Former UL recruit Ryan Francis killed

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On the phone Monday night from Baton Rouge, La., the pain in Tim Floyd's voice was clear. "I've been here with the mother, helping her make the funeral arrangements," he said. "Right now she has more than she can handle." Floyd, the basketball coach for USC and former coach of the Bulls, still couldn't quite accept it. Ryan Francis was dead. A 19-year-old, shot three times while seated in the back seat of a car. "Five blocks from where he and his mother lived," Floyd said. "They were at a stoplight. Apparently there was this guy who had a beef with the driver of the car Ryan was in. "The driver turned right. That put the gunman directly behind the car. I guess he fired three shots. They went right through the trunk and struck Ryan in the back." A few hours later, on Saturday morning, a phone call came to the coach's house. It was from Ryan's mother, Paulette. Floyd was in Las Vegas, attending a coaching clinic. His wife, Beverly, took the call and Paulette broke the news. The two women had gotten acquainted when USC first began to show a strong interest in her son. Hardly any other major school was in pursuit of Francis. He was too small in some coaches' eyes—listed at 5 feet 11 inches but, in his stocking feet, 5-9, tops. Louisiana-Lafayette was interested in him, but that was about it. Floyd had a good friend, however, a former assistant of his now at Loyola of New Orleans, who kept assuring him that this Francis kid could really play. At his high school, Glen Oaks, he averaged 22 points in his senior year and his team didn't lose a game. It had a record of 36-0 and won Louisiana's 4-A state title. Floyd knew the area, having once been coach of the University of New Orleans team as well as the NBA's Hornets. He wasn't familiar with Francis, however, but he was more than happy to take a chance. And, oh, did it pay off. The rest of the story

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - A funeral service for slain Southern California freshman point guard Ryan Francis will be held Saturday in Baton Rouge. The service will be held at Greater King David Baptist Church, North Location, with burial to follow at Southern Memorial Gardens. The 19-year-old Francis was shot and killed early Saturday while riding in a car in Baton Rouge, where he was visiting his mother, Paulette, for Mother's Day. The USC men's basketball team will travel to Louisiana on Friday to attend the funeral. Coach Tim Floyd and some of his assistants are already in Baton Rouge with the Francis family. USC is paying for the team's travel to Louisiana and covering all costs of the funeral, as allowed by NCAA rules. The rest of the story

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BATON ROUGE - Ryan Francis had a great Mother's Day gift planned for his mother, Paulette Francis, last Sunday - a month of Mother's Days at home. After a whirlwind season as USC's starting point guard, the former Glen Oaks High star from Baton Rouge returned home last week and planned to stay a month, then return to school to get ready for his sophomore season with his mother, who was planning on moving to Los Angeles. "He said he wanted to work out and rest for a little while," Paulette Francis said at a small press conference Thursday afternoon in the Glen Oaks High School library. "We were planning on going to church for Mother's Day (last Sunday). I told him to make sure he brought his shoes and his suit home so he could go to church." Instead, Francis, 19, was killed between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday after being shot multiple times at close range while sitting in the back of a friend's car at an intersection on his way home from an LSU graduation party at a nightclub in a high crime area of north Baton Rouge. He will be buried Saturday after a funeral in Baton Rouge. The rest of the story Glenn Guilbeau gguilbeau@gannett.com