrate the conference.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson has a couple of suggestions to improve the Pac-10’s image.

First, he says, the conference has to do better in NCAA tournament play.

“We also should get a tie-up with the Big Ten or some other conference for a midseason series,” he said. “That would give us more exposure outside the conference, something we badly need.”