USC's Daniel Hackett wants to have a say in it

Daniel Hackett, his father says, was raised "to say how he feels and say how he thinks."

Those playing against USC's basketball team get it. Those playing for USC accept it. Even those officiating USC games have had to turn a deaf ear to it.

Just this season, the junior guard has: goaded UCLA freshman Drew Gordon into swinging what was later described as an "inadvertent" elbow; called out a Pacific 10 Conference official after a close loss; and had an intense and somewhat public argument with fellow Trojan Dwight Lewis.

Hackett acknowledges that his past includes many such confrontations, incidents in which he describes his part as "stupid." Yet, try to find anyone around USC's basketball program who thinks the team could do without him.

"I know who Daniel Hackett is," Coach Tim Floyd says. "He's a winner."

He will need to be, all this week.

USC, which plays California in the Pac-10 tournament Thursday at Staples Center, needs to win out -- three games in three days -- to grab the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Hackett is already at work, saying the Trojans "owe" the Golden Bears for an overtime loss two weeks ago and promising to "play with a chip on my shoulder."

"That," teammate Keith Wilkinson says, "should make you worry."

Asked whether there was anything new about his playing with a chip on his shoulder, Hackett laughs and jokes, "This is a cinder block."

Lifting that from Hackett's shoulders would be akin to removing the jump shot from his game. Pushing and shoving are a way of life.

Sometimes it's internal, as when he rushed to graduate from Bellflower St. John Bosco High a year early because the Trojans needed him after point guard Ryan Francis was killed.

Sometimes it's external, as when he and Lewis got into a fight during practice their freshman year.

"Yes, I've seen my share of drama," Hackett says. "I'll tell you one thing about my episodes -- they were stupid. But it comes from my competitive nature."

Hackett's father, Rudy, the strength and conditioning manager for USC's basketball team, says, "It's one thing to teach principles and reasoning, it's another when emotions are involved. You still can't get through the impulsiveness that's innate in a person. Daniel has made great strides the last two years."

Besides, he adds, "You have to be careful with players. You don't want to take the fight out of them and make them all lambs."