For Clancy, Progress Is Nothing Fancy

Sam Clancy says this is nothing out of the ordinary, that the stellar numbers he is producing for USC are merely a logical progression from his stats as a sophomore last season before he suffered a broken foot against Arizona State.

But Clancy’s father saw something different last summer, when Clancy was back home in Ohio and the family engaged in some serious pickup games, two on two with his other son Samario and stepson Evan.

“He would work me over pretty good freshman year, but he didn’t have the mentality that he has now,” Sam Clancy Sr. said. “He has a killer instinct now. Before, I could push him around, we were muscling around and he’d let me do it. Now if I go and try to do that, he makes me work for it. And I really can’t do it, because I’m a little older and he’s a little stronger.”

Brian Scalabrine, Clancy’s USC teammate, was the next to find out.

“When he came back from Ohio in the summertime, and I had trouble stopping him, then I knew,” Scalabrine said. “I consider myself one of the stoppers in the Pac-10, I could stop guys down low. When I was having trouble stopping him, [he was] hitting fadeaway jumpers, he was going to the basket, then I knew he was going to have a big year for us.”

Clancy can take his place among the premier players in the Pacific 10 Conference. He’s averaging 18.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots. He can score inside or deftly pass to Scalabrine from the high post. He makes the 18-foot jump shot from the baseline or beyond the free-throw line. He snatches rebounds at rim level and blocks shots inside or on the perimeter.

We’ll give the father some credit here. After all, Sam Sr.--a former defensive end with the Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts during an 11-year NFL career--supplied the DNA that allowed Sam Jr. to grow to 6 feet 7, 240 pounds.

Sam Sr. also provided some good advice. Even though he says his son has “a great tight end body,” he pushed Sam Jr. toward the basketball court.

“I think I talked him out of football,” Sam Sr. said. “When Sam was 6 years old he used to help me come home from the games. I was with the Browns, I used to lean on his shoulder. I just told him this game wasn’t really for him. I said, hey, work with the basketball and we’ll see what happens.”

Said Sam Jr.: “He was telling me not to play because of injuries. So basketball is where I ended up. I liked it better.”

For many years Sam Sr. was his son’s practice partner, setting a standard for Sam Jr. to meet. But you’d have a had time getting Sam Jr. to admit that.

“He just talks a lot of stuff, and all he does is cheat anyway,” Sam Jr. said lightheartedly. “He has ‘old-man game.’ He just cheats and everything.

“He just backs in and he stops. And he fouls every time. I usually let him win, just to get his confidence up. I know I could go out there and kill him whenever I wanted to.”

Before this season, Sam Sr. helped set the goals for his son.

“I told him: Average 20 points,” Sam Sr. said. “The first step is to try to be All-American status. Not All-Pac-10, all-conference. I said, ‘All-American. You want that clout.’ I think that’s what he’s working toward.”

And that’s where Sam Jr.’s part comes in. Work.

“All he did this summer was work,” Sam Sr. said. “He ran, he lifted and he shot probably about 1,000 times a day. [His season] doesn’t surprise me. I’m glad that he’s taking what he did this summer and bringing it on the court.

“It’s been a tremendous leap forward, and every day I talk to him I tell him you’ve always got to work harder, every day strive for a little more each game. And he’s been doing that. It’s a surprise to everybody else. Some people think your kid goes home, relaxes, goes on vacation, but it wasn’t that way with Sam. Believe me, every day he was out there working, out there doing what he had to do to get better.”

Clancy has even improved his free-throw shooting from a Shaquillian 48% as a freshman to 72% this season.

Sam Jr.’s standout season has coincided nicely with the first chance his father has had to follow him closely. For the last five years, Sam Sr. was the defensive line coach for the Barcelona Dragons of the World League of American Football and was in Europe during the college basketball season.

He couldn’t even take advantage of the Internet to keep tabs on his son.

“We never had time to,” Sam Sr. said. “Plus, we had one computer that the whole team was using.”

Last year he got a job as the defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints. Now talks with his son on the phone three times a week. They exchange e-mails. He checks out the stats on USC’s Web page.

“I listen to every game on the Internet, also,” Sam Sr. said. “I’m in my office, supposedly doing football work, and I’m listening to my son’s games.”

On Thursday he saw his son play in person for the first time as a Trojan as USC defeated Oregon, 78-74. He looked proud as he watched his son go for 21 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

And he couldn’t help but think back to all of those sessions last summer--one in particular.

“I beat him one time this summer,” the 42-year-old Sam Sr. said. “Beat him and my 15-year-old. Beat ‘em and they quit on me. They quit on me because I was getting a little physical on them.

“But I can’t stop him now. He’s too much for me. Now all I do is pass him the ball and let him do work.”

It seems to work pretty well for the Trojans too.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.