Poor grades knock Clancy out of Wooden Award consideration

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Posted 3:25PM on Tuesday, February 26, 2002

LOS ANGELES - Poor grades have knocked Southern California's Sam Clancy out of consideration for the Wooden Award, given to the nation's outstanding college basketball player. Clancy's grade-point average fell below 2.0 during the fall semester, which is the minimum requirement for Wooden Award consideration. The NCAA requires athletes beginning their senior year to have a GPA that is at least 95 percent of the university's minimum required for graduation. USC's minimum GPA for graduating is 2.0, and 95 percent of 2.0 is 1.9, which is why Clancy maintains his eligibility. "I do like school, but it was never my favorite thing to do," said Clancy, a sociology major. "I was always like a C-student." He said his grades slipped when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. Anetta Harris, who lives in Cleveland, has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments. "But now she's doing better," Clancy said. "They took out the cancer in the lymph nodes. A lot of people didn't know that that affected me in class and everything." Clancy was taunted by fans during road games last week. Stanford fans shouted "1.9, 1.9" at him every time he touched the ball. California fans held up mugshots of Clancy with his GPA in bold type. Clancy responded to Cal fans by telling them, "$1.9 million," referring to the NBA wealth he could earn after the June draft. Clancy is averaging 18.9 points and 9.8 rebounds for the 19th-ranked Trojans.