Dupree’s Return Expected

Jerry Dupree’s return is all but official after the junior forward, who sat out the Trojans’ first seven games while flirting with academic ineligibility, practiced with the team Monday for the first time in nearly two months.

Dupree’s inclusion means USC expects the high-flying Dupree to be academically eligible and out of Coach Henry Bibby’s doghouse in time for the Trojans’ Pacific 10 Conference opener Jan. 2 at Washington State.

Dupree said he needed a grade-point average above 2.0 in three classes. Grades from the fall semester have yet to be posted, but a source close to the team said Dupree will be declared eligible in a matter of days.

Dupree, who suffered leg cramps during the two-hour workout, limped out of the South Gym and into Heritage Hall after the two-hour workout.

He has acknowledged that he’d have massive catching up to do after being sidelined because of a sore heel, being denied contact with the team by Bibby for a week, and dropping a course and falling below full-time student status, all while serving what amounted to a semester-long suspension imposed by Bibby.

“There’s like 200 new plays,” Dupree said recently. “It’s a whole new system.”

Dupree, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward who can alter a game with his shot-blocking ability, starred in the Pacific 10 tournament last spring, and his return to the Trojans (4-3) should improve their depth.

Said Bibby: “We don’t know yet what it is, what the official word is, but we hope he’ll be ready. He participated [in practice] a little bit, just a little bit.”

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Wearing a walking boot to stabilize the sprained right ankle he suffered during Saturday’s blowout victory over La Salle, a frustrated Robert Hutchinson hobbled around Heritage Hall and did not practice.

“The trainer said he’s not going to speculate on [a timetable for a return date],” the senior point guard said. “He’s just going to take it day-by-day. Ice it, heat it up and painkillers. That’s about it.”

It is the second time in three weeks that Hutchinson has turned the ankle. This time, though, he feared the worst when a pile of players chasing a loose ball rolled up his leg.

“I heard it crack so I was thinking it would be a long-term injury,” he said. “All types of things were going through my mind -- pain, everything. I didn’t want to get up too fast because I thought I might hurt it more.”

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The Trojans, who are in the middle of playing only once in a 21-day stretch, will take today and Christmas Day off. Bibby said he was planning to fly home to North Carolina for the holiday.