With the lockout looming, NBA players are going to have a lot of spare time. Some have been talking about going to play abroad, but I have some other suggestions for a few of today’s biggest talents.

LeBron James: Re-grow hair. I think it’s about time to hop on that Rogaine train, Bron Bron. You’re only 26 years old and that headband can only ride up so far until it flies off your dome. I know you played wide receiver in high school but they’re going to start calling you wide receder soon. Then again, the Mailman used Rogaine and he never won a championship.

The Kevins:

• Kevin Love: Get a tan.

• Kevin Garnett: What’s the opposite of get a tan?

• Kevin Durant: Eat something.

Blake Griffin: New haircut. It’s hard to hate on the Blake Show but that ginger fro’s gotta go, bro. Mow it down, keep it short. It’ll make you more aerodynamic.

Paul Pierce: Shave. Your facial hair looks like glued on pubic hair. It’s patchy, it’s disgusting and it makes you look homeless.

Carmelo Anthony/The Knicks: Defense. Learn it.

Ron Artest aka Metta W. Peace: Comic book and/or movie deal. Who wouldn’t want to see a kick-ass, crime-fighting basketball player beating up bad guys with his amazing basketball-related abilities?! With a name like Metta World Peace, this business opportunity is too good to pass up.

Kobe Bryant: Cryogenic freezing. There has been some talk of Kobe’s new cryotherapy treatment for his knee which is supposed to speed up the heeling of his leg with the use of a cryogenic chamber that gets down to minus 166 degrees Fahrenheit. We all know Kobe’s getting older and his body ain’t what it used to be. I say we take it a step further and cryogenically freeze the whole Kobe until the next season is set to get under way. The Lakers can’t afford any idle Kobe time.

Yao Ming: Human ladder.

Luke Walton: Human toilet, and/or retire.

Kardashian and Humphries pictured partying on a yacht...but are stormy seas ahead?

Cynthia Momdjian

He got down on one knee with a 20.5 carat ring, and now what?

With wedding bells becoming more and more audible as the summer season is rolling around, it’s only natural that juicy rumors of the all-star couple start percolating throughout the newswire.

Many couples have been subject to media exposure at all levels, and K-squared are apparently the new kids on the tabloid chopping block. Interesting reports have been coming at us from left and right. From rumors of infidelity to sneak-peeks of their prenup, the Kardashian clan has maintained a constant presence in the media-sphere, with Kris Humphries being a new addition to their effervescent limelight.

Early last week, the popular tabloid InTouch slammed Kim with a big, scarlet letter “A” and claimed that she had been having a “sexting” relationship with another popular NFL player, Bret Lockett. ABC.com reports that Lockett immediately set the record straight by going “on ‘Showbiz Tonight’ [last] Friday and confessed that he had never actually met the star.” It’s safe to say…it’s for us to not know, and their cell phones to leak out.

Aside from unconfirmed chatter, ABC.com also reports that Kim is personally putting all rumors to rest and diligently focusing on her star-studded, Hollywood wedding. Top on her checklist? Drafting a prenup. And verbally quantifying Kardashian’s assets are “No small feat, considering that Forbes magazine estimated that the reality star made $12 million in the past year from endorsements, appearance fees, television shows and product lines. In contrast, groom-to-be Humphries reportedly earns $3.2 million a year as a Nets forward,” reports ABC.com. The soon-to-be Mr. Kardashian, thanks to super mom Kris Kardashian’s keen sense of all-things-business, won’t receive a single dime if the couple splits down the road…shocking. To quote the late Bob Marley, it really must be love that their feeling.

In light of all the updates, it seems that Kim is definitely ready to become a basketball wife. We’ll just have to see if Kris Humphries is ready to become a reality-star husband. With all this in mind, the couple’s upcoming wedding and reality show will definitely be something to keep up with.

Andre Khatchaturian

A couple years ago the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins. In doing so, they pretty much mortgaged their future. They traded their first-round pick from 2010, second-round pick from 2010, and their first-round pick from 2011 in order to get Kessel.

Phil Kessel has not disappointed. He has had consecutive 30-plus goal seasons, including 62 points this season. However, the Maple Leafs were in no position to let go of valuable draft picks. The Maple Leafs hadn’t (and still haven’t) made the playoffs since God knows when.

When a team is in that position, they need to rebuild from the bottom with strong draft picks and build a solid foundation. With Kessel, they ended up receiving the second pick in the NHL draft last year and this turned out to be Tyler Seguin, the 19-year-old who scored three goals in the Eastern Conference Finals this year.

Seguin is getting valuable playoff experience this year and might get his name on the Cup in his first season. He has a bright future ahead of him and the Maple Leafs are kicking themselves in the forehead because they passed up the opportunity to get him.

To think things couldn’t get worse for the Leafs, the Bruins ended up taking their ninth pick from this year’s draft. Also, the second-round pick from last year’s draft, Jared Knight, turned out to be a pretty good player for Boston, too. He made his AHL debut this year and had two assists in three games. In the OHL, Knight scored 70 points in 68 games and he looks like he’s a promising prospect for the B’s.

With the Bruins already in the Stanley Cup Final this season, they only get stronger in the future with such high draft picks. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs get poor draft picks and a player who can barely crack 60 points. That is not a recipe for success.

And now this summer, the Bruins can probably go after Ryan Strome, who scored 106 points in 65 games with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL, or Ryan Murphy, a high scoring defenseman who should provide the Bruins blueline with a scoring punch.

These are players that need to be developed in the Maple Leafs’ system so that they can put them back in the playoffs again. The Phil Kessel trade is slowly turning into one of the worst trades in recent memory for the Leafs.

They will continue to struggle and their divisional rival Boston Bruins, who are already a Stanley Cup caliber team as evidenced by this year’s run, have a great future with Seguin, Knight, and whoever they draft this year at No. 9 overall.

It’s one thing mortgaging to your future away, but to mortgage it away to one of your rivals is an irreversible mistake. The Leafs will continue to be a down trodden second rate team until they make smarter front office decisions.

Andre Khatchaturian

The season is over and it’s time to focus on the 2011 NBA Draft.

For the Lakers though, it will be very interesting to see what they do with their picks. This season, because of trades made throughout the past few seasons, the Lakers do not have a first round draft pick. And even if they did, it would be a late first-round draft pick.

Looking at past history, Laker draft picks have not even played for the team. They’ve mostly been late first round draft picks or late second round draft picks. This happens because of the Lakers’ success, so they get stuck with poor draft picks. Most of the time the Lakers just trade their picks. They did so to acquire Pau Gasol a few years ago. Because of this, the Lakers get stuck with a bunch of Chinemelu Elonus and Joe Crawfords.

It’s not that the Lakers don’t draft well. Guys like Ronny Turiaf and Jordan Farmar have gone on to have solid careers. It’s that the Lakers team is so stacked it’s extremely difficult for a young player to just make the team.

So now the Lakers are stuck with four draft picks in the second-round this season. Most of these won’t crack the Lakers roster. Does it make sense for the Lakers to get rid of their draft picks then?

Of course it does.

First off, the Lakers have the 41st, 46th, 56th, and 58th picks. None of these guys are likely to get a spot on the team, especially in a very weak draft. The Lakers are better off trading all four picks to a team that can use them in exchange for a solid bench player.

Does it make sense for the Lakers to draft guys that are never going to play for the team and have them just leave with no compensation? Of course not. So trade them away. The Lakers can use the depth.

They don’t have to get a star player in return. They probably won’t be able to. But there are plenty of teams that can use those extra draft picks, with the hopes of one of them becoming a relevant player. The Lakers in return can get a guy that will provide for them off the bench and bring depth.

Let’s be honest, the NBA draft has become a dull event amongst Laker fans. A trade, especially since the CBA hasn’t expired yet, will provide an exciting change for Laker fans and perhaps even help the team.

Andre Khatchaturian

Alex Burrows had scored a huge goal in overtime to give the Canucks a 2-0 series lead.

Canada’s favorite team had the momentum going into Boston. They were looking to take the crowd out of it.

And then Aaron Rome changed the series in one split second.

This article was not written to vilify Rome, who has no history of dirty behavior. It wasn’t written to justify his suspension. It wasn’t written to say whether if the hit by Rome deserves a suspension.

No. It wasn’t written for any of that.

Whether the hit was dirty or not, it sent shockwaves across the NHL. It galvanized the Bruins and their crowd and they responded in a big way with eight goals in last night’s rout.

It gave them momentum going into the rest of the series. The uncertainty of Horton’s condition throughout the game and the rest of the series helped the Bruins rally together for a common cause last night and it will be the same throughout the history.

The truth is, injuries like this bring a team closer together. The Bruins are already a close knit team as evidenced by their Stanley Cup run.

But now, it’s personal. Forget the Burrows biting incident. That was child’s play compared to the hit on Nathan Horton.

Word came out that Horton has a “severe concussion.” These words do not sit well with anybody. Seeing how stars like Sidney Crosby have not been able to return from a concussion so easily, who knows when we’ll see Horton again?

Also, another reason why the Bruins will be more united is because they know that the player they are losing is more valuable than the player the Canucks lost.

It gives them even more reason for every single player to step up. And it will happen.

The Bruins are very multi-dimensional. They have numerous scorers. From veterans like Mark Recchi to young guns like Tyler Seguin. They are packed with scorers and each and every player on the team is going to fight even harder to get Horton’s name etched on the Cup.

We saw what happened with the Pittsburgh Penguins this season when they lost Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Everyone thought they were done but other players like Tyler Kennedy stepped up to help the Penguins achieve their second highest point total in franchise history.

Now that the Bruins have cracked Luongo and have all the momentum, they believe they can beat the Canucks. The first two games they lost were close nail biters. They could’ve won both games.

And as long as they have their netminder playing supreme hockey, they know for a fact they can win.

Losing Horton for the Bruins is like losing a family member. Winning it for the city of Boston is one thing, but winning it for one of your best teammates is another.

The hit has also the series more physical and chippy. Shawn Thornton received a game misconduct and a rare fight broke out in the third period. The fact that the Bruins were doing their finger mocking throughout Game 3 means that they don’t have a short memory.

They remember the bite, and they’ll remember the hit. It doesn’t matter if it was intentional or not. It already happened. Horton’s gone. And Boston’s up for revenge.

And the best revenge they can get is by winning three more games.

Andre Khatchaturian
As we approach the 2011 NBA Draft, everyone is wondering where the NBA’s most saintly player will play next year. After having a stellar season at BYU offensively and not playing a lick of defense, Jimmer Fredette needs to go somewhere that has a great offensive-minded coach, and also where he will be getting playing time and be surrounded by great teammates who stay out of trouble.

With that being said, you can guarantee the Washington Wizards will not be on this list.

Here are the top five teams that will be the best fit for the Jimmer.

5. Golden State Warriors
Living in San Francisco might be a little too extreme for the Jimmer, but the high-powered Warrior offense is a good fit for Fredette.

He doesn’t have to play defense here. He can just take shots, walk back and allow two points on the fast break. He also gets the luxury of playing against three very atrocious teams in the Pacific division in the Kings, Clippers and Suns.

The only problem with playing for the Warriors is that they already have a great point guard in Stephen Curry, so Jimmer will have to come off the bench.

4. New York Knicks
Jimmer believes the Knicks are the best option for him. Mike D’Antoni is an offensive-minded coach, and the Knicks can use a point guard, even if Billups does return. Moving from the mountains of Utah to the City that Never Sleeps is a huge task though.

The media attention in New York City is also microscopic, so they’ll be following Jimmer’s every move both on and off the court. If he struggles, the media will bash him, and it may be detrimental to his toughness and confidence.

He does have a strong relationship with God that will help fight off the New York critics though.

Critics aside, all Jimmer can do is score, and the Knicks’ offense is suitable for a player like him.

3. Houston Rockets
The Rockets would love a nice scoring point guard like Fredette. Houston is also in dire need of scoring, especially since Yao Ming is hurt every year. Fredette can solve those problems.

There’s also not a lot of pressure playing in Houston; Fredette can be Fredette.

2. Minnesota Timberwolves
It may be hard to see Fredette fall as low as the 20th spot in the draft, but if he does, playing in Minnesota will be a great fit.

It’s not the flashiest of cities. There isn’t a lot of media attention there, and Fredette can probably help that struggling T’Wolves offense. He won’t have to play defense because Kevin Love will be doing that for him.

It’s true Ricky Rubio signed with the Wolves, but there are a lot of questions with him. What if Rubio turns out to be a bust? The Wolves can alternate between he and Fredette, and see what works best at the position.

1. Utah Jazz
This is obvious.

Hopefully Jimmer does get drafted by the Jazz at No. 12. He is projected to go around 10-15, so this makes a lot of sense.

Jimmer is a Mormon, and Utah has a huge population of Mormons, so he will easily be a fan favorite; the legend of Jimmer Fredette will essentially continue from BYU to the Utah Jazz.

After Carlos Boozer left, the Jazz are in need of a new star, and Fredette can be that star. His great shooting abilities will help Utah bounce back after a dismal season. They also got several good pieces back from the Deron Williams trade, so Fredette will have a lot of help around him.

The Jazz can probably be a playoff team next season because of that trade.

Fredette’s wholesome image will also be a great sell for the Mormon faithful in Utah. This is the best possible destination and one of the more likely places Fredette will end up.

Andre Khatchaturian

On Twitter, Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement from the NBA. After 19 seasons, Shaq accumulated 28,596 points and 13,099 rebounds, along with four championship rings. He’s a surefire Hall of Famer, and he will forever be considered one of the greatest centers who ever played the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers recently announced that they will retire O’Neal’s number on the Staples Center wall and deservedly so. The Lakers’ three-peat would not have been possible if it wasn’t for Shaq. Miami will probably end up retiring his number too because he led them to their first ever title.

But what about Orlando? Should he have his number retired with the Magic, even though he only spent four years with them and left unceremoniously?

He never won a ring with the Magic, but he did put Orlando on the basketball map for numerous years. After being taken first overall in the 1992 NBA Draft, O’Neal went on to win the Rookie of the Year award and led the Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals.

He made the Magic relevant. The money he earned with the Lakers was a testament to his great years in Orlando.

Shaq shot over 55 percent in all four seasons in Orlando. In his rookie year, he averaged a career high 13.9 rebounds per game, and he averaged over 29 points in both the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

What is most impressive about O’Neal’s impact on the Magic is that the team was in their infancy when they started dominating the Eastern Conference. Expansion teams generally don’t start winning games until they develop their team and this usually takes awhile. Paired with Horace Grant and Penny Hardaway, Shaq and the Magic took Orlando to the finals in only their sixth season, becoming the second fastest franchise to do such a task.

Although they were swept by the Houston Rockets, and Shaquille O’Neal was hurt during most of his last year with the Magic and ended up leaving, the Magic should still retire Shaq’s No. 32. If it wasn’t for him, who knows how long it would’ve taken the Magic to put up a solid team.

Couple that situation with the fact that they play in a small market, and NBA teams relocate often compared to other sports like baseball, and we may not even have the Orlando Magic franchise today if it wasn’t for Shaq. They played in an outdated arena until this season and if it wasn’t for Shaq’s contributions for Orlando magic, they may not have gained the fan support to keep the basketball team in Orlando. There were talks regarding relocation in the late 1990s after Shaq left. If Shaq hadn’t left those talks may have come into fruition.

So retire his number. He truly deserves it. He is the pioneer of Orlando basketball. Along with Dwight Howard, he is the reason why the new Amway Center was built and why Orlando will continue to have a basketball team for the foreseeable future.

Andre Khatchaturian

Throughout the Atlanta Thrashers’ existence in Georgia, the Penguins repeatedly destroyed them. So the relocation for Pens fans probably just means that we’ll destroy them in Winnipeg instead of Atlanta.

But there’s more.

Gary Bettman stated in his state of the NHL address before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final that relocation will be necessary after this coming season. For now, Winnipeg will remain in the Southeast and any geography student will shake his head in disgust when he looks at the current divisional alignment.

However, eventually Winnipeg will be moved to the Western Conference. This will cause for some shake up in the NHL. Winnipeg moving west means that they will probably be placed in either the Central or the Northwest division.

This will leave a vacancy in the Southeast division. The closest geographical NHL city is Nashville. So they will probably be placed in the Southeast. This means Pittsburgh will play Nashville four times.

Nashville is a strong up and coming team and they are lot more difficult matchup for the Pens than the Thrashers ever were. However, they’re in Washington’s division so it’s highly unlikely we’ll see Washington beating up on their division every year with two solid teams in Tampa Bay and Nashville in their division.

Bettman also stated in his state of the NHL address that there was a good chance that Eastern Conference teams would play Western Conference teams twice each year rather than once, which is the norm now.

So this means that Winnipeg should be just placed in the Central division and everything is good right?

Possibly, but another scenario has both Detroit and Columbus moving to the Eastern Conference.

There is speculation that teams these teams, who are in the eastern time zone, want to move to the Eastern Conference. They want to do this to ease the burden of travel. Since both cities are far more eastbound than Nashville is, the scenario exists that Nashville stays in the Western Conference’s Central division but both Detroit and Columbus east.

This means a flurry of changes will come which will probably look like this and include a rare imbalance in the East and West because other than the Winnipeg team, there really isn’t any team that the league can move westward.

Atlantic

Pittsburgh
New Jersey
Philadelphia
New York Islanders
New York Rangers

Northeast

Boston
Buffalo
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
Detroit

Southeast

Columbus
Carolina
Washington
Tampa Bay
Florida

Central

Winnipeg
St. Louis
Chicago
Nashville

So as seen above, the Atlantic won’t change, but having Detroit in the Eastern Conference means that we can never have a Penguins-Red Wings Stanley Cup again, but more importantly this implies that it will be increasingly more difficult to make it to the Finals with the Red Wings lurking there every year.

Columbus can probably be another team the Penguins can beat up on in the regular season so that may help them.

Also, the Central division with four teams looks like a division which Chicago can constantly dominate.

It seems highly unlikely that the NHL will head toward the unbalanced conferences notion. But if Detroit wants to move east there seems like no other solution because geographically, all of the teams other than Winnipeg are placed properly in the NHL.

The first scenario seems more likely but either way, the road to the Cup will be a little bit more difficult for the Penguins with Nashville or Detroit in the Eastern Conference.

Andre Khatchaturian

Cue Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

Today, the 39-year-old Shaquille O’Neal hung up his sneakers and called it a career. And what a career it was.

Shaq Diesel amassed 28,596 points, 13,099 rebounds, 2,732 blocks, four championships, three NBA Finals MVP awards, one regular season MVP award, three All-Star Game MVP awards, and was a two-time NBA scoring champion as a center.

The Big Fella was at one point the most dominant player in the game. When he played with the Lakers, he was absolutely unstoppable. Laker game plans were very simple. Get the ball to Shaq and watch him steamroll passed the defense and score.

Shaq’s most successful season came in the 1999-2000 season where he scored 29.7 points per game and 13.6 rebounds per game. In the playoffs that season, he did what great players do. He stepped up his game to a higher level against tougher competition. He scored 30.7 points per game and 15.4 rebounds per game in that playoff season. He eventually lead the Lakers to their first championship since 1988 and won his first NBA Finals MVP award.

In fact, Shaq’s career average for points and rebounds is higher in the playoffs than in the regular season. This exemplifies his tendency of raising his game when it mattered most. Shaq is truly the greatest big man to play in our generation and he was a marvel to watch.

Shaq may have been injured a lot throughout his career but it really is amazing how long he was able to play given his size. We see guys like Yao Ming and Greg Oden who can’t stay healthy at all ever because of their massive builds. But Shaq was able to play and obliterate the competition for years.

Players would hang on Shaq and he would still go up with three guys clinging on him and dunk the ball. It was a joke to think that anyone could guard him.

Teams like Portland tried to implement the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy to stop him. They would simply just foul him to put him on the line to make him shoot free throws because if there was one weakness Shaq had, it was shooting free throws. But none of it ever worked. Shaq and the Lakers dominated the competition and went on to win three straight titles.

Before Dwight Howard became Superman in Orlando, Shaq was Superman. He lead the Orlando Magic to their first NBA Finals appearance. After an unceremonious breakup with the Magic, Shaq signed a lucrative seven-year, $121 million contract with the Lakers.

Surrounded by budding superstar Kobe Bryant and legendary head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers opened up Staples Center with three straight titles. One of the most memorable moments from the title years was Game 7 against Portland in the Western Conference Finals.

Kobe Bryant laid up an alley-oop to Shaq, who slammed it down and ran down the court with both arms raised in the air, eyes and mouth wide open as the Lakers completed a comeback and advanced to the NBA Finals.

Unfortunately though, with success comes ego. And when two large egos collide, tension arises. As Kobe developed into a star, the Kobe-Shaq feud started and O’Neal was shipped to Miami where he won another title.

However, Shaq and Kobe have mended their relationship fortunately and the Laker nation is anxiously awaiting to see O’Neal’s No. 34 hang from the Staples’ rafters.

Shaq is a sure-fire hall of famer and he should be considered as a candidate as the greatest center of all time. People may bring up Kareem or Wilt Chamberlain, but the fact of the matter is they played in generations where players were not as strong as they are today. Shaq had stiffer competition.

Sure Wilt was able to score a 100 points in a game. But if Shaq played in his era, he would probably be able to do that numerous times. His immense size and strength was an unstoppable force.

It’s a shame the feud with Kobe cut his career in LA short. The Lakers could have won several more titles if the chemistry between the two legendary players existed.

Nevertheless, Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest Lakers of all time and he will forever be remembered for the joy he brought onto Laker fans’ faces at the turn of the century and for bringing back Showtime.

Andre Khatchaturian
This past week, Pat Haden and the Trojans athletic department got the bad news: The NCAA will not be lifting the sanctions they received last June.

The Trojans will not be able to participate in any bowl games again this season, including the inaugural Pac-12 championship game taking place in early December. They will also continue to lose scholarships.

Despite these sanctions, the Trojans were able to finish third in the Pac-10 last season, getting eight wins. They were able to stay focused on winning games even though they had absolutely nothing to play for.

The Trojans now face another season where they have nothing to play for. They need to stay motivated and still challenge opponents. But here are five reasons why the Trojans will still survive after this season despite all the penalties.

5. California Girls
USC may have limited scholarships, but they have the number one recruiting tool: the beautiful girls of Southern California.

This sounds silly, but high school recruits do not really have a complex way of thinking. When they come on their recruiting trips to Los Angeles, in the winter during their senior year, the eighteen-year-old, soon-to-be college athlete sees the gorgeous women in their scantily clad clothing in the warm winter weather of Los Angeles.

Then they go to their recruiting trips to the Big 10 schools, where the temperatures are below zero and the ladies are bundled up in eight layers.

It’s simple. High school seniors’ hormones are going all over the place, and they are naturally attracted to good programs in great weather that have beautiful women. It’s no secret why the SEC schools, Texas and USC always recruit well.

The Trojans will continue to recruit well because of their advantage of being in Los Angeles where the sun shines year round and the girls are beautiful.

Now if the NCAA forcefully made half of the female population of USC transfer to a different school, then maybe USC would have a more difficult time recruiting. But seeing that isn’t the case, the Trojans should be fine.

4. Matt Barkley
By the time the sanctions are over, Matt Barkley will be a senior. If he chooses not to go to the NFL, USC will have a solid NFL ready quarterback behind center.

With Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh both in the NFL at that point, USC will have the best quarterback in the Pac-12. This means they will have a very good shot, even with limited scholarships to give to recruits, to make an impact in the Pac-12.

A strong season from Barkley and the Trojans will attract other recruits to come to USC. They will see the program is revitalized and they have put its bad days behind them. This will be a huge part in the recruiting process for USC, and they will still be able to get great recruits if Barkley puts up a solid season with at least a Rose Bowl appearance.

3. Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron
Even with limited scholarships, the Trojans have Ed Orgeron, who is possibly the best recruiter in the country.

For Orgeron and the Trojans, it’s not the quantity of the recruits they get that matters: It’s the quality. Even with limited scholarships, Orgeron has a high tendency to get great recruits to come to his programs. That’s what he’s known for, and that’s why he’s at USC.

With Orgeron, the Trojans will still be able to get high quality recruits despite being limited. Also, he is the defensive coordinator. He’s very strict and coaches with discipline. He will undoubtedly keep the Trojans focused on winning even though they are banned from playing in any BCS games.

The same goes for head coach Lane Kiffin. He preaches discipline, and he did a fantastic job keeping his men focused on winning games. Kiffin’s offensive-minded attitude will also keep the Trojans pushing toward another national championship run after the BCS ban ends.

2. New Facilities
One of the reasons why the Oregon Ducks are so competitive now is because their booster Phil Knight has been pouring in a lot of money to help construct new athletic facilities on campus. These have helped attract recruits and build a solid program.

At USC, the same is being done. Just recently, construction for the new 110,000 sq. foot athletic facility started on campus. This new edifice will house the new locker rooms, coaching offices, athletic training room—which will be almost six times the size of their current training room at Heritage Hall—weight room—which will be almost four times the size of their current weight room—and learning centers meant just for athletes. It will be “state-of-the-art” according to USC’s website.

This facility will surely help bring in recruits. It will be one of the best athletic buildings in the nation for one of the greatest athletic programs. The great boosters and donors at USC made this possible and it is because of their help that USC will be able to succeed for years even with the imposed sanctions.

1. New Pac-12 Scheduling
The new Pac-12 scheduling was very advantageous for USC. They are placed in the Pac-12 South division with Colorado, Utah, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State. None of these programs come close to matching USC’s recent success in football. The Trojans shouldn’t have a difficult time to win the South and participate in the Pac-12 championship game annually. Playing in the South also means they avoid some of the northern powers, like Oregon, Washington and Stanford, in some years because of the scheduling.

Utah and Colorado should be easy wins for the Trojans annually. Colorado struggled in the Big 12, and Utah does not have any experience playing in a major conference. UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State finished in the bottom half of the Pac-10 last season.

It won’t be hard for USC to play in the championship game every year. They’ll also be competitive enough to match up well against the northern champion. A win in that game gives them a Rose Bowl berth automatically.

Also, the demise of the Big 10 means that the Trojans will have favorable matchups in the Big 10, which means they’ll have more success in Rose Bowl games.

And who knows? With a little luck and some good recruits, they can possibly be playing in the national championship game as early as 2013.