Clancy Aiming for March 1 Return

Sam Clancy said Tuesday he plans to return to the Trojans by March 1 if the broken bone in his right foot continues to heal at its current pace.

Clancy, the Trojans’ leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker before getting hurt against Arizona State on Jan. 20, has been swimming, running in the pool and riding an exercise bike to maintain some semblance of conditioning.

“In the pool I’ve been able to put a little more pressure on it,” Clancy said. “It’s doing pretty good, and everything is going fine. The goal is to come back for the Cal game [March 4]. That’s the goal I’ve set for myself.

“But if my foot’s not feeling like it’s supposed to [on March 1], I’ll extend [the rehabilitation].”

He said the frustrating part is having to watch the games and knowing he could help the team, which has lost four of its last five.

“If we were winning I could deal with it,” Clancy said. “But since we haven’t done as well as we did at the beginning of the conference, it puts pressure on me, in my mind, to come back and see what I can do.”

Clancy said he will get another X-ray on the foot Monday. “I haven’t discussed with the doctors how ‘healed’ the foot has to be, so I’m not sure. I’m not in great shape, and I don’t know how my game will be since I haven’t been really shooting or anything.”

Coach Henry Bibby said March 1 “is a realistic goal” for Clancy. But he said he will not rush his sophomore forward back into action.

“I’m going to play it by ear,” Bibby said. “I’ll go by what the doctors say and what Sam says. I’m not going to get Sam in the position where we would hurt him down the road to play him now.”

The news isn’t as good for Jarvis Turner, who broke a bone in his left foot in the same Arizona State game. The injury is healing slower than expected for USC’s lone senior and Bibby fears his season--not to mention his USC career--is over.

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