Clancy, Trojans Back for Conference Play

Sam Clancy’s massive headphones, alive with the bumping sounds of rap music, sat slightly askew atop the USC power forward’s head.

His back wasn’t in total alignment either.

Clancy was a few minutes into practice Tuesday night when he tweaked his back, and missed the remainder of the scrimmage. As he entered the team hotel Wednesday afternoon, the senior was still walking gingerly but withstood a full practice that night and insisted that the injury would not keep him from playing in the Trojans’ Pacific 10 Conference opener tonight at Washington.

It’s a good thing, too, considering that USC’s fortunes in conference play ride squarely on Clancy.”It’s a little sore right now but it’s fine, no major problem or anything,” Clancy said. “If I felt I couldn’t play, I wouldn’t play. I don’t want to endanger my health. But my back is fineand I could play with it. Once the game starts the adrenaline gets going and you don’t feel injuries so much.”

Opposing big men, though, have felt Clancy’s wrath down low.

In nonconference games, the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Clancy led the 8-2 Trojans in scoring (15.8 points per game), rebounding (9.7 rebounds), blocks (1.5) and steals (2.1).

He also had six double-doubles.

But as steady as Clancy has been, he’s also seemed to disappear at times against the myriad double-and triple-teams he’s faced, as evidenced by the one rebound he had against Miami of Ohio in the Trojans’ 59-55 victory on Dec. 16.

In that game, USC ran out to a 41-23 lead before having to stave off the RedHawks. In their last two nonconference games, the Trojans were taken into overtime by San Diego before pulling out a victory and were down by as many as 15 points to Loyola Marymount before flipping the switch on the Lions and winning by 14.

USC’s inability to put together two solid halves cost them in losses to Fresno State and Pepperdine and has left Trojan Coach Henry Bibby perplexed as to his team’s true identity.

“It’s still up in the air,” he said. “Again, I’m trying to figure out who’s going to come every night and play and that’s what you have, I guess, in college basketball with a lot of teams. We have a lot of players and we’re just not getting four or five guys coming every night with it.”

Bibby’s three senior starters--Clancy, small forward David Bluthenthal and point guard Brandon Granville--have all spent time in Bibby’s ubiquitous doghouse, as has sophomore shooting guard Desmon Farmer.

But each has also had breakout games, Bluthenthal making five three-point shots and scoring 19 points against UC Santa Barbara, Granville scoring a career-high 25 points with a career-best six three-pointers on Long Beach State and the fiery Farmer getting a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Rhode Island.

Freshman shooting guard Errick Craven has been a pleasant surprise, playing with the verve of a seasoned veteran.

He is USC’s second leading scorer (13.6) and third-leading rebounder (6.1).

Through eight games, though, Bibby had used seven different starting lineups.

“We have gotten different guys to step up at different times to either make some buckets for us or make the big play for us, we have had that,” Bibby said. “But it’s not enough to think about winning the Pac-10 Conference doing that. You can win ballgames that way ... but we’re talking about doing better things than what we’re doing now and to win more games at this level you have to have more people come to the table.”

Bibby believes the Trojans have a legitimate shot at winning the conference, saying that Oregon’s 30-point win against Arizona last week and UCLA’s recent road sweep of Washington and Washington State show a sort of balance.

“I think it’s up for grabs ... anybody has a shot to win this year,” Bibby said. “I think the teams are more evenly matched this year than I’ve ever seen. In past years, you’d know that Arizona, Stanford and UCLA are going to be the top three teams. I think this year anybody can be the top three teams. I think that’s how close it is.

“The conference champ can be 12-6 or 11-7. I don’t know if there are any upsets this year. I think everybody is kind of even and the team that plays with the most consistency will be the team that comes out on top.”

USC, which averaged 71.5 points and gave up 62.1 in nonconference play, will have to show that it’s capable of more than just flashes of consistency.

“I think we are [ready],” Clancy said. “We took strides forward in the second half of the LMU game and I think we know this is an important game and all these Pac-10 games are very important for us. I don’t think you’re going to see a lack of intensity.”