The Atlanta Clemson Club put forth too much hard work and effort to make our tags a reality. I’d hate to see them taken from us because of the immaturity of a couple of UGA fans. Could you please post something on your blog asking all Georgia residents to contact their senate representative and urge them to vote against this bill? People can look up their representatives at the following address:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?state=GA&view=myofficials#0.

And just if you’re curious, the actual bill can be found at:

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/sum/hb1165.htm.

As a public service announcement, does everyone in the audience outside the South Carolina area know how easy it is to listen to Clemson Sports on Radio Station 104.9 via the internet? Go to the site --- click “Listen Live” --- give it 15 seconds to buffer up --- make sure you’re not on mute --- you’re good to go assuming you have a decent bandwidth. Nothing is more fun than kicking back in Los Angeles listening to folks back home talking about topics important to me. Plus, your blog is a daily ritual and highlight. There may be others, but I don’t need them.

In a recent Terry (not Tommy) Bowden article while discussing special teams play he said that "many young high school stars can be a little self-centered and don't understand the importance of being a role player and doing whatever it takes to help the team”. Then I thought of the constant media harping that Virginia Tech’s Coach Beamer has the best special teams because he puts the best 11 players on the field as if somehow to suggest that nobody else does. On that note, please assess last year’s Clemson and Virginia Tech special team squads regarding who played and who did not and why.

I didn't get to watch the game, but it was nice to see the team overcome a blown lead to fight back for a 10-point victory. I still think we need to win 2 of the next three regular season games to solidify a #3 or #4 seed for the ACC Tournament. More importantly, another couple of wins in the regular season would help us in our seeding and placement for a possible NCAA bid.

I have to ask. Who said, "I am Clemson basketball!"

“Then, if the players came back with logical arguments for NC’s strengths I would either point out the parts of the game plan/scheme that we have worked on to equalize those strengths. And/or I would work TOGETHER with the players to come up with equalizers.” This statement shows me a coach willing to listen to his players when it comes to schemes and game plans. I often wonder how much this happens in Division 1 sports. I think this would be a great mental exercise that would give both coaches & players the opportunity to voice their concerns and defend/back-up their approach to the game. I hope Tommy Bowden is taking this approach as I read articles where Rendrick Taylor & Jock McKissic are moving positions to help the team with depth issues. Maybe these guys brought the idea to their position coaches and they really listened. Ideally, if Rendrick Taylor can tackle, then he has a much better chance as a linebacker in the NFL. So if this position change helps Clemson win and Taylor makes it to the next level….Then Tommy Bowden and Clemson have done their Job!

Unfortunately I could not kick the ball consistently over 25 yards, and could not walk for a few days due to the fact my leg felt like it could fall off at any point. Still Nick said don’t worry about it he would get me out there somehow. We spoke often and he told me to stay positive. Which I was, just being a student at Clemson and especially during football season was more than I ever dreamed it would be. About a month later Nick called me up, all excited and told me to get ready, I was going to rub that rock and lead the team down the hill the next season. I was like what??? He said Biggie’ (I’m about half his size so for some reason I was biggie and I called him tiny) I spoke to John Seketa and they have mascot tryouts starting in a few weeks. Nick said as much as you love Clemson, I know you can do it. So long story short I was able to lead the Tigers down that hill into the Valley and it was unreal. I know most people have probably had dreams of what it would be like and I wish I could explain to you how unbelievable it is(we will not mention almost dieing of heat strokes and the Georgia fans in 2001) but I truly think that mentality is what makes successful people what they are and makes their dreams come true. Same applies in every aspect of life.

Firstly, much of the ACC mystique stems from the fact that its two marquee teams (North Carolina with 4 titles and Duke with 3 titles) are located within 8 miles of each other and are national powers. Having national powers with blood rivalries in close proximity to or at least in the same region as each other is not unusual. The Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio region has much of the same claim to basketball history and fanatical fan passion as does North Carolina.

Kentucky - 7 titles
Indiana - 5 titles
Louisville - 2 titles
Ohio State - 2 titles
Cincinnati - made 5 straight Final Four appearances during the Oscar Robertson years and was prominent in the 90s as well.

The difference between this region and North Carolina is 1) these schools are spread across neighboring states and 2) only two of these schools are in the same conference and play each other more than once per year. The Duke-UNC rivalry then makes for great television as the two games have frequently determined the ACC title over the past two decades and occur during the conference season when the nation's attention has switched from football to basketball. Thus ACC basketball is featured prominently on television and gets prime time slots due to its location on the east coast. This perpetuates a perception that we as fans and consequently players as well buy into that the ACC is a mythical conference far superior to that of its peers. We need to quit buying into the hype and realize that while the ACC is year-in and year-out generally a top three conference in the country and often is the best top-to-bottom, the conference is not far and away superior to other power conferences as measured by statistical competition bench marks such as RPI, Final Four appearances, teams in the tournament, tournament win percentages, etc. Although I am not providing the stats for those bench marks in this e-mail in a failed attempt to keep it somewhat short, I will discuss further with you if you would like. If you look for yourself, you will see that the ACC does not have a huge leg up on its peer conferences, particularly in the last decade or so when even the hated SEC has been on par with and in some ways better than the ACC from the standpoint of competition benchmarks.

Secondly, the ACC derives a lot of publicity from the passion of the fans and the fact that most of the schools are basketball-first schools. This fan support certainly makes for a great atmosphere and helps to bring in top-shelf recruits. In this regard, ACC basketball is similar to SEC football. Fan support alone, however, does not make a great program or conference nor does lack of great fan support break a program or conference. For prime program examples, see South Carolina football and Miami football. Thus again, fan support brings attention to the ACC that magnifies the conference and enhances the perception of the conference at the expense of the reality that the conference is not that much superior to its peers when it comes down to depth of competition.

Now having made an effort to somewhat debunk perception, the question is what chance does Clemson basketball have to become an ACC power and how does Clemson achieve that? I believe Duane covered from an athlete perspective as far as the psychological aspects. From a basketball standpoint, definitely continue to increase the talent level as well as the basketball IQ of the players. In my opinion, Oliver Purnell is doing this right now. The next component comes from what I have been discussing and that is fan expectations. Clemson fans right now hope for the best but expect the worst, using the ACC as a crutch to fall back on. In many ways, it is almost as disgusting to me as South Carolina fans living vicariously through the SEC and using the conference strength as an excuse for their failures. Clemson fans should legitimately believe the Tigers can win in the ACC and not use strength of conference as a crutch to fall back on. One caveat though is that fan expectations should be realistic - Clemson cannot become a national power or even conference power overnight, but progress is reasonable and a goal of becoming a legitimate threat in the conference is certainly attainable.

History tells us that the goal is obtainable, even in the ACC. For all of the history and hype, only four teams in the ACC (UNC - 4, Duke - 3, NC State - 2, and Maryland - 1) have won national titles. This is roughly on par with Big East and Big Ten. Two of those four teams did not win titles until the 1990s. For comparison, three SEC teams have won titles, two of which did not win titles until the 1990s. Thus, arguably the top of the ACC is not much more top heavy than the top of other power conferences.

The magnitude of having four championship programs in the conference becomes less daunting when you consider that generally no more than two have been championship caliber at one time. Although Duke has had a strong basketball program throughout its history, including Final Fours in 1966 and 1978, the program did not become a consistent national power and ACC title threat until the mid 1980s just as NC State was ending its run of national relevance (sorry NC State fans, the Pack has not been much of a factor in quite some time). Wake Forest, though they did not win a national title or even make a Final Four appearance, built a nice little program under Dave Odom in the mid 90s with players like Randolph Childress and Wake Forest and emerged as an ACC title contender when Duke had a mid-90s swoon. Maryland has historically had some enviable top 25 success under Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams. The Terps, however did not become an ACC force and win that title until North Carolina faltered for a short period. Therefore, Clemson does not have to play a schedule of 16 games against national powers, but rather plays the bulk of their games against some middle of the pack teams and some truly awful teams thrown. The feat of having a winning conference record and making the NCAA tournament regularly becomes less daunting when you think about it from that perspective.

If a trend may be found from the two simultaneous national powers theory it is that although Duke and UNC currently present huge obstacles to becoming ACC and national powers, the feat may be accomplished by seizing the opportunity as Duke, Wake Forest, and Maryland have done in the past. In order to seize the opportunity, a team has to first position itself within striking distance of the top, meaning consistently being that third-fourth place team in the conference and going to the tournament regularly. Right now, Clemson is close to being on that level. Moreover, there is no time like the present for Clemson to position themselves at this level. Of the traditional "almost there" upper-middle of the pack teams, many are down or on the decline. Maryland appears to have peaked and has now receded to being a solid, but not spectacular team. Virginia has fallen down. Paul Hewitt at Georgia Tech makes a splash occasionally with his high profile recruits but has not built anything resembling a program. I'll believe NC State is poised for a turnaround when I see it happen because I have been hearing they were on the verge the better part of my life. Only Wake Forest with their current recruiting efforts - assuming they pan out - appears poised for long term success and a potential run at Duke and UNC.

Thus the time is now for Clemson to seize that position of being a perennial upper-middle of the pack team in the ACC and to begin a run of making the NCAA Tournament regularly. If Clemson does that then, who knows, maybe one year Duke and/or UNC will slip up and Clemson will snatch that ACC title. Maybe, Clemson can even become the next Duke or Florida and break through to win a national title or two. The bottom line is that the barrier between Clemson and success is not as large as it is often made out to be and we as fans are doing a disservice to the team by using it as an excuse for having low expectations.

It troubles me that our most balleyhooed draft prospects aren't dominating these conditioning drills. Are our strength and conditioning coaches doing a good enough job? And, is that a possible reason for Clemson's sub-par performances late in games?

It seems like every time I switch to a UNC basketball game, they just happen to be shooting free throws (no joke!). Nine times out of ten, it's Tyler H. doing the shooting. I brought this up to a co-worker who sees everything through baby blue glasses, and he got real defensive. His argument was that programs like WF, UNC, and Duke have put so many great players on the court who can drive to the hoop that these athletes are going to be fouled more. I can buy a certain extent of that, but what about the teams that make their living by draining 3's? Also, what about the other intangibles like the lack of walking calls like we saw Sunday night when Ellington hopped behind the arch without dribbling to then hit a three going into the half against WF? That no-call was simply comical.

I'm not suggesting or condoning this, but how funny would it be if non-Tarhole fans banned together over message boards and came with consistent signs to display at the ACC Tourney in Charlotte?

All
Calls 4
Carolina

Oliver Purnell might be the best coach Clemson has ever had. However, I'm tired of people bragging on him because all Clemson has done is go to the NIT. Do I want him fired? Absolutely not. However, let's quit bragging about how great he is when Clemson basketball continues to disappoint.

Prediction: Clemson wins one of two at home, loses all 3 away games, finishes 8-8, and we get a high seed in the NIT.