Bibby, Snyder meet again in Wooden Classic

Friday December 06, 2002

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Nearly 20 years ago, Henry Bibby was an assistant coach at Arizona State trying to recruit standout guard Quin Snyder.

Bibby struck out. Snyder, a two-time state player of the year at Mercer Island High in Washington, decided to attend Duke.

Now, the two are head coaches who will face each other Saturday in the ninth annual John R. Wooden Classic. Snyder's 15th-ranked Missouri Tigers play Bibby's USC Trojans after California faces Georgia in the first game of the doubleheader.

``It's exciting to see him doing so well,'' Bibby said Friday. ``Hopefully, he doesn't do so well tomorrow.''

Arthur Johnson, Ricky Clemons and Rickey Paulding lead the Tigers (3-0), who want to cultivate a different personality after losing last year's offensive stars Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert.

``We've really tried to begin the year finding a defensive identity,'' Snyder said. ``Our kids believe that's what they want to be. It's going to take game experience for us to get to know each other on the offensive end, where we can be efficient.''

Bibby wants to find an identity for the Trojans (2-2), who are led by Desmon Farmer.

``We've shown different faces,'' Bibby said. ``We've shown that we're a good running team, and we've shown that we can turn the ball over 25 times, too.

``I want my team to be like me gritty, tough, in your face. This team hasn't taken on my personality.''

Like Missouri, California is undefeated and hoping to build consistency through defense. The Golden Bears (3-0) rely on Joe Shipp, Brian Wethers and Amit Tamir.

``We're working hard to become a better defensive team,'' Cal coach Ben Braun said. ``Our team has been up and down within the same game. We've got to find that happy medium where we're putting together some consistency.''

Georgia (2-3) was ranked in the Top 25, but dropped out after losing two of its last three games.

The tournament is named for the former UCLA coach, now 92, who guided the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span before retiring in 1995.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)