Basketball

There is something about the way Andy Enfield leans back in a big leather chair, phone pressed against one ear, doodling on a notepad as he talks. His shirt is pressed, his cuff monogrammed. The new boss of the USC basketball team looks more like a businessman than a coach. "To run a Division I program," he says, "you need to be the CEO. " On his first day with the Trojans - after the introductory news conference - he spends a hectic couple of hours in his office scanning paperwork, scheduling appointments and sneaking bites of a shrimp salad that has been placed before him. The telephone rings every 20 minutes with another radio interview.

New USC women's basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has been challenged. Trojans athletic director Pat Haden said he wants the program back to being relevant nationally. “Cynthia is a proven coach and there's no reason she can't help us get back to the level it was when she played here in the 1980s,” Haden said. Cooper-Dyke said she is eager to face that challenge. “If you were to ask what my dream job was,” Cooper-Dyke said during a conference call Friday, “it was to come back home and be head coach at USC. “My dream for my program at USC is to win, to develop a culture of winning, to put a product on the floor that the fans, players, administration, alumni can be proud of.” Cooper-Dyke played on USC's national championship teams in 1983 and 1984 and was part of the USA's gold-medal-winning team at the 1988 Olympics.

A sports bookie was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison for a conspiracy to bribe former University of San Diego basketball star Brandon Johnson. Paul Joseph Thweni, 28, of Spring Valley pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to a single count of conspiracy. Along with the 30 months in prison, District Judge Anthony Battaglia also sentenced him to three years' probation. Thweni and co-defendants allegedly induced Johnson, the school's all-time leading scorer, to take bribes so that gamblers could win bets in Las Vegas.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who played on two NCAA championship teams at USC and starred in the WNBA, has been hired as USC's women's basketball coach, the school announced. Cooper-Dyke, who coached last season at Texas Southern, replaces Michael Cooper, whose USC team finished 11-20 last season. Cooper-Dyke has also coached at UNC-Wilmington and Prairie View A&M. She has an eight-year record of 150-106. Last season, Texas Southern finished 20-12 and won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season title.

Tony Bland, a San Diego State assistant who played for the school and also at Westchester High, has accepted an offer to join USC Coach Andy Enfield's staff as associate head coach, according to a report. Bland told UTSanDiego that Enfield offered him the job last Thursday at the Final Four. Bland's compensation will increase from $120,000 to as much as $300,000, the website said. "I took a risk of losing a lot of money, of losing a chance to really provide for my family, because of my loyalty,” Bland told Mark Zeigler of UTSan Diego.

Louisville is a No. 5 seed that beat a No. 1 seed (defending champion Baylor) and a pair of twos (Tennessee and California) on its way to a date with another No. 1 seed, women's basketball powerhouse Connecticut, in the NCAA championship game Tuesday night. Writers from around the Tribune Co. discuss whether the Cardinals can pull off one more upset to claim the national championship. Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment of your own. Mike Hiserman, Los Angeles Times Can they?

NEW ORLEANS - After all the years and countless milestones, it's hardly possible for Connecticut to bounce a pass anymore without making history. Geno Auriemma, the master craftsman, and his series of master classes, have become as synonymous to women's basketball as Howard Johnson was to the ice-cream cone. Things just seemed vastly different in the world once they came along. On Tuesday, after being re-routed at times by injuries and, well, you know, Notre Dame, the Huskies arrived at the place they've come to know so well.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino is among seven people elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Joining Pitino in the class of 2013, announced Monday, are former NBA stars Bernard King and Gary Payton, former Nevada Las Vegas coach Jerry Tarkanian, North Carolina women's Coach Sylvia Hatchell, former University of Houston coach Guy Lewis, and former University of Virginia star Dawn Staley. The inductions will be in Springfield, Mass., in September. Inductees announced previously were Edwin E.B. Henderson, a direct elect by the Early African Pioneer Committee; longtime Indiana Pacers guard Roger Brown; Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, the leading scorer in Olympic history; Richie Guerin, a star for the New York Knicks in the 1950s; and Russ Granik, the longtime assistant commissioner of the NBA. :: Bob Cantu, a longtime USC basketball assistant who served as interim coach after Kevin O'Neill was fired in January, will not be retained as part of new Coach Andy Enfield's staff, the school announced.

Bob Cantu, a longtime USC basketball assistant who served as interim coach after Kevin O'Neill was fired in January, will not be retained as part of new Coach Andy Enfield's staff, the school announced. Cantu had been at USC since 2001 and served under four coaches. “I want to thank everyone I worked with at USC the past 12 years,” Cantu said in a statement posted on USC's website. “It was a great experience.  We had some memorable moments. I look forward to following the future success of the program.” Jason Hart, a Pepperdine assistant who played high school basketball in the Southland and also at Syracuse and in the NBA, will join the USC staff, Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson announced via Twitter.