Tag Archives: NCAA

Brad Brownell Gives Harsh, Honest Interview

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Clemson’s basketball season was obviously a huge disappointment. Finishing at 13-18 it was the Tigers’ worst season in nearly a decade. They hadn’t been below .500 since Oliver Purnell’s first season in 2003-04. Injuries, youth (only two upperclassmen), and a lack of leadership from the senior class were big reasons for the failure.

Head Coach, Brad Brownell, offered some harsh, honest wisdom in his season wrap-up interview. The quotes are absolute gold.

One of the toughest excerpts was directed right at the seniors:

Some guys got to play more minutes than they should play, or they got to stay out there when they were making mistakes because there weren’t enough guys. Because Milton and Devin were clearly better than our younger post players they probably got to play through some things where if there was another guy that had been older and was very productive, you could take one of them out, like a Bobo (Catalin Baciu). There were times they felt like they were better, and it was harder for me to coach them the way they need to be coached all the time, which sometimes is to take them out.

That’s not even the harshest bit. Be sure to check out my full article on what I thought was an extremely encouraging season wrap interview here, or watch the whole interview below.

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March Madness vs Bowl Season, a Debate for the Ages

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

With March Madness right around the corner, and hearing it from UNC and Wake fans here in North Carolina it got me thinking, is March Madness really the best postseason in sports? It’s certainly better than the NBA’s postseason, few would dispute that, but what about Major League Baseball? What about the college bowl season? With the new four-game playoff and the tradition of  bowls like the Rose Bowl Game and the Cotton Bowl Classic, it’s certainly worth a debate, so Big Fudge and I go at it. I take the side of college football’s bowl season, and he takes the side of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Join in and share your thoughts in the comments below!

College Football Bowl Season Reigns Supreme - Ryan Kantor

Just like their regular season, college football’s postseason reigns supreme. After all, there’s a reason that 80% of the TV contract dollars for the ACC, the nation’s most well-respected basketball conference, come from football.

Steeped with tradition, anticipation, and road trips there’s nothing like it. I’ve never been to an NCAA tournament game, and you probably haven’t either. Who wants to buy a pass to see Vermont play North Carolina so they can see their alma mater or favorite team play later in the “session”–often in a geographically random place? Conversely, I’ve been to Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, and Miami for bowl games. All made for memorable road trips with friends, where we supported our team and enjoyed the rich tradition of college bowl games. (Ironically, Clemson lost all of those games, and I will be in Pasadena when Clemson loses in the National Title Game next year.)

That brings us to my biggest knock on March Madness. It’s not about your team or going to the games, it just about the brackets and the gambling. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. I love making the brackets. I’ll probably make two or even three this year. I’m sure we’ll have a cheap office pool so I can over-analyze teams I’ve never heard of before ending up picking all favorites, as I always do. In the end, that’s what is it about for most people, making brackets not the actual games or the teams. People just want to see exciting finishes and check their brackets at the end of the day. It wasn’t but two years ago (before TBS and Tru TV started airing games) that your team’s first round game likely wouldn’t be even televised in full.

Beyond that, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament invites way too many bad teams. While I’ll readily admit this problem plagues college football as well–just look at 6-7 GT playing in the Sun Bowl–it’s even worse in college basketball, because it makes for uninteresting matchups. During the bowl season, the mediocre teams that invariably slip in get matched up against relatively appropriate opponents–just look at 6-7 GT beating Southern Cal. March Madness, by rule, offers the opposite. It puts not mediocre, but bad teams, up against the very best in the country. Last year we got Michigan State romping Long Island by 22 and UNC beating Vermont by 19, so don’t give me this “every game is exciting” nonsense. BOOOORING!

Now let me give some credit to March Madness. Selection Sunday is great! It is top-notch, but is mostly filled with heartache and talk of who got left out. Northern Illinois has a different story to tell about the BCS selection show. I’ll give Men’s basketball the hat tip for selection Sunday, but at the same time, that’s where excitement peaks, selection Sunday and the first pass at your bracket.

Finally, college football adds even more excitement starting in 2014 with the new four-team playoff. Instead of a giant upset prone tournament where the best teams are worn down and play in a toss-up game to determine a champion, college football will select the four most deserving teams to play in their own final four while the rest of college football still participates in the tradition rich bowl games we all know and love. March Madness is great, and I can’t wait to fill out my brackets, but it still doesn’t top college football’s bowl game.

March Madness is the Most Exciting Postseason in Sports – Big Fudge 74

You’ll be in Pasadena watching Clemson lose? What a coincidence so will I, but really to watch the winners (I’ll leave it to the commenters to decipher my team). All trash talk and wishful thinking aside, you are clearly on the wrong side of this argument. Make no mistake, I am a college football guy, but even though I love the sport you’re defending and this site is your namesake, I’m not afraid to point out just how terribly wrong you are. There’s no denying  March Madness is the most exciting postseason in sports.

We all understand there is more money in college football, and I concede that the regular season for NCAA football is much better than college basketball’s, but that isn’t the issue up for debate. Neither is the fact that college football will finally have a playoff starting in 2014, we are talking about the current bowl system vs. the insanity that is the Big Dance.

You argue that there are snoozers in the tourney and while that is sometimes the case, I would argue that there are far more of these matchups in bowl season (take every game from Dec 15th-29th for example). No one cares about Arkansas State vs San Jose State in the Weed Eater bowl in mid-December, including the fans of these schools themselves. Not to mention there are 12 other games like this that we must wade through like a river of uninteresting sewage to get to the “fun games” which rarely have the excitement we hope for. Meanwhile in the tourney, upsets happen regularly. The very nature of basketball is that it is a make or miss game. If one team is making shots and the other is not anything can happen. Thus you have days like last year where two #2 seeds fell to #15 seeds on the same day! You can try to act like that isn’t exciting, but I know you pay more attention to that than any bowl game that your team isn’t directly involved in or that isn’t for the National Championship.

As for the sessions that are the standard for tourney viewing, I love them. I’ve never been to an NCAA tournament game, but I have been to a couple of conference tournament games and they were great. This time of year teams are desperate and produce some dramatic basketball theater. The whole point of going on the trip at all is to watch basketball and size up other teams if your team is to make a run. In that sense viewing March Madness live gives you that great chance and you may also get to be a part of a monster upset or a buzzer beater. What more can you ask for? Before you make your rebuttal, I just ask you to tell me truthfully what is more exciting.

This piece of quality fundamental football

or…

Insanity!!!

Your Witness…

Closing Arguments

Up first, Ryan Kantor

You raise some great points about the excitement of the first round, with its proclivity for upsets, but you also solidify one of my biggest arguments. The excitement of March Madness peaks very early. Most would say the first round is their favorite. After that, it’s just college basketball again, which is about 1/6th as popular as college football (at least according to the dollars).

The brackets, bracketology, and gambling are to March Madness as Fantasy Football is to the NFL. It’s not the sport or the tournament we love, it’s the activity alongside it.

You see, March Madness is a lot like the World Cup, it’s a social sensation when it comes we all pretend like we’ve been following all year, we gamble on it, and then we forget it. Football is a tradition and a way of life.

The defense, Big Fudge 74

You make a valid point. Here is my counter argument:

2010 Murray State Buzzer Beater

2008 Mario Chalmers Clutch 3

2000 Gator Buzzer Beater

…and of course (below)

The defense rests.

Please join the debate in the comments below.

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How Do Some Universities Succeed in Their ‘Other’ Sports?

Posted on by bigfudge74

I have been very frustrated with Clemson basketball this season. When I was a student, sell-outs were assumed and we never missed the tournament. Now we can’t even fill Littlejohn for games against Georgia Tech. It’s mind-boggling, because even when our now glorious football program sunk to 6-7, butts were still in seats. So I asked our college athletics expert to weight in on how some schools can find success in their “other” sports while most of us are left to enjoy success in only one major program. Enjoy the guest post below, and please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

In the world of major college athletics many schools are known for only one specific sport. You have your football schools, your basketball schools, and in some cases even Women’s equestrian schools (I’m looking at you South Carolina). No matter where you go, there are schools that are known more for one sport than the others, and this often comes at the expense of the others. Despite this trend, a number of schools manage to find success in those “other” sports. I wanted to explore this idea, to see why some schools can excel at those “other” sports that they are not traditionally known for, while most universities are confined to the one sport that has always defined them.

To discuss and grasp this topic fully you must first understand one simple rule: every school has a favorite sport. This seems silly to say as it is obvious to most, however when delving further into the idea of why some schools do not excel in the sport they do not favor the rule will reiterated and some will be inclined to argue that the schools respect their sports equally. Wrong! No matter what anyone wants to say, there is always a sport that is seated atop a pedestal in the school’s and fans’ collective eyes. Once we all accept this truth we can begin to delve deeper into the topic.

When we think about certain sport schools we typically think in terms of “basketball schools” and “football schools.” How this comes to be at a school has to do with some combination of geography and whatever sport achieved success earlier. For example:  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Ohio State are all “football schools” due to both their locations and history. The SEC schools and the two Big XII programs are all located in a part of the country that worships college football and thus tend to focus more on their football programs. Even Michigan and Ohio State are in parts of the country that prefer football, not to mention their history of success. The same can be said of the “basketball schools”: Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Syracuse.

The question now is how do some of these schools excel at both sports while others fail? To answer this we will look at the success stories as well as the failures.

There are two programs that stand out as successes over the past decade plus: Florida and Ohio State. Both of these programs are

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synonymous with football yet they have both achieved greatness in basketball as well. The Buckeyes tout multiple national championships in football as well as 1960 national title in hoops. Meanwhile the Gators have been one of the more successful programs in the country winning three national titles in football and back-to-back titles in basketball all in the last 17 years. Not only have both of these programs been good in the past, but they continue to be in the hunt every December and March. How do they do it? There simply is not a set formula for success in athletics because there are so many variables in play, but there is a loose blueprint that schools follow in hopes of crossing the chasm and excelling in several sports. It all starts with a strong Athletic Director. To become a school that is willing to focus beyond its prized sport, the AD must be willing to swim upstream. This is what both UF and Ohio State have in Jeremy Foley and Gene Smith, the latter’s recent NCAA issues aside. Meanwhile schools that have failed at success on both the gridiron and hardwood such as Kentucky and Kansas lack these great leaders. With all due respect to Mitch Barnhart and Sheahon Zenger, neither man is at the level of a Jeremy Foley. Both have recently made strides in making their football counterparts more successful with the hiring of Mark Stoops and Charlie Weis; however to this point neither has achieved success in their lesser sport.

From there these AD’s must find boosters that are willing to fund and push for more success in the “other” sport. This is a difficult task in many instances as most boosters are typically as invested in their favorite sport as most of the fan base. Despite the difficulty this is an essential part of the process. To succeed in the less celebrated sport, there must first be some attention paid to it along with some help given. Once the other sport has received the help it needs to catch up to its bigger sibling sport, then it is ready to make the next step.

That next step is hiring the right coach. This step includes an element which cannot be overstated: the school needs to get a little lucky. There are a multitude of coaches out there and many seem like fits for the position, but the AD must find once that he believes is willing to take the extra steps necessary to building a successful program. This can be seen with coaches Billy Donovan and Thad Matta. Both coaches had a lot of great attributes that made them right for the job, but so too did many other coaches vying for their positions. What separated them from their competition were their shared characteristics with their AD’s. Both coaches have gelled well with their employer and fit in. This, coupled with a touch of luck, is what has taken them to their great heights. It is not to discount these coaches’ abilities as they are both at the top of their profession, merely just to reinforce the idea that luck does indeed play a role. We need only look at Kentucky and Kansas to prove this. UK and KU have made “splashes” in their hiring in the past with coaches like Guy Morris and Turner Gill, yet neither achieved marketable success. Morris peaked at a bowl berth or two and Gill was an absolute crash and burn. Luck, and according to them, their schools were simply not on their side.

Finally, to be able to succeed in both sports there needs to be a family atmosphere at the schools. This seems like a foolish sentiment, but in my years being around both successful and not-so-successful athletic departments, I have found this to be a key. If a school’s coaches and sports are competitive with one another than the priority sport will eventually smother and suffocate the other sports. If the sports fight for control and do not embrace each other, the smaller sports will never get a chance to thrive. However a school that has coaches and sports that not only respect one another, but also care for each other, has the best chance at success across the board. By having a vested interest in the other coaches and sports the program will gel together better and in turn give each other the best chance to succeed.

So what truly separates Florida from Kentucky and Ohio State from Kansas? The Gators and Buckeyes have strong AD’s, coaches, boosters, and family like bonds. The Cats and Jayhawks are more focused on excelling in their established sports. This is not meant only as a look into why these programs are the way they are but also to serve as a warning to other schools that are teetering on becoming a one trick pony. Schools like Clemson, Florida State, and Texas that all have a strong football identity and have had past basketball success yet continue to backslide on the court. All three schools have the ingredients to get back to being success stories it just takes a new direction from a strong leader and fan base to do so. In the end, no matter the success on the smaller sport; it will always be the smaller sport. The big sibling will always reign supreme, draw the most attention, and garner the most support. However, living in the shadow now is not reason to strive to succeed and maybe become the big kid on the block one day.

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ESPNU Showcasing Softball Instead of National Signing Day? Clemson Manages Another Top 15 Recruiting Class

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Wednesday, January 6th was college football’s National Signing Day. Practically a national holiday, signing day can be as exciting as Christmas morning for college football fans. After all it’s the day we find out who they will be watching for the next four years. So, as soon as morning struck I jumped onto ESPNU.com, but rather than in-depth coverage of the industry’s big topic for the day I find this:

ESPNU

Nothing against softball, but give me a break. After all I have to hear about how the SEC invented football you don’t even offer the decency of a good recruiting day primer? God knows they had ESPNU microphones at every announcement. It seems like ESPN and ESPN2 generate so much revenue that they have been able to make this smaller niche network just to cover “non-revenue” sports for the express purpose of making themselves feel really good about themselves. “Look at us. We make these athletes feel so good even when nobody else goes to their games.” Give me a break! Also, notice to peculiar headline. Are they poking fun at her weight there? If so, GUTLESS! C’mon ESPNU!

Anyway, while on the topic, it seems like Clemson pulled in quite the recruiting class by the end of the day. With National Title aspirations it’s hard not to compare the Tigers’ class to Alabama, Notre Dame, and the like and forget the consistency and depth Coach Swinney has brought to the program. I believe this the first time… ever?… that we’ve turned in back-to-back-to-back top 15 recruiting classes (Can someone confirm?). Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams both chosing Auburn over Clemson stung, but we already had some top-notch recruits on the defensive-line (Shaq Lawson, Ebenezer Okendeko) and added Scott Pagano from Hawaii and Dana Rogers, a fellow North Carolinian to the mix (wonder if he’s excited about our tax changes too… probably not). It really wasn’t until late in the day that the class came together though.

Clemson getting an LOI from ESPN’s #4 player and #2 cornerback, Mackensie Alexander, salvaged the class for me. No doubt it was packed with quality players before his signing, but it needed a gem and Alexander provides just that. It sounds like he’ll be able to come in and make an impact immediately.

In last announcement of the day for the Tigers, Clemson signed Tyrone Crowder, a premier offensive lineman, putting this class over-the-top. Clemson fans are always complaining about recruiting and talent on the O-line and it was my biggest concern heading into 2012. I’m glad we were able to find some “SEC-caliber” talent to put in the trenches. Finally, I’d be remiss to not mention linebacker Ben Boulware (ESPN #78) merely because he committed early. We appreciate that and I think he’ll become a fan favorite. This class has 15 ESPN four-star recruits. I can’t remember the last time we had so many. Labor Day weekend can’t come soon enough. What do you think of Clemson’s 2013 recruiting cycle? Impressed? Disappointed? Please leave your comments in the section below. I enjoy hearing from you.

If you enjoyed this post, please click the Facebook “Like” button on the right sidebar. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

Why It's Cool To Be a Conservative

February’s book of the month comes from Harvard Graduate, Ms. A.J. Delgado. In it she explains why it’s cool to be a conservative and why it’s the true ideology of rebels and punk rockers. Only available on Kindle.

In-Depth Inside Look At College Football Recruiting

Posted on by bigfudge74

This recruiting season has been packed with even more craziness than usual, and Clemson has experienced more than their fair share of the ups and downs it entails. The nation’s #1 recruit, Robert Nkemdiche of Loganville, GA, originally committed to Clemson, only to decommit and indicate Ole Miss as his new leader. Now LSU joins the hunt and he’ll take a visit to see what the Gators have to offer. Ryan Jenkins, a wide receiver from Marietta, was committed to the Tigers where his brother is a defensive back, but flipped to Tennessee, his father’s alma mater. Then of course we experienced the turbulent ride of the #5 wide receiver in the nation, Demarcus Robinson, who ended up with Florida, but didn’t make his decision clear until he had practically finished moving in to his Gainesville, FL dorm room.

With all that going on, I asked our SEC and college football expert to weigh in, not on any specific player, but his broader experience with the recruiting process over the years. His unique perspective as a high school athlete and high school football coach allows him to bring to light some items, that to outsiders like myself, are rather shocking. Please note that his stories and insights are not specific to any one player unless indicated as such.

This inside look is something you can’t get from your typical recruiting update, and I have to give a huge thanks to Big Fudge for opening up. I hope you enjoy!

With all due respect to the weather, recruiting may be the most unpredictable thing in this world. To predict and understand the thinking of 17 and 18-year-old high schoolers is a crapshoot at best. Or is it?

As a former athlete, albeit a very average one, I did have my fair share of recruitment. This, coupled with my time coaching football, are what I will use as reference points when exploring the thought process of recruits. We will make an effort to understand what factors pull athletes to their schools, focusing specifically on college football recruiting.

The first factor to remember about recruits coming out of high school is that, like any 17 or 18-year-old, they love attention. This is not inherently a bad thing, as they have accomplished plenty in their young lives athletically–and hopefully academically–that would warrant the appreciation they are receiving from colleges, and they should be able to enjoy it. It is this attention they receive that will give them early ideas of where they would like to commit. They will always have a fondness for the first program that shows them interest and therefore you usually see that school in the running to the end.

However this attention is a double-edged sword. If you give a lot of it early on and less at other points during the recruitment cycle, the athlete may become frustrated after having grown accustomed to the initial level of contact. This attention factor is a very important one as the types of attention must be adjusted and changed regularly during recruitment, otherwise a school could fall victim to another flaw possessed by teenagers, they get bored easily.

Eventually the “shine” of the attention from the same schools fades, and new schools become the primary focus, because their message is new and different. This is often seen with late-blooming prospects that have been given attention by smaller programs for years and once they develop further and reach a higher level of talent the big boys come calling. The wonderful attention of the small programs becomes stale and the big school has fresh and flashy appreciation to be paid to the athlete. Needless to say it is only rational for a teenager to be enamored with this new attention and unless the original schools can change-up their messaging they may be left behind.

I have personally seen this many times in my coaching career. I had a star running back that was undersized to say the least going into his senior year. He had only three offers at this point and only one of these was a division one program. He went on to grow about four inches and put on twenty-five pounds while being the best player on the team. By week four of the season, seemingly every school knew of him. By the end of his recruitment he was between his first division one offer and three major programs. He chose that first school to offer him and when I asked him what made him choose this program he answered they gave him the most attention and they were first to believe in him. This school did not let up on him and when the bigger schools offered they turned up the heat even more. All of this attention and care paid to athletes is a huge part of recruiting but it must be handled carefully.

The next factors that pull recruits are their preconceived notions and their openness to new ideas. Growing up in the south, I am no stranger to being raised on a certain team or university. I grew up knowing my school was best and all others were just hoping to be us. I knew that the Big 10 was slow, the Big East shouldn’t have a BCS tie in, the SEC was overly arrogant, the ACC was soft, the Big 12 only had three teams worth anything (OU, UT, and back then Nebraska), and the Pac then 10 now 12 didn’t understand that defense was part of the game. Many of these up and coming prospects are also filled with these beliefs and have favorite schools. Whether or not the parents have attended a school or even gone to college doesn’t come into play as much as many think. It is only a factor in as much as the school is a part of the athletes upbringing. Athletes with parents that never went to college still have their teams, but they may just not have the same loyalty to that school due to lesser exposure and connection.

To use myself as an example, I was only offered by 10 schools coming out of high school and only two of those were division one programs. One of the programs was a very good school with great academics but they did not offer an athletic scholarship only a preferred walk-on status with partial academic scholarships to help with the lofty tuition price tag. The other program was a good school, but it had the misfortune of being a program that I knew a lot about and had distaste for due to my college football upbringing. Needless to say I did not give that school the time of day. In the end I am a rare sort of fool that passed up all of the chances laid before me and enrolled in college just to be a student. Looking back now, the school that I would not consider may have been the best opportunity for me, but my preconceived notions of it would not allow me to truly see the potential in it. This is something that recruits often enter the process with. It’s the athlete’s ability to be open to new ideas and schools that will determine how much these beliefs will factor in their decision.

The intangibles of each school are another big factor weighing on these young minds. Each school is unique and therefore brings different things to the table for each recruit. Many fans wonder why a recruit would choose to go to school X over their school, assuming the school itself is the determining factor, and the answer is never simple nor the same as different recruits are looking for different things. Let’s take a look at five different schools that are very successful and each have had excellent recruiting classes in the past few years: Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Ohio State, and Southern California.

Why would a recruit choose one of these schools, disregarding geography, over another? Each school has features that make it extremely attractive to recruits. Alabama has a history, both ancient and recent, of winning championships and plays in the SEC. Clemson has a unique campus and “family” atmosphere, this is what many recruits have been quoted as saying about the program throughout the years. Florida has the location, SEC, and facilities. Ohio State has tradition and name recognition in the North, and USC has the LA lifestyle. Each school has something that appeals to certain recruits and when an athlete is looking at schools some of these characteristics will speak louder to them than others. Larger, more prominent programs have more to offer than their smaller counter parts in terms of exposure and other intangibles as well. What is important to them is usually sculpted by their upbringing and those that are around them on a daily basis.

This brings us to the most important factor in recruiting, the decision makers. Believe it or not most 17 and 18 year olds are not ready to make completely independent decisions on their own, and they often look to a certain person to guide them in the right direction for their future. This person is different for every recruit and coaches are constantly scrambling to find that person. For me my decision maker was my father (who was happy in the end that I chose not to play college football) and I would look to him to gauge how interested in a school I should be and where I would fit the best. In many cases it is a parent or relative or maybe even a close friend that helps makes this decision–which is not necessarily unhealthy.

It’s when there is an outside person that has undue influence on this decision that a problem arises. Unfortunately this happens far too often in recruiting, and it is not talked about in the open as much as it should be. There have been many instances where high school coaches hold something over a recruit to be able to steer him to the school of the coach’s choice. Often times this is with the promise of a job for the coach if he delivers the recruit. Other times it is just to help out the coach’s favorite school. I have witnessed this first hand both when playing and coaching. I have had a coach I played for threaten to fail an athlete if he did not commit to the coach’s school at which he was promised a job. I have even seen a coach tell a player that he would not start a game if he did not consider his alma mater more in his recruitment. Regardless of who is pulling the strings and whether or not it is beneficial for the athlete, the decision makers are a key factor in the thought process of a recruit.

Even with a better understanding of all of the factors that go into recruiting, no one can still truly predict what an 18-year-old athlete will do. The amount of attention schools send the way of recruits and their preconceived notions and open-mindedness towards that attention is critical. Each school’s intangibles and the decision makers in the recruits’ lives also weigh heavily on their minds. It’s just a guess as to which of these factors makes the biggest impact and dictates decisions. In the end, we enjoy recruiting for its roller coaster like ride, and that won’t change.

However when you wonder why your school just couldn’t flip that big time recruit maybe you can now begin to understand the factors at play and look at the process in a different light. Happy recruiting season!

Thank you Big Fudge for this informative, revealing, and somewhat shocking look into the recruiting process. It certainly gave me a peer into the process and deepened my understanding. I hope it had the same impact on our readers. 

If you enjoyed this post, please click the Facebook “Like” button on the right sidebar. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

Facelift For Clemson Basketball Could Be Bigger Than Previously Planned

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

If you haven’t already caught wind of the news, let me catch you up. It has been well-known that Clemson plans to keep pace with ever improving, ultra-competitive ACC by building a basketball-only practice facility across from Littlejohn Coliseum. An official rendering of what it may looks like is shown below.

New practice facility for both men’s and women’s basketball, which would be built into the hill between the coliseum and the parking adjacent to the West End Zone of Memorial Stadium (Lot 5).

Before leaving his position as Georgia Tech’s AD for the same position at Clemson, Dan Radakovich, oversaw construction of the Yellow Jackets’ new basketball arena, McCamish Pavalion. With that experience, he is highly qualified and I am confident in his judgement leading the charge as the Tigers now work on upgrading their own basketball facilities.

The big news is that these plans are on hold as the Board of Trustees looks into the viability of renovating or even replacing Littlejohn Coliseum, making the outlook suddenly much more extravagant than the original $50 million in facility upgrades.

I, like Mickey Plyler, am somewhat mixed on this. He provides great evidence that a new facility, regardless how fanciful, doesn’t always lead to more on the court success (see UVA). Moreover, Clemson hasn’t shown the ability to consistently “pack the house.” 10,000 seats seems the perfect capacity. I fear building a larger arena only to end up looking like Wake Forest playing a non-conference opponent in front of 7,000 empty seats.

The Georgia Tech game (and win) was sparsely attended, but it was just three some odd years ago that Clemson hosted College Gameday before a big matchup with Duke. The Gameday broadcast was one of the loudest Digger Phelps had experienced, and as was always the case in those years (back in my day), the crowd come tip-off was incredible–loud, intimidating, and 10,000 strong. Clemson happened to lose that game, but the culture at Clemson was simply more “into basketball” in those years. Of course, those teams found more success, and everyone wants to watch a winning team.

Littlejohn is considered one of the toughest places to play. In fact, during a recent ACC broadcast, a former player said it was tougher than Cameron Indoor because it crowds were downright mean. After attending a few games in Lawrence Joel Coliseum, in Winston-Salem (a beautiful facility), I can say that the atmosphere in Littlejohn is special, and is largely fostered by the “right on top of you” construction of the arena itself.

I have memories of Littlejohn comparable to those formed in Death Valley and I’d be sad to see it go. If luxury boxes are a major revenue generator that we could take advantage of, I’d rather see renovation than a full rebuild.  I’d hate to see Littlejohn go if it’s nt necessary, but I admit a new arena would be exciting. Either way, I trust Dan Radakovich to make the best decision for Clemson.

I’m interested in hearing the pulse of Tiger Nation. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Full Chick-fil-A Bowl HD Video – College Football Withdrawals Have Begun

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

It began faster than expected. I called IPTAY this morning for information on UGA tickets (Clemson opens 2013 at home against the Bulldogs) and found myself browsing TigerNet and Shakin the Southland over dinner. The college football withdrawals have surely begun.

Luckily, I ran across this beautiful HD video of the Chick-fil-A Bowl posted on YouTube by one not-too-bitter LSU fan.

I have the embedded video below. It was great to watch again in the solitude of my home where I could really hone it, but I may need to find another source of entertainment this offseason.

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Seven Reasons Clemson Could Play For The 2013 National Championship

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Next season marks the final year of the BCS as we know it. In 2014, the National Championship will be determined by a four-team playoff. I’m not staunchly opposed to the move to a playoff, but it will surely make some of the games (see Orange Bowl potentially getting SEC #3) less special and packed with tradition. That being said, Clemson, whose fans are on top of the world at the moment, has a legitimate shot to play in the final National Championship that to be decided purely by the BCS standings. Here are seven reasons why that’s the case.

1.  Pre-Season Ranking: Clemson should begin next season well within the top 10. That could be key given the Tigers are not in the uber-respected SEC.

2.  Senior QB: After a weak draft projection and the return of Chad Morris, it appears highly likely that Tajh Boyd, the ACC Player of the Year, will return for his senior season. So, we’re looking at Clemson coming into the season as the highest ranked team in the ACC with the best player in the conference, not too shabby.

3.  Offensive Identity: After a 6-7 2010 season, Dabo Swinney made the bold move to bring in a largely untested offensive coordinator from Tulsa. He has completely changed the identity of Clemson’s Program. They’ve gone from a decent program that can’t win the big game to a fast-paced offense that wears out their opponents with great skill players. In an article from my favorite Clemson writer, Greg Wallace, Dabo Swinney says:

“It’s a Clemson offense, not a Chad Morris offense,” Swinney told reporters. “When we hired Chad, this is what we wanted to do philosophically. Our first year in 2009, we had dynamic guys like C.J. Spiller and Michael Palmer, Jacoby Ford, it’s well-documented what those guys did. We knew what we wanted to go to, it was just a matter of having the right personnel. It was a matter of who I thought was the best fit for our personnel. We settled on Chad and he’s done a tremendous job.

4.  Balanced Schedule: Clemson’s 2013 schedule is picture perfect. It holds no trip to Tallahassee, like 2012, and no trip to Athens, like 2014. The Tigers swap VT with Syracuse and take a trip to Charlottesville. In a weird scheduling quirk ACC rival, Georgia Tech, will play in Clemson in Death Valley for a consecutive year (GT asked for the change so they would never have a season without a home game against either Clemson or UGA). There is a tremendous talent gap after the Yellow Jackets have been saddled with Paul Johnson’s “unprofessional environment”  and weak recruiting for four years. FSU, Clemson’s chief conference rival (see what I did there with “chief”?), will be severely depleted after losing stars at QB, RB, DE, and CB to the NFL draft. Additionally, a schedule that boasts UGA, FSU, NCSU, GT, and South Carolina should be tough enough to earn national respect. Eventually Clemson has to beat the chickens from the dumpy part of the state, right?

5.  Matured Offensive Line: If you read my season preview, my biggest concern was the offensive line. They exceeded my expectations in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against Auburn and only got better as the season progressed. In the finale against LSU, Gifford Timothy went down to injury. Clemson responded to adversity with a second half rally and game-winning drive. They’ll return four offensive lineman!

6.  Wide Receivers: Clemson has one of the best receiving corps in the country. DeAndre Hopkins has been named to the 2013 Heisman Watch List, but even he leaves the Tigers will return: Sammy Watkins, Adam Humphries, Charone Peake, and Martavius Bryant. Jaron Brown, who had an epic block against LSU will graduate, but even if the Tigers lose both Hopkins and Brown, I’ll still be exceedingly confident in this group of players.

7.  Brent Venables:  The Tigers have been churning through defensive coordinators the last few years. Vic Koenning was let go due to philosophical differences with Dabo Swinney. Kevin Steele came in and the defense worsened. Steele was dismissed, and Brent Venables joined the staff with much to improve upon from the 2011 Orange Bowl fiasco. The defense got exposed against FSU, but continued to improve and came through against LSU. I expect further improvement from the defense in Venables second year.

I have my concerns though. Firstly, Andre Ellington’s graduation leaves a hole at RB, but “Hot Rod” McDowell, DJ Howard, and Zac Brooks are more than capable replacements for the speedy back (who fumbled in the last two Clemson bowl games). Secondly, Clemson’s recruiting over the past four seasons has been strong, but not on par with the Alabamas and Floridas of the world. While the Tigers will be extremely talented next year, they certainly won’t be the most talented team vying for the title. Thirdly, Tajh Boyd could stun me and decide to leave early for the NFL. His soft draft projection, down in 6th/7th round territory, coupled with the return of Offensive Coordinator, Chad Morris, seem to make it unlikely, but I suppose it is possible. Finally, Clemson will end the season with the tough task of winning at Williams Brice Stadium. Nobody beat the Cocks at home this year (they lost at LSU and at UF). I can’t fathom another loss to them though, so I’m going to mark it down as a win for now and continue to enjoy Clemson’s victory at the hands of the “other” Tigers who play in the “other” Death Valley.

Now, most experts will likely pick the winner of the SEC to match up with a program like Oklahoma or Notre Dame in the next National Championship, but I believe Clemson has a great opportunity to continue to best program records and find themselves in their first BCS National Championship Game. The seven reasons outlined above along with the winning culture that is being instilled under Swinney’s tenure present a tremendous opportunity for Clemson in 2013. This year’s team was just the fourth 11-win Clemson team in program history. I expect even more victories next season. Start planning your trip to Pasadena!

Go Tigers!

Feel free to tell me why I’m crazy in the comments section below.

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As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

Ranking the SEC Football Programs: The Decade Ahead

Posted on by bigfudge74

Just after my post reminiscing of the days of yesteryear, when I had a co-blogger, it appears as though I may have a regular contributor now. As promised, our SEC expert, Big Fudge, is back with his look at the “Decade Ahead” in the SEC. Enjoy the read, and please notice just how low those pesky, vile, appalling  despicable, (insert infinite negative adjectives here) Gamecocks are down the list–and that’s not even from a Clemson fan! Every red-blooded American has gotta love that! Anyway, on to the post. Enjoy! Please leave comments below.

In reading my last post and my moniker–Big Fudge–two of my viewing pleasures become quite evident: How I Met Your Mother and SEC football. H.I.M.Y.M. is certainly not the only show I enjoy (how can you watch the pilot of Dexter and not get hooked?) and neither is SEC football the only brand of the sport I follow, however you have to go with what you know, even on an ACC blog.

To piggy back on Ryan’s earlier write-up on the ACC programs, today we take a look at the future of programs in the SEC. It isn’t all about the X’s and O’s in these rankings but rather about the programs as a whole and seeing who is best built for sustained success in the nation’s premiere football conference. The rankings may surprise you and, for Clemson fans, excite you.

The Top of the Heap

1.  The University of Alabama - At this point it should be obvious that Alabama is set up to be the cream of the crop in the SEC. The facilities are there, the money is there, the tradition is there, the fan base is there, and the coaching staff is definitely there. The one area that Alabama does not dominate currently is the in-state talent isn’t at the level of rivals Florida or even Georgia. However, when you have every other advantage like the Crimson Tide do, in-state talent isn’t all that important. With all of their resources, Bama can simply walk into any high school in the country and have immediate pull. The recent success of the program coupled with the other intangibles has the Tide firmly set on College Football’s pedestal. Simply put, Alabama is not going anywhere any time soon.

2.  The University of Florida - The program that Bear Bryant once called a “Sleeping Giant” awoke in the early 1990s under a certain Head Ball Coach. Since then the Gators have been arguably the most dominant and prominent program in the conference and possibly the country. The Gators lead the conference in SEC title game appearances and have also won the most SEC title games. They have three national titles and have the second longest active bowl streak in the nation. Couple that with a seemingly bottomless pool of in-state talent, unlimited funding, great facilities (including the feared Swamp), and arguably the best athletic director in the business in Jeremy Foley, and it’s easy to see why the Gators are so successful across several sports. They, like Alabama, now have a coaching staff in place which also has them looking at even more sustained success in the long-term. Long story short, the “Sleeping Giant” is certainly awake and kicking.

3.  The University of Georgia - This is a program that has a lot going for it every year. It is incredibly well-funded, has an excellent facility in Sanford Stadium, it has tradition, and has plenty of in-state talent. What keeps it behind Florida and Alabama is its inability to win the really big games under Mark Richt. The Dawgs under-achieve regularly and haven’t gotten over the hump quite yet to prove they have the ability to keep up in the long-term. That being said, when you have a great AD in Greg McGarity (Note: Ryan roomed with his son at Clemson), a budget over $90 million, and a great depth of talent around you it’s hard to see that program sinking any time soon either.

4.  Texas A&M University - Short and sweet: the Aggies are in a football crazy state, they are swimming in high school talent, they have the facilities, and oh yea they are in a football crazy state! The program is returning to national prominence and it figures to stay there for a while with Kevin Sumlin’s exciting brand of football and its hungry fans fueling on the Aggies’ success.

5.  Louisiana State University - At the risk of sounding repetitive, LSU has all the right ingredients to stay at the top of the SEC. Death Deaf Valley, great recruiting, and a solid fan base will keep these Tigers competitive for the foreseeable future.

The Middle of the Pack:

6.  The University of Tennessee - This is a program that has given me headaches trying to figure out why it hass struggled so mightily over the past several seasons. The Vols command a huge budget. They have a massive stadium and are a household name. There is no reason for them to be treading water or, to be more precise, drowning in mediocrity. I don’t expect it to last. Despite the panic hire of Butch Jones, the Vols just have way too much going for them to not be better in the future.

7.  Auburn University - Jorden-Hare, Bo Jackson, and War Eagle. Tradition, money, and facilities. I am now sure you will be repeating this in your sleep after reading this, but it does not make the recipe any more true. Auburn has many great pieces, however without a deep talent base in the state and better leadership the Tigers will not be able to jump into the SEC Elite realm on a regular basis.

8.  The University of Arkansas - The Hogs have the same dilemma as War Eagle. They have a great fan base and, thanks to Bud Walton, unbelievable facilities. The problem again lies in the just complete wasteland that is young talent in the state. Outside of a couple of athletes per year, Arkansas just does not produce the talent capable of supporting a great SEC program. It will now be on Bret Bielema to see if he can go elsewhere to get the talent he needs.

9.  The University of Missouri - This is an interesting program. Mizzou has a loyal fan base and has a relatively solid recruiting plan, but little else. The facilities are nowhere near their better SEC brethren and the money isn’t there for them either. I just don’t see a program that committed to stepping up into the SEC not giving its all to compete successfully. Eventually the Tigers will climb out of the cellar and climb their way up the ladder, slowly but surely.

10.  The University of Mississippi - When you have the Grove you will always have a great recruiting tool. Combine that with Hugh Freeze and I see the Rebels dominating their state for a long time. However, they will have to climb over a lot of teams better equipped to move up much further in the long-term and I’m not sure they have the tools to do so.

The Bottom of the Pile:

11.  South Carolina, Columbia Campus - This ranking may come as a shock, but anyone that has followed the conference for a long time should be able to see the merit in it as it is explained. Cocky had long been the cellar-dweller in the SEC prior to a few happy moments under Lou Holtz and the arrival of Steve Spurrier. I don’t see Steve staying around for another decade to keep up what he has built, which means without one of the premiere offensive minds in the history of the game that the Cocks will slide back down to the bottom of the conference. The facilities are not even close to adequate to continue to achieve what they have been and new AD Ray Tanner will be learning on the job, which doesn’t bode well for sustained success. Reality will be coming soon to reacquaint itself with the Cocks.

12.  Mississippi State University - A coach looking to get out, limited funds, and limited recruitable talent. Easy to see why the SEC’s other Bulldogs will not be very competitive in the future.

13.  Vanderbilt University - Making all sports “intramural” wasn’t a great start. Despite what James Franklin does, Vandy just is not currently structured to be able to support a successful football program. I do expect the ‘Dores to be exciting and competitive in the coming two to three seasons, but beyond that would be a huge feat that I am not sure James Franklin can accomplish.

14.  The University of Kentucky - No in-state talent to speak of. No fan base for football. Decent facilities at best. It’s tough to have success when the only time your fan base notices your program is when they are turning the other way on John Calipari’s recruiting practices.

As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

 

The ACC Figured It Out Just In Time: Time To Plunder The Big East Again

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

It’s always a good day to plunder the Big East

The slow and gradual collapse of the Big East, which was caused in no small part by the misguided basketball-only schools who never realized that football must come first, leaves plenty for the plunder.

20 years ago, not realizing how much more important football would be than basketball, and lacking the vision to see that television-contract dollars (centered around football) would form the roots of conference stability, the Big East rejected Penn State. The conference has been bleeding ever since, losing Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College, and then more recently West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Louisville. Former Big East, now ACC member Boston College, nets over four-times the money from football that they do from basketball. Georgetown and the like could never understand. Conversely, the ACC seemed to learn this lesson just in the nick of time.

When the recent conference shuffle started, West Virginia seemed likely to leave the Big East. The ACC was the logical landing-place for WVU–technically not on the Atlantic coast, but more geographically in sync than Louisville or Notre Dame. Schools like Duke balked at the idea of adding the 165th ranked National University (academics), and the Mountaineers were turned away, only to find more more lucrative pastures in the Big 12. The ACC would then add two football weenies–Syracuse and Pittsburgh–neither in the top 8 of my football program “Decade Ahead” rankings.

When West Virginia was rejected for academic reasons, I was proud, proud that the ACC stood for something beyond money, while the dirty SEC fought down in the mud and the muck… Then money started speaking louder.

After all the hoopla, conference realignment seemed complete, and with the ACC’s two new additions plus the special agreement and partial addition of Notre Dame, all seemed honky dory. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the cash-strapped athletic department of Maryland left the ACC to join the Big 10. Rutgers would join them shortly thereafter. Suddenly it became clear, that the ACC’s skimpy television contract had made them vulnerable.

The money difference for Maryland was so huge that it was worth leaving for them, despite the $50+ million exit fee, decades of history and tradition, the strain the additional travel will put on their student athletes, and the inconvenience it puts on fans. That’s when the principle of requiring members to be top-notch academic institutions such as Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Boston College, etc., went out the window.

Immediately, the ACC went to work to replace Maryland. After some talk about Navy and Cincinnati, the two realistic options were UConn and Louisville. Louisville, who has the most valuable basketball program in the country, a more developed football program, and superior facilities than UConn seemed the smart choice, as I outlined here. Amazingly, Wake Forest (bless their hearts), Duke, UNC, and Virginia supported UConn. Now I have nothing against UConn, but how could you pick them over Louisville? With the conference in serious trouble, these schools were still clinging to outdated principles. Fortunately, the other Universities chose Louisville, the 160th academically ranked National University, but the best addition to the conference… And that’s the story of how the Tar Heels were dethroned from the ACC, and the conference was saved.

With the ACC saved, and the Big East weaker than ever (rumors are they may resort to inviting A-10 schools) the Atlantic Coast Conference still has more to plunder. The ACC now has 15 teams that will be relying on their bowl lineup (that includes Notre Dame in years they are bowl eligible and not in the Orange Bowl), and just eight guaranteed bowl tie-ins. This year, with UNC and Miami not participating in bowl games, that was not a problem at all, but with Louisville replacing Maryland, and three additional teams relying on the bowl lineup, the ACC needs to grow and improve their bowl lineup. Specifically, they need to find their way into the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

The Pinstripe Bowl currently pairs the Big East against the Big 12. Contracts with both conferences expire after 2013. With the Big East losing so many of their top programs and the Big 12 never really making sense given the geographic stretch, the Pinstripe Bowl may be looking to new conferences to keep their fair bowl alive. The three football programs that presumably would get the biggest draw in New York City are Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Rutgers. Two of them are now in the ACC bowl lineup, and all were previously affiliated with the Big East’s. Furthermore, either Syracuse or Rutgers has been in each of the three Pinstripe Bowl.

The $2,000,000 payout already associated with the Pinstripe Bowl would place it between the Russell Athletic Bowl and the Sun Bowl as a top four bowl destination in the current ACC bowl lineup. Beyond the money appealing to the ACC and the appropriate ACC teams appealing to the bowl, they need to come to terms with the conference that the ACC is awkwardly not paired with in any bowl games, the Big 10.

I’ve always found it strange that the ACC hardly ever battle with the Big 10, while the media always pairs the two as the conferences worthy to discuss only after the SEC and Big 12. The conferences already square off in the ACC/Big 10 challenge during basketball season, and after the Maryland fiasco, there is a bit of bad blood. The Big 10 makes loads more sense than the Big 12 does for the Pinstripe Bowl now that they can offer Rutgers and Maryland, both great fits for a New York City bowl.  There are plenty of enjoyable matchups that could be established among the variations of: Notre Dame/ Syracuse/ Pittsburgh/ Boston College/ Virginia/ Virginia Tech v. Rutgers/ Penn St/ Maryland/Michigan/Michigan St. Not to mention that I’d love to get a crack at Penn St or Michigan, and it would “feel good” to have ACC teams occasionally play Maryland, an ACC charter member. If the weather was tolerable, I’d surely make the trip to New York City to see Clemson play in the New Yankee Stadium. Although the bowl is currently a lower tier game that what Clemson fans are accustomed to, it was just two years ago that I attended the Meineke Car Care Bowl where we lost to USF. Plus, it’s the venue makes it seem so special anyway.

There are other bowls in warmer weather locations on my wish lists as well. I’d like to see commissioner Swofford make a play to bring the Gator Bowl ($2.5 mil payout) back. Part of the reason they abandoned their affiliation with the Big East was due to restrictions on how often they could select Notre Dame. Such restrictions don’t apply in the ACC’s agreement and matchups like Northwestern v. Mississippi State aren’t impressing anyone. Additionally, I’d like to see the ACC drop affiliations with the Advocare Independence Bowl ($1.1 mil payout) and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (>$1 mil payout) and take the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl ($1 mil payout)  in sunny St. Petersburg as a low-tier replacement. Yes, let’s replace Shreveport and San Francisco with Jacksonville, St. Pete, and New York City. Go plunder Mr. Swofford, it’s always been your thing.

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As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!