I don’t know about you guys, but I for one am pleased that of 4 guys I’ve never heard of who work for Rivals, 2 of them think that Clemson made the best new hire of the basketball offseason and that the other two dodged the question by saying glowing things about the new hires without making a pick.

Nothing to do now but sit back and hope that Brownell and his new team succeed.

My source here doesn’t have any real inside information. I’m passing this on anyway.

When asked what I needed to know about the new basketball coach:

Not sure. WSU had a pretty decent year and all the talk I’ve heard is that he’s an up-and-comer. Purnell is a money grabber and if you listen to people from U.D., he’s not a very good person.

This person told me the same thing about Purnell when Clemson hired him. The comment has always been in the back of my mind, so when OP suddenly left, I wasn’t as surprised as a lot of people.

Clemson Nation has been dumped by Oliver Purnell. It stings. It is, at best, an unpleasant reality. But I think the timing was perfect.

In short, OP is a program builder and not a championship winner. That was true before he came to Clemson. It was true after seven seasons at Clemson. He did all he could do at Clemson. I think that. I think he thinks that, too. So rather than keep him around pursuing a challenge he’s incapable of accomplishing, it’s for the best for both sides to move on.

It’s not pleasant, but sometimes relationships run their course and have to be terminated.

The way I see it, expanding the NCAA tournament will mostly benefit the established programs and conferences. When all is said and done, the little guy is still going to be the little guy. Coach K is on record as being in favor of an expanded tournament. Here’s why the bigger tournament is good for him and his team: it means the Blue Devils will face lower quality competition that has less rest.

The idea for the new tournament is that the top-32 teams will face a bracket similar to what has been in place in the past. Teams 33-96 (why not make it 97 so that one more team has a chance to play-in?) will essentially be in the “play-in” phase that currently only exists for seeds 64 and 65.

So for any team that is regularly an 8-seed or greater, they now stand to play not a team seeded between 33 and 64, but between 33 and 96. Every upset in the “play-in” phase of the tournament means that the top-32 will face lower seeded opponents.

Plus, all the “play-in” teams have to, you know, play in meaning they have to navigate through one more road win before they go on to meet their rested competition.

This is all the worse for teams like Clemson. Yes Clemson is more likely to appear in the NCAA tourney. And yes, it makes Clemson more likely to actually win a game in the tournament. But it makes it not any more likely that they will actually move beyond the current first round. And it certainly seems possible to make teams like Clemson worse off. But the Dukes of the world? Well it’s all hunky-dory for them.

I just wanted to take a quick moment to comment on the rumors that the NCAA tourney will be expanded from 65 to 96 teams. The idea is horrible in every respect other than being a cash grab. Sorry, but none of the additional 33 teams are going to be compelling teams to watch, nor are they going to have any real shot to win the championship. It’s just going to mean another round of basketball that I don’t really care about.

Think of it another way. The arguments to be made for adding a playoff to college football center around the BCS not being inclusive enough. And there is some fairness there. But nowhere is the real argument that the NCAA tourney with 65 teams is leaving legitimate national championship contenders out in the cold.

And seriously, who the eff cares about the 65th team? Now we’re going to have 32 65th teams? Great. Actually, we already have them, and it’s called the NIT, which last I checked, no one effing cares about.

Look, drama in sports is good. Rooting for the underdog is fine. But when the sanctioning body goes out of their way to put the underdogs in a position to win, it feels like we’re being served sports entertainment.

And done.

Same shit different day.

Tonight’s opponent is NC State. The game is scheduled for 9PM. RAYCOM has the TV coverage, and Vegas says Clemson is favored by 7. I hope to God Clemson advances to Round 2.

Postgame Update

Dear Clemson Men’s Basketball Team,

Way to shit the fucking bed.

Twice!

In a row.

Congratulations. You should have been a #3 seed in the ACC tourney — way to take care of business against a bed-wetting Wake Forest team that ultimately got destroyed by a #12 seed — but you just lost the #11 seed. I’d tell you to not cross GO, and not to collect $200, but frankly I don’t think you could find GO even if it was located directly between your most recent embarrassing loss and the locker room.

It’s hard to win on the road in the ACC. Clemson lost at Wake Forest last night by a final score of 70-65. Clemson came in on a hot streak and Wake had recently been stone cold. With the loss Clemson dropped from being the #3 seed with a bye in the ACC tourney to the #6 seed.

My advice for the Tigers moving forward is to set smaller, albeit no less challenging goals. Namely, don’t try to win the ACC. Set a goal to become good on the road. Achieve that and championships will follow.