And here’s the second good sign for USC fans who showed up early.

Yes, that is Daniel Hackett running the floor, dribbling a couple of basketballs, shooting free throws and jump shots and looking better than he has in nearly three weeks as his dad, Rudy, USC’s strength and conditioning coach, puts him through his paces.

Running the court, he looks maybe 80 percent and he’s clearly aware of his back and hip injuries a bit as he runs and jumps, but not anything like he was.

And he doesn’t appear to be in pain after sweating through a decently strenuous on-court workout.

Hackett has contended that he can come back by Pac-10 Tournament time in two weeks — and maybe he can.