USC's coach gets bounced,but comes bouncing back

Then he changed his mind. Some 10 minutes later, a team manager was sent to bring Bibby back from the locker room.

The coach walked back on the court to cheers from the Los Angeles Sports Arena crowd, again took his seat on the bench and watched as the Trojans rallied from a point down to win going away, 80-68.

Ballesteros, who also made a controversial call in an Arizona-Connecticut game earlier this season, admitted that he goofed when he ejected Bibby.

The coach was still fuming.

"That goes down in history," Bibby said. "I think someone of authority needs to see this game. I've never seen anything like that in my life. I thought it was the biggest travesty I've seen in basketball."

Even Arizona State coach Rob Evans thought it bizarre.

"The whole scenario was unbelievable," he said.

Assistant Pac-10 commissioner Jim Muldoon said Friday that the conference was reviewing the incident.

"The commissioner is waiting to discuss it with Lou Campanelli, the conference's coordinator of basketball officiating, who is out of town," Muldoon said. "If any action is to be taken, it would probably come early next week."

After a technical foul was called on USC assistant David Miller 58 seconds into the second half with the Trojans up 39-34, Ballesteros waved Bibby off the court.

Ballesteros already had called a technical on the Trojans' head coach with 1:13 left in the first half. After the technical on Miller and Bibby's ejection, the game resumed. But a few minutes later, the ref sent for Bibby.

"We called two technical fouls, one on Henry Bibby and the second on the assistant coach," Ballesteros said. "When we ejected Bibby, we misapplied the rule. The NCAA rule says you eject the head coach if he has two technicals, or if there are three on the bench.

"We ejected him by mistake, with two on the bench. When we realized our mistake, we were waiting for the first dead-ball situation to correct it."

All that didn't mollify Bibby.

"The second technical wasn't against me. I told Richie that. He said I was crazy and told me to leave the game," Bibby said. "Then a manager came into the locker room and said it was OK for me to come back."

Ballesteros summoned Bibby back to the court with 14:44 left to play and Arizona State up 45-44. The Trojans then went on a 14-4 run to take control.

Evans got a technical of his own just 21/2 minutes into the game.

"I got it for complaining that our player got hit on the shot," the Sun Devils coach said, shaking his head.

The fact the Trojans beat the underdog Sun Devils avoided what could have been an even more serious controversy. USC (17-6, 7-4 Pac-10) is hoping to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament with a strong stretch run. If the Trojans had lost, they would have been unable to protest the incorrect decision by Ballesteros because the conference has no appeal process in such instances.

Ballesteros made a controversial goaltending call against Arizona in a 71-69 loss to Connecticut on Dec. 9 when Loren Woods of the Wildcats, ranked No. 5 at the time, appeared to block a shot by Tony Robertson of the Huskies, who were No. 15, with 1.8 seconds to play.

Replays seemed to show that the block was clean.<