Here are some random thoughts and opinions about a variety of issues that we will continue to investigate over at www.shakinthesouthland.com:
Clemson signed an acceptable class this season. We overviewed this class at STS here: http://www.shakinthesouthland.com/2010/2/3/1289865/the-2010-clemson-tiger-recruiting and will evaluate how the Tigers class looks on a needs-fill basis this week (week starting Feb 8). Bringing in Justin Parker was critical for this class. It was also nice to see the set of skills players (DB’s and WR’s) that we brought in this season. Clemson has a lot of work to do for the ‘11 class based on needs and losses after this year, but should be (overall) happy about this group.
Clemson basketball has placed itself in a bad situation moving forward. With a loss at Virginia Tech, Clemson fell to 4-5 in conference play. Clemson has played extremely poor fundamental basketball, especially in half court sets. Further, the Tigers do a poor job of moving without the ball and implementing anything complex. Clemson cannot convert free throws and is really poor shooting from the field. If the Tigers’ full court press does not result in easy transition points, the Tigers are in real trouble each and every night. This team has a lot of basic issues that need correcting.
Moving forward, Clemson is really spiraling and has to win a minimum 3 of their next 4 to legitimately position themselves for any decent NCAA birth. The Tigers have three consecutive road games before traveling to College Park. CU still has hope but needs to do a lot of things to become more relevant.
On the basketball note, I have been particularly disappointed with the television coverage/availability for the country’s premier conference. Living in SC, I would expect that I would be able to watch Clemson play on Saturdays. Unfortunately, no one in my viewing area carries ACC basketball on Raycom. I expect Swofford to address this issue. ACC basketball is a huge conference asset. To handicap this conference by lack of a distribution network is comical. Raycom provides excellent basketball coverage. It is almost criminal that Swoffy and the boys cannot work out a better plan to get ACC teams more coverage (especially in bball season). Current Raycom announcers are well versed in this conference’s history and teams and I personally believe that viewers nationwide would be interested in seeing some of the country’s best basketball coupled with excellent coverage.
The folks in the SEC are reaping the benefits of media deals, I would expect the ACC to follow suit within the year. If not, the schools should demand the ACC leadership completely removed and replaced with a group that wants the ACC (and schools outside the research triangle) to get some benefit from participating in this league.
