Picking Starters Only Half the Battle

USC is usually deep in its nonconference schedule before Coach Henry Bibby settles on a starting lineup.

But five games in, Bibby has found his starting five in freshman point guard Rodrick Stewart, junior shooting guard Errick Craven, senior guard Desmon Farmer, junior power forward Jeff McMillan and junior center Rory O’Neil.

They first started together in the Trojans’ overtime loss to Nevada Las Vegas on Wednesday and were on the floor for the opening tip at St. Mary’s on Saturday.

Although Bibby said continuity and developing an identity were factors in establishing a starting five, the acceptance of former starters Derrick Craven and Nick Curtis, along with high school All-American Lodrick Stewart, of coming off the bench is a bigger key.

“If we can get these three guys to accept their roles and get comfortable, we’ll be a pretty good basketball team,” Bibby said.

“I think we are better than we were last year. Now we have to just accept that, jell, have unity and chemistry and play.”

Curtis, a power forward who had one of his most impressive games as a starter at Washington last season with 17 points and 15 rebounds, is fine with it.

“[Bibby] always says the bench players are the most important players on the team, that it really matters who’s in at the end of the game,” Curtis said. “So it’s just, whatever I can do to help, whatever they need me to do. If they want me to get a guy’s water ... “

The Trojans’ excitement over regaining the services of power forward Gregg Guenther, the USC football team’s starting tight end, after the Rose Bowl has been tempered by the sprained left knee that Guenther suffered while trying to block a field-goal attempt Saturday.

“He’s a football scholarship guy and he’s playing for football, he’s not playing for me, so to speak,” Bibby said. “It’s an addition to get Gregg back here.... Gregg is just a big plus for us, if and when he comes.”

The freshman Stewart twins, who have acknowledged having difficulty getting motivated for games in which they don’t start, have been deemed off-limits to the media for the time being.

“No reason, just coach’s decision,” Bibby said. “Coach [John] Wooden used to do it. He didn’t always let us talk, so I’m just following his footsteps.”

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More fallout from last week’s overtime loss to UNLV: According to Rebel junior forward Odartey Blankson, Trojan fans can learn a thing or two from the Loyola Marymount faithful.

“It didn’t feel like a road game when we played at USC,” Blankson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the Rebels had defeated the Lions at Gersten Pavilion on Saturday. “Nobody was [at the Sports Arena]. It was so quiet. Here, it felt like you were the enemy.”