Wednesday February 25, 2009

Our Dean Smith; VT Preview; Baseball

Our Dean Smith
I received an e-mail the other day that I would have saved and addressed in our Friday E-Mail Bag segment but instead I wanted to spend a little more time on it and thought it was worthy of more attention.

A Clemson fan wanted to know if I thought Oliver Purnell was our Dean Smith or our Jim Valvano? He was comparing Purnell and his accomplishments here to what Smith or Valvano had accomplished at UNC and NC State respectively.

To be fair, Smith won two national championships, 13 ACC tournament titles and 17 regular season championships. He is the second winningest coach in the sport’s history and took the Tar Heels to 11 Final Fours (John Wooden had only one more Final Four appearance).

Valvano’s teams won the regular season or ACC tournament in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989. His 1983 team shocked college basketball when it won the national title.

Both men are coaching legends that combined to win 37 ACC regular season, ACC tournament or national championships.

But to be fair to Oliver Purnell, both Smith and Valvano took over completely different situations at two basketball powers. Sure Smith and Valvano were two Hall of Fame coaches but they were at schools that had excellent basketball traditions. Both coaches took over programs that had already won a national championship. North Carolina won the 1957 national title under Frank McGuire and NC State won the 1974 NCAA championship under Norm Sloan.

North Carolina had nine conference championships before Dean Smith ever stepped on campus. Norm Sloan won three and Everett Case won ten titles before Valvano came to State.

These programs had great history and great players throughout each program’s history. Lennie Rosenbluth preceded Dean Smith. David Thompson came to Raleigh before Jim Valvano.

Of all of the players and coaches mentioned above, only Rosenbluth and Valvano are not in the Basketball Hall of Fame. The next time you go to Springfield, MA let me know how many former Clemson players and coaches are in the Hall of Fame.

Purnell took over a completely different animal at Clemson. UNC and NC State have 27 ACC tournament titles. Clemson is still looking for its first. The Tar Heels and Wolfpack have played in the ACC tournament finals 46 times. The Tigers have played in the finals twice.

The Tar Heels and Wolfpack have combined to go to 20 Final Fours. Clemson made it to the Elite Eight once.

I am not saying that Purnell belongs in the basketball Hall of Fame but I am saying that Purnell took over a completely different situation. And in some ways, what Purnell has been able to do at Clemson is as impressive as what other great coaches across the ACC accomplished. Maybe it would be more fair to compare what Purnell has done at Clemson to what Lefty Driesell did at Maryland or Bobby Cremins did at Georgia Tech since their schools did not have huge success before those coaches arrived. Maryland won the 1958 tournament before Lefty arrived in 1969 and obviously Georgia Tech did not win one before Cremins.

Virginia Tech Preview
I have to tell ya that this one scares me.

I know Virginia Tech has been struggling and have lost five of its last seven contests but this one has me concerned for several reasons:

1-Tech matches up well with Clemson. They are big enough and athletic enough to give the Tigers a hard time.

2-The Hokies are fighting for the NCAA lives right now. They come into tonight’s game with a 6-6 ACC record and have games left with Duke, North Carolina and Florida State remaining. The schedule is difficult so this is probably a must win for Tech tonight.

3-Clemson-Virginia Tech games are seemingly always extremely close. It seems as if these games always go down to the final minutes with the game undecided.

4-Tech plays a bunch of close games. Five of their losses came on the opponents’ last shot.

5-The Hokies understand tonight’s game will be about defense and I look for an incredible effort on the defensive end.

6-Delaney, Vassallo and Allen are good enough to beat anyone in the league.

7-Seth Greenberg will have his crew ready to play with a tremendous energy tonight.

Clemson needs tonight’s game as bad a Virginia Tech but for different reasons. Like Tech, the Tigers schedule gets difficult in the last three regular season games so Clemson needs to win at home. Clemson also needs to win for seeding in the NCAA and ACC tourneys.

I would expect the Littlejohn crowd tonight to be energetic and enthusiastic. This crucial ACC basketball stuff is pretty fun. I think I can get used to this for the next few years of my life.

Clemson Baseball
When I was about eight years old my grand dad taught me a pretty good lesson on the golf course. He said, “Don’t ever judge a player by his first tee shot. I have seen players top it off of the first tee and shoot 67 and have seen players rip it down the middle off of the first tee and shoot 107.”

This past weekend was the first time we got a chance to see the 2009 Clemson baseball team and I am trying to follow my grand dad’s advice but I liked what I saw and heard.

This team looks a little bigger and a little more athletic. There seems to be more depth at most positions and in the pitching.

The freshmen looked impressive for their first time out. Brad Miller looked comfortable at shortstop. Jason Stolz played well at third. Richard Mounce looks like he has some bat speed. Phil Pohl looked comfortable behind the plate. Will Lamb is a big kid that really motors down the line.

The young pitchers looked impressive as well. Chris Dwyer put on a show Saturday when he struck out seven of the first nine he faced. We will get a better idea of what to expect from Kevin Brady today but he pitched well Saturday. Scott Weismann looked impressive in his appearance. Tomas Cruz is a JUCO transfer but he looked sharp.

The sophomore class looks like it improved as well and is represented by starters like Addison Johnson, Kyle Parker, Jeff Schaus, Chris Epps and Graham Stoneburner.

With so many freshman and sophomore contributors I could see this team continue to develop and get Clemson baseball fans excited again about this program.

I know it was just Charlotte but I saw some energy from this team this past weekend. They looked aggressive on the base paths and fundamentally sound on defense. I was also impressed by the late comeback win Sunday.

It is early and the competition will get real good, real fast. However, it looks like a good foundation again for Tiger baseball.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Kaitlyn L, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Sandy Wright, Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, Ronnie Queen, Edward Putman, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Anna Rawl, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey.