SoCal College Game Report

USC Signs Everyone: Clancy, Bluthenthal,
Scalabrine & Wilder--(November 19, 1997)

Unlike UCLA, USC signed everyone they wanted to sign. And, as promised, USC announced each of the signings in a press release this evening.

USC signed Sam Clancy (6"-7" F Sr. St. Edwards High, Fairview, OH), David Bluthenthal (6'-7" Sr. PF Los Angeles Westchester High), Brian Scalabrine (6'-9" F, Highline Community College, from Enumclaw, WA), and Quincy Wilder (6'-3" G, also from Highline Community College, Tacoma, WA).

According to the press release Coach Henry Bibby said, "We had a great recruiting year. I think we are in the Top 10 in the country in recruiting. We worked really hard to get to the position we are in so that we can nail down some of the top players in the country. They are all top basketball players as well as good students, so I could not be any more pleased about signing them."

Clancy, a 240-pound power forward, averaged 11.3 ppg, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.1 blocked shot last season at St. Edwards High, shooting 57 percent from the field. The USC press release also noted that Dave Krider of USA Today rates Clancy as a Top 20 All-American, while Street & Smith's 1997 College Basketball Annual lists him as a fourth-team All-American and a Cleveland All-Metro selection. Prepstars has him rated at 12th, Bob Gibbons at 19th, The Sporting News at 40th, and Clark Francis' Hoop Scoop rates him as 43rd in the country. He has also been rated as the No. 8 power forward in the country (USA Recruiting), and ESPN has him at the 12th best power forward.

Bibby stated in the press release: "Sam Clancy is a tenacious rebounder with a football players' body. He's a bigger version of Jaha Wilson [a former trojan]. He will score points for us and loves to rebound the basketball." Clancy's father, Sam Clancy Sr., played football and basketball at the University of Pittsburgh (1976-80), and also played in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks (1982-83), the Cleveland Browns (1985-88) and the Indianapolis Colts (1989-93).

David Bluthenthal, (6'-7" 215 lbs. F) from LA's Westchester High, transferred from Venice last year, where he averaged 27 ppg and 11 boards. He was selected to the LA Times' South Bay/Westside All-Star Team, wass elected to the Long Beach Press Telegram's "Best in the West" first team of fifteen player, and is a nationally ranked player, within the Top 100 in most polls, including Street & Smith, and recruiting analyst Brick Oettinger. He played this past summer in Israel as a member of the United States' Maccabiah Games team, and was a member the prior summer of the Team Los Angeles Maccabi Boys' Basketball Team coached by Howard Abrams of Montclair Prep and Steve Goldstein of La Salle High, which won a Gold Medal in the National Maccabi Youth Games in New Jersey.

USC's press release quoted Bibby as saying "David Bluthenthal can play the 3 or 4 position, can shoot the ball from the outside and can go inside and bang. It's important for us to keep the best players in California here. That's really a priority for us."

Wilder, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged 23 ppg at Highline Community College. He was selected MVP of the 1997 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, and was thought to be Washington's best prep player in 1996. Athlon Sports' 1996-97 College Basketball Annual rated him as No 52 overall in the country.

Bibby said in the press release that "Quincy Wilder is a very, very athletic player. He's somebody I really wanted two years ago. Quincy is extremely versatile. He can play the 1, 2 or 3 position, get to the basket and go by people."

Finally, Scalabrine, (6'-9" F/C) is currently a redshirt at Highline; he'll still have three years of eligibility at USC. As a freshman at Highline he led them to a Washington State Community College Championship. Bibby said that "Brian Scalabrine can go inside and outside, shoot the three-pointer and run the floor. He's a fundamentally sound player who is going to help us tremendously."

Congratulations to Henry Bibby, to 'SC, and most of all to David Bluthenthal, and to the newcomers to SoCal, Scalabrine, Clancy and Wilder. We look forward to many more years of seeing you play great ball here in SoCal.

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