Painful loss helps motivate Trojans

By Wendell Barnhouse - Mcclatchy Newspapers     Mar 23, 2007

? Harvey Adger will be at home in Baton Rouge, La., watching on television, wondering what might have been.

Nick Young still expects to see his distant cousin and former roommate every time he opens his hotel room door.

Paulette Francis’ eyes reflect the pain and sadness while her heart and soul have empty places that are too large to imagine.

The Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament isn’t supposed to be about reflection and the past. For a team like fifth-seeded Southern California, this part of March Madness should be about the next game – top-seeded North Carolina – and the excitement of what lies ahead.

Ryan Francis would have turned 20 last Saturday, in between USC’s first two NCAA Tournament victories. He started all 34 games last season as a freshman as coach Tim Floyd established his program with an overachieving 17-13 record in Year One.

Last May, back home in Baton Rouge to visit Paulette for Mother’s Day, Francis was getting a ride home when shots were fired at the car’s driver. The bullets missed the intended target and struck Francis. He died a few hours later.

“The saddest thing ever,” Floyd said.

Francis has been memorialized. His number is retired at his high school, and the new weight room there will bear his name. USC established a scholarship in his name, and there’s a No. 12 patch on the Trojans’ jerseys, his number in the team’s media guide.

Before every team huddle, the Trojans break with “1-2-3, Franchise”-Francis’ nickname since high school.

On Senior Night, the seldom-used Penrose capped a blowout of California with a long three-pointer that he believes received guidance from his former teammate.

“I just kind of looked up and said, ‘Hey, thanks, man,'” Penrose said. “You feel like he’s always here, hanging in the locker room. We feel like he’s on our shoulders, helping us out.

“Man, we miss him. We miss him a lot.”

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