Russ Smith

He says according to Demar himself he has his ACT score(I guess he realized nobody believed he didn't have it) and that he is confident the Clearinghouse will approve his score and transcripts qualifying him for USC.

My personal theory is he already had the score he was just waiting on the results of another class either BYU online or summer school so that he could raise his GPA. With the sliding scale the higher your core GPA the lower the test score needed so my guess is the class grade was high enough to make his ACT score qualify.



The implication is they know his GPA and ACT score qualify they just don't know yet if the Clearinghouse will accept it. With all the focus on Jennings and the Mayo thing it will be interesting to see how close they scrutinize Demar's transcript.

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Russ Smith

Confirmed yesterday according to Derozan he is now qualified and will start classes at USC in August.

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Lefty

That's big for USC.

Russ Smith

Huge I'd say it completely changes the landscape in the Pac 10 for contending teams. Without Demar USC is below UCLA, ASU, UW. Not sure yet about UA they have talent in the starting 5 but not sure about their depth so I'd have had them ahead of USC before.

With derozan USC might push for 2nd but definitely top 4. They have 3 very experienced Juniors starting in Gibson, Hackett and Lewis, and they have Demar and Leonard Washington neither of whom will make the honor roll anywhere but both of whom can really play(Derozan might be the best NBA prospect in the conference including Harden, Chase, Jrue etc). Washington is an undersized 4 with a real temper problem but he plays much bigger than he is. They have some depth at guard now with Johnson and Donte Smith behind Hackett and Lewis. Without Derozan they had talent but no go to guy with him they improve a lot.

You know wiht all the guys at USC using BYU online to qualify they should start calling them USC-BYU.

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Skkorpion

Does USC allow freshman athletes to go to class right away or do they have to wait a semester or two before exposing themselves to the rigors of Sports Communications 101?

Russ Smith

Demar would have been in summerschool if he'd qualified so I'm not sure what classes that would have been. The LA Times has a story on him today that says Floyd was prepared to wait into August to see if Demar could qualify. They were so unsure he'd qualified they'd actually enrolled him at Compton College(JC) to take summerschool classes to "beef up" his GPA. Remember he's been beefing up his GPA for months now using BYU online courses.

I can only assume that when they get done with prepschools the NCAA is going to crack down on the online stuff. They already nailed Florida State for doing it(football players getting tutors to do their online classes for them) but it's apparent there's a big problem with it in basketball too. Demar Derozan in 4 years of HS couldn't get a high enough GPA and test score to meet minimum NCAA requirements yet somehow in a matter of months managed to get 5 A's and 1 B in college level courses online? All this while still in highschool and playing all over the country in all star games and camps. It just doesn't ring true to me that those classes were legit.

But I am looking forward to watching him play he's an athletic freak.

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