Lots of basketball posts since the UNC win, I'll add another, but with a

Feb 8, 2024, 8:57 AM

different slant.

A post this morning brought up the fact that Brownell's teams are by FAR not the first Clemson teams to start seasons well, and then fall down in conference play. Teams coached by Purnell, Ellis, Foster, and yes, even the esteemed Rick Barnes all did the same, to some extent. So, what is the common denominator, and why couldn't we get over the hump?

I look all the way back to my time at Clemson, 1972-1976, for the answer. We were a miserable basketball team my freshman year of 1972. Our team's sole claim to dubious fame was that one of our players, Bud Martin, led the ACC in taking charges. In other words, his best play was letting himself get run over. Our center, David Angel, had no business even being in the ACC. He got used and abused by the big men of the time.

Turn the page to 1973, and suddenly, a giant (illegally induced, as it turned out) talent showed up on campus, and Clemson basketball got fun in a big hurry. His name was Tree Rollins, 7'3", with about a foot tall afro on top of that. He could snag a coke bottle off the TOP of the backboard, just for fun. He didn't have a whole lot of help that first year, but oh boy, what showed up when he was a soph in 1974 was a game changer. Skip Wise, Stan Rome, and Colon Abraham, all freshman, joined Tree, along with local boy Wayne Croft, who as a senior had finally transformed his body from soft pudginess into the muscle required to compete as a big man in the ACC wars.

With the only new talent on hand being Rollins, Tates Lockes charges went 14 wins, 12 losses. 3-9 in conference, and a 5th place finish in the 7 team ACC in 1973-74. When the other three frosh stars showed up in 1974, we jumped to 17-11, 8-4 in conference, and a 3rd place ACC finish in 1974-75. Skip Wise led the team in scoring as a freshman, averaging 18.5 pts a game. Remember, there was no 3 point shot in this era, that did not begin until 1986.

But, alas, the recruiting violations caught up with Tates Locke, and he was gone after this year. So, unfortunately, was Skip Wise, making the unwise jump to the ABA of professional basketball. His would prove to be a cautionary tale about an immature young man having too much money at too early an age. Without him, Clemson, under first year coach Bill Foster, went 18-11, but slipped back to 4th in the ACC at 5-7.

I went through all that to say this: The talent that Tates Locke brought in was only good enough to elevate Clemson to the point of just being COMPETITIVE in the ACC. We were still being, and ARE still to this day being outrecruited for talent. Other than Rollins and Wise, Clemson has very seldom, if ever, had what others consider "blue chip" talent in basketball. They just don't come here, for whatever reason. Nowadays, the reason is more clear cut, NIL $$$ and the perceived pipelines to the NBA that some other schools provide.

It will take a coach who is a master recruiter, someone with the passion of a Dabo Swinney, someone who truly loves Clemson and wants to stay here, to ever, once and for all, change the narrative of Clemson basketball. We HAVE to recruit major talent, and THEN coach them up. I don't know who that guy is, but I know it is not Brad Brownell. He has had 14 years to prove it is not him, that is just facts, not my opinion. I wish it were otherwise.