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SoCalHoops College Recruiting News

More Clancy & USC: OC Register
Pipes In With Its Two Cents Worth--(April 29,1998)

It's enough to make you want to puke.

If the charges are just a bunch of trumped up stuff, this is more than pathetic; someone should take the guy who dreamed up these "allegations" and beat the living bejesus out of him. On the other hand, if it's true, then you've got to wonder just how stupid the folks are at USC. And pathetic. Oh, did we say pathetic?

We hope, and actually believe, that none of this is true, and that it's all just some sick joke.

For those wondering what we're talking about, we're referring to the allegations that "someone" connected with the USC men's basketball team managed to funnel money to recent signee Sam Clancy. The Daily News published it's piece this morning, and we just came across the Orange County Register's article which seems to have a bit more detail.

In an article by Scott M. Reid, a staff writer for the the Orange County Register, the paper reports that Pac-10 associate commissioner David Price questioned USC men's basketball coach Henry Bibby and assistant coach David Miller on Tuesday as part of the Pac-10's investigation into the Trojans' recruiting of Ohio high school All-America forward Sam Clancy.

According to the Register, Price, USC law school professor Noel Ragsdale and her assistant, Leslie Daland, also interviewed Trojans' non-scholarship forward Seymour Daffeh, who was one of the USC players who escorted Clancy during his recruiting trip to Los Angeles in September. Price continued conducting interviews today in Los Angeles.

Not reported by the Daily News but alleged in the Register is that the investigators also want to question former Trojans guard Danny Walker. Walker was a part-time starter as a freshman during USC's 1996-97 run to the NCAA Tournament. He left USC shortly before the start of the current academic year and is now enrolled at Compton College. Just what Walker might know or what he would say were not made clear by the Register story.

USC officials spoke with Clancy and his mother Arnetta Harris last week, and we reported what was said, at least what was printed in the Daily News today. Clancy said he originally planned to attend Michigan but began looking at other schools after Wolverines head coach Steve Fischer was fired last fall.

Assistant Coach David Miller's primary assignment at USC is recruiting. He is in his second season after spending three seasons as an assistant at Utah State where he was the named "most visible assistant coach in the country," according to Hoop Scoop magazine. Er, um, ok Clark.

The Register story also reported that "USC athletic department officials and Clancy have denied any wrongdoing." Ragsdale, USC's faculty representative to the athletic department, refused to comment Tuesday. "You'll have to talk to somebody else at the university," she said.

The Register reported that the investigators asked Daffeh if he had any first-hand knowledge of NCAA violations by USC in its recruiting of Clancy. Daffeh reportedly told the investigators he did not have such knowledge, but assertedly also told Price that another "former Trojan player" had told him in detail about possible NCAA violations committed by USC with regard to Clancy.

Daffeh was also reportedly asked if Coach Bibby had offered him any financial incentives in order to keep him quiet, but Daffeh told the investigators that he hadn't. However, the Register reported that Daffeh told them that Bibby had written a letter in support of Daffeh to the school's financial aid office.

Sheesh. Makes you want to take a shower after reading this, doesn't it?