The "Is this real life?" Edition

Clemson's roster in basketball is depleted thanks to graduation and the transfer portal. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each Time or Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swanny.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.
Hello everybody, to Lowton Swan, Back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports off for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way around the great state of South Carolina
and beyond, listening to us on the incredible radio stations

(01:05):
like Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and the Midlands around
the world on the iHeartRadio app and brought you in
part by our good friends over app METS Plumbing seven
three two drip, Drip drip. You know the jingle, seventh
three to two drip. That's Mets Plumbing all right out
of the gates, Portal Alert, Portal combat another tiger in

(01:30):
the transfer of portal.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
You was serious about that.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yes, indeed on the basketball front, Jake Hyde Breeder the
poor man's Alex Hemingway, if you will spends a year
at Clemson, I don't, honestly, you know, I don't know
if he'll be back, if he'll leave, or whatever. But
I don't really feel a whole lot of like loyalty
to Jake Hyde Breeder in and out like a car

(01:54):
wash up in Tigertown. So I'll say this, I don't
think you're gonna miss him. Defensively, Liability didn't do a
whole lot on the offensive end of the court. Certainly
was supposed to be able to shoot the basketball, had
a whack you'd do kind of form. But another name
in the portal for your Clemson Tigers. And as I

(02:18):
tweeted out, a gift reminiscent of the early days of
social or viral videos. The video where David, you may recall,
was coming home from the dentist and he's like kind

(02:42):
of messed up off of whatever they've given him. It's
this young boy and he's sitting in the backseat of
his vehicle and he looks at his dad and he goes,
is this real life? Because that's a little bit what
this feels like right now. And not in the sense of,
oh my gracious, how can you possibly lose that many guys?

(03:05):
But as I said on the program yesterday, just thinking
about that, this is our normal. This is what college
sports has turned into. Not a collection of a ragtag

(03:27):
operation or group of individuals, but the scenario where a
coaching staff without any flagrant penalties or anything going against
it could essentially be diminished the way that this Clemson

(03:49):
coaching staff is now having to work over a roster,
just the sheer numbers that are gone, like timber Ray
should be joining us an hour number two. And I
don't know what the overall percentage of statistical scoring, rebounding assist.

(04:19):
You know all the numbers, minutes played, you know everything
that goes into all of those aspects of the basketball
team up at Clemson, but we can't tabulate it. And

(04:41):
the news of Jake Heidebreeder jumping into the portal came
out earlier today. But the Tigers lose sixteen point five
points per game from Chase Hunter, twelve point four points
per game for me and Shefflin likely losing eleven point
seven from Jaden Zachary, losing eleven point four points per

(05:05):
game from Victor Lockin. They will lose eight point three
points per game from Chauncey Wiggins, They will lose four
point one points per game from Jake high Breeder, three
point eight points per game now from Del Jones as well,

(05:28):
who's entered the portal, and then one point two points
per game with Asa Thomas entering the portal. Now, I
believe Jackson Roberts, a walk on, also is portaling out
of Tigertown as well. But ironically, so many guys are

(05:56):
leaving that it is it is easier. You probably tabulated
by who's left. It is a mind numbing exodus for Clemson.
And yes, I know we've had several guests on the

(06:18):
program that have even said, hey, this is you know,
kind of where we are in the sport. But I
gotta be honest with you, I'm not sure that's that's
really where all these teams are. And for Brad Brownell
and his staff, it is going to be incredibly difficult,

(06:41):
I think, to build the continuity that you need to
build in order to have some level of success this
season coming up. I'm not even sure about all of
the names, but all of the numbers here that I
can give you, of seventy six point one points per

(07:05):
game offensively that the Tigers scored this past season, they
are returning a mere eight point three points per game.

(07:26):
It is a minuscule number. And I have a feeling
that across the board in college basketball, very few teams
are losing what amounts to what eighty nine percent of

(07:50):
their overall scoring output, and that number might even be
greater in the other categories like rebounding. Look, you can't
do anything about Chase Hunter and Shefflin, right, I mean,
that's the natural I kind of feel like Mufasa talking

(08:16):
to talking to Simba. It's the natural order of things, sudden.
I mean, that's that's where I feel like we are
when you talk about the seniors who are leaving Clemson,
but when you get into every other name that's jumped

(08:39):
into the portal and the loss across the board, it
is incredibly difficult to imagine a scenario in which you
look at it and go, well, you know what, this

(08:59):
will be a pretty quick this will be pretty easy
to fix. And and look, there are plenty of players
out there that you can bring in that are better
than Dale Jones, and better than Jake Hyde Breeder, and
better than Chauncey Wiggins. That's that's the easy part. Finding

(09:22):
players better than them that would have filled the gaps
of Chase Hunter, Ian Shefflin, and Victor Locke and then
potentially Jayden Zachary that's the easy part. But finding those
individuals who are better than Chase Hunter and Ian Shefflin

(09:47):
like that type of better than will be incredibly hard
to do, and just eyeball in my numbers here, I
think I missed Christian Reeves, who was a one point
two point per games score, taking you a nine point
five out of seventy six points. So still, then I

(10:11):
look at the rebounding side of things. I mentioned thirty
five point four. When that the average thirty five point
four rebounds per game for Clemson, A mere five point
seven of those came from the remaining players on the roster,

(10:33):
which is like eighty four percent. Ironically, you're turning more
rebounding than you are scoring. I think, in terms of
percentage unheard of. This can't be the norm. It just

(10:53):
can't be. Even in the transfer portal era. There's no
way this is the norm. And I think the reason
that it's so different for Clemson is because chasing Ian
and Victor and Jayden Zachary, four key contributors are essentially

(11:13):
done with their you know, with their eligibility. And now
if Jayden Zachary returns out that helps. I mean, he's
an eleven point seven point per game, three point three
rebound per contest player, but not everybody's losing guys of

(11:35):
that magnitude because of graduation, and that, quite frankly, is
the other side of it the clemsones dealing with. In
addition to the guys who are vacating the premises and
the Tigers will continue. They've got a couple of guys

(11:56):
coming in that they're looking at. You still have this
odd fact that we've got the NCAA Tournament tonight and players,
not all necessarily teams that are in the NCAA Tournament,
but players having the ability to get in to the portal.

(12:18):
At this point, the timing is atrocious and I can't
blame any coach that would be absolutely livid about the
portal being open during the NCAA tournament. It's like when
the Major League Baseball Draft was taking place back in
the day during postseason play in college baseball, what's the rush?

(12:44):
Can we back it up a little bit and let
these guys play their college careers. Nothing like being on
the bump in a big ball game and all of
a sudden you're the number one draft pick. But here
you go. You got players who have the chance if
they want to get into the transfer portal while their
teams are in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
I just.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
I'm at a loss. I said it the other day.
It's the and I mentioned that in talking about how
individuals fans get so incredibly frustrated by all of it.
And I think this, I'm gonna say this, and it
may stand in contradiction of things I've said in the past,

(13:32):
but sometimes you just have to bear it all out
for everyone.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Are we clear, Yes, sir?

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Are we clear?

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Crystal?

Speaker 2 (13:44):
The money is not the problem that you guys have
with this. You don't love it, I understand that, but
you also have to recognize that in this system that
we are currently in, players being paid is a part
of it and it's not going anywhere. And I think
most of you adjusted to that. But what none of

(14:08):
you can adjust to.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Is the.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
Lack of respect for something that we all grew up
believing in highly and I think in our jobs day
to day believe in this. And that's loyalty. I would
venture to guess ninety percent of you, maybe more, are

(14:37):
incredibly loyal to your place of work, your church, all
of those things in your life do most of you
are probably very loyal about, like grocery shopping, like well,
we only go here this is where I like to go.

(14:57):
You like it for a reason, loyal to it for
a reason, and something incredibly negative has to happen in
order for you to change that loyalty. Oh I had
a bad experience. Well, most of us look at these
players who are being paid, some of them very good money,
getting an education for free, getting to play a sport

(15:18):
that they love, and still just leaving. It flies in
the face of what so many of us recognized as
being an institution that I would think it has existed
in college sports since really college sports began. The school

(15:44):
you went to was the school you stayed at. You
did it kind of the Chase Hunter way, you did
it the Tim Duncan way, and because of that you
grew up as a form. I'm athlete at those schools,

(16:04):
still loving that school, that school, that school, not these schools,
multiple schools, or at that point for a lot of people,
no schools. None. And Dabo Sweeney's too nice because I

(16:26):
don't know where dj oui ungla La calls home, but
I'm assuming, because he's a Clemson graduate, it would be Clemson,
and I'm assuming because of that, dj would be embraced.
Come over here, Big God, come over here, come see
your buddy, Dabo Sweeney. But do you feel some level

(16:52):
of loyalty to dj Uie Oregon State FSU Angola. I don't,
and I probably should because I probably should be able
to look back at you know, his game is a
freshman at Notre Dame and go what a performance and
scratch my head as to why it didn't work out

(17:13):
in the future years for dj at Clemson. But I
certainly shouldn't have to think of him at Oregon State
in Florida State and trying to figure out as he
gets older, where do you return? In the olden days,
it was from whence you came. Most of these players

(17:35):
don't know from whence they've come anymore. Because of this situation,
and for Clemson Tiger basketball, to me, it doesn't matter
how hard they are out there trying to refill the pantry,

(17:56):
restock the shelves, whatever, it is going to be a
massive undertaking to make it work. In my opinion, this
coming season, and Brad Brownell, who just navigated the greatest

(18:21):
season in Clemson basketball history in terms of regular season
success with the most confounding and mind blowing loss to
end it, I think will face a lot of pressure
if the Tigers aren't good this coming season, and it's
unfortunate for him because they probably if they were filling

(18:45):
four or five spots, they probably could navigate around that
with keeping Deal Jones and keeping Hyde Breeder. You know,
kind of parts. I'm not gonna say those are gonna
be the main parts, but some pieces to the puzzle. Dude,
this is you are I'm telling you. This is like

(19:05):
Brad Brownell and Dick Bender and those guys, they're they're
out shopping for any completely new puzzle right now. They're like, well,
does grandma like doing a three hundred piece dog puzzle?
Is that one?

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Els?

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Get everything?

Speaker 5 (19:20):
Right?

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Man? I do not be their position. I know they're
making a lot of money. Millionaires are the head coaches.
If if you're not, If you are a head coach
today in college football in college basketball and you're not
a millionaire, you might want to jump on that, Dave Ramsey,
beans and rice, rice and beans, because you should be.
But either way, for Brad Brownell on this coaching staff,

(19:45):
that's basically what they got on their roster right now.
Beans and rice, rice and beans. Not a whole lot,
all right? Quick break we'll come back with more here.
We'll touch on the upcoming matchups tonight in the NCAA
Tournament right after this. Rock then roll along with you
on a Thursday afternoon. But it is a Sweet sixteen

(20:09):
Thursday afternoon, and quite frankly, I'm up for it. I'm
all about it. Let's get it rocking and rolling. We've
been talking about it this week again. The Southeastern Conference
with seven of the sixteen teams in the NCAA Sweet sixteen.
I know a lot of people are this entire season,

(20:32):
it has been a topic of contention about in this
conference and whether or not it was overrated, whether or
not the back end of the league was propped up
by the top end. At this point, based off of
the data that we have in hand, I believe it

(20:56):
is fair to say that that is the case that
schools like Texas and Oklahoma, those teams that were in
the Southeastern Conference but finished under five hundred probably did
not deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament. Now, you

(21:17):
might come at me with this argument of well, who
are you you, who are you gonna put in there? Longwood,
the Lancers. No, I'm not suggesting that those those spots
would have gone to smaller programs. But how about programs

(21:43):
that have winning records in their conference like Wake Forest
who was thirteen and seven in the ACC or SMU
who was also thirteen and seven. For the teams that
got the bids out of the SEC outside of Arkansas

(22:07):
that were under five hundred in that league, to pull
the old over in the tournament might be the great
indicator that in the future six and twelve Texas and
six and twelve Oklahoma, An eight and ten Vandy and
eight and ten Georgia and eight and ten Mississippi State
might not deserve to be there when five out of

(22:31):
the six under five hundred, ten under five hundred teams
in your league are oh for the tournament. Yeah, it
doesn't really matter to me what Arkansas does. If Arkansas
runs the table that wins the whole national title, that's
not gonna offset what happened in my mind, and it
wouldn't if I was on the committee. But we do

(22:53):
have NCAA tournament basketball action underway. Well coming up tonight
this evening. Why I say underway, I don't know. Seven
to nine tonight, Alabama and BYU will face off that
as a matchup in the East Region. The winner of
that matchup at seven to nine will face the winner

(23:14):
of the East number one seed, Duke in Arizona. Now,
I must tell you I've got Duke winning the whole shebang,
and I'm not backing off of that at all. But
I also have to say that in the Elite eight,
I have four Southeastern Conference schools and they've already locked

(23:40):
up one. We'll get to that in a minute, but
I do think Alabama will beat BYU tonight, booking the
SEC's second team in the Elite eight. Now, if you're
driving and you're going, how are you already booking one? Swanee? Well,
that's because you've also got that matchup tomorrow between Tennessee

(24:02):
and Kentucky. So the SEC at this point is guaranteed
one team in the Elite eight. Okay, So let's just
put that out there, all right. The other matchup tonight
featuring an SEC school at seven thirty nine on TBS
and True TV, it's Florida and Maryland. And Maryland just

(24:23):
got the news today. Reports began to service that their
head coach is exiting Stage left to take the head
coaching job at Villa Nova. All of this taking place
right in the midst of Maryland playing tonight, so much

(24:45):
so with all of this new circulating around it, I
had to wonder for a little while, like, is this
accurate that Kevin Willard, in the midst of a Sweet
sixteen run, is going to leave and go take the

(25:05):
job at Villanova. Like when the news came out of
will Wade before Clemson and McNeice faced off, that he
was going to go take the NC State job, you thought, well,
that's a power for program. That, Yeah, makes a lot
of sense. Maryland's we talked about their tradition the other day,

(25:29):
fairly his you know, fairly. I can't say historical program,
but they've got some historical significance, certainly during their time
in the ACC. And to just bail on a program
that you built now look again with the portal, I
guess he can bring his players with him and leave
Maryland with nothing. So squadoosh Maryland, but just a wild

(25:52):
story to have that coming out just before their matchup again.
I think their season is likely over though, as they
faced the Florida Gators tonight. That'll book the SEC's third
team in the Elite Eight. Then also the final game
tonight ten oh nine on TBS and True TV Arkansas
and Texas Tech. You know, coach cal underachieved. John cal

(26:16):
Parry underachieved at Kentucky. I don't think there's any denying
that fact. He didn't underachieve when it came down to
the skill and talent that the players he brought in.
But getting the most out of those guys and getting
those individuals playing on the same page at the best time,
at the highest time of the year was a big issue.
And when he went to Arkansas kind of like what

(26:37):
we're talking about with Willard, He I mean, took some
players with him from Kentucky and some of the pieces
seem to be coming together. But I don't think they
beat Texas Tech tonight. So I think entering tomorrow's show,
knowing that Tennessee and Kentucky, one of those two teams
is going to be in the Elite eight, I think
the SEC is going to be right on pace to

(26:58):
put up that force that I talked about when I
made my prediction. But the likelihood of it being four
at this point, I think it might be slim because
I think Michigan State's also going to be old missed.
But we'll talk about that one tomorrow. I think the
SEC might end up trimming significantly over the next couple
of days as we whittle down from eight to four anyway,

(27:22):
or shoot me from sixteen to four anyway. With a
quick break. Will come back and I'll update those of
you that are just joining us on some of the
situation with the portal in Tigertown. Right after this, stay
with us the show that shakes the south Land Clemson
Sports Salo and Swan with you again. We started off
out of the gates here talking about the news that

(27:43):
another Clemson Tiger basketball player is in the portal, as
Jake Heide Breeder has entered the transfer portal. The transfer
portal according to reports, Now, when I look at the

(28:03):
roster as Cliff Spammin's beautiful name by the way, Cliff
Spammin's on social media put out with high Breeder entering
the transfer portal, that adds an additional roster spot. Clemson
is currently using seven out of their fifteen roster spots

(28:26):
for the upcoming season Trent Steinauer, Zach Foster, Chase Thompson,
Dallas Thomas, Ace Buckner, Christian Reeves, and Dylan Hunter. Dylan
Hunter the only senior in that group, Christian Reeves a

(28:47):
red shirt junior, Ace Buckner and Dallas Thomas both red
shirt freshman, and then Chase Thompson, Zach Foster, and t
Steinauer all true freshmen. So some of those numbers I

(29:08):
gave you earlier on the stats are even less than
I initially thought. Because I had forgotten that Myles Foster
was a grad transfer, I was including his numbers in
some of that stuff. So again you take it down

(29:28):
to the bare bones, it's ninety plus percent of the
scoring gone. It's I don't even know. I mean, it's
got to be close to eighty five ninety percent of
the rebounding gone from this roster and just total minutes,
and I mean it is. This is like in uh,

(29:57):
Richard Davis, who is a longtime Clemson supporter, Clemson graduate
owned trademark properties at one point, may still own trademark properties.
I'm not sure about all this business goings on in Charleston,
but Richard Davis had a show that was on HGTV
back in the day. I think it was Flipped this

(30:18):
House or something, and they would like buy a house
and gut it and renovate it. And fix it up
and then put it back on the market and resell it.
It was a hit show for a while, and Richard
even had an episode where he donated. I don't know, maybe, Richard,
I'm sorry if you're listening to a short change. I
think he donated like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
to Clemson at one point. He's a big basketball guy

(30:40):
down in the Charleston area. His son was on the
team at one point at Clemson as a walk on.
Richard has connections to a lot of players that have
come through in the lowest part of the state, especially
playing like high level travel basketball, et cetera. Anyway, this

(31:04):
roster's like when Richard Davis bought a house back in
the day, is completely renovated. It is gutted. You got
a lot of work to do, Brad Brown now got
a lot of work to do. And the Tigers are
doing work now. Don't get me wrong. We talked around
the program yesterday about Jalen Jackson being the name that
has been mentioned out of Purdue Fort Wayne plays for

(31:28):
the Mastodons. Look, I have no clue how good this
kid'll be at the Atlantic Coast Conference level or at
a Power four level. I can tell you what he
did in the Horizon League nineteen point two points per game,
three point one assists, four, four point four rebounds per contest.

(31:51):
But guess what, there's no guarantee he's coming to Clemson.
He's just a name that's out there that's interesting and
has some interest from the Tigers. But how do you
go about replacing the pieces? Now? Now there is this,

(32:13):
and this is something that we have to bring up.
The freshman, the guys that you haven't seen. Ace Buckner,
the guy you know. Maybe some of the recruiting classes
have gone really well. And I could tell you when
I was a freshman at Clemson back in nineteen ninety five,
they brought in seven freshmen. Rick Barnes essentially having a

(32:35):
revamp after the Slab five, brings in Terrell McIntyre, Tony Christie,
Andre Stracunis, brings in Tom Wiman, Harold Jamison, Ladarien Jones,

(32:55):
and then there was one other kid from Greenville area.
Didn't really pay out. Big guy. I don't even know
what happened to him in his career. But anyway, you
put those guys with Greg Buckner. Ace Buckner's dad you
put those guys with Ikri Turbe and it was a
young group and they were really good and really fun

(33:18):
to watch. And then the second season when they were
all together again, it was a really good year. But
for Clemson to kind of do what they've done, it's
a complete one eighty from a year ago where you
had so much continuity and so much returning that you
were familiar with too. I don't really know what the

(33:40):
lineup would look like, and neither does Brad brown. El
I mean, there's the legitimate chance, okay, that there is
not currently a name on the roster that will start
when basketball kicks up later this year for Clemson. Mark

(34:04):
the calendars March twenty seventh, twenty twenty five. There's a
legitimate chance that there's not a player on the entire
roster right now who will be a starter once the
season comes around. You might say, yeah, yes, Swanny, Dylan
Hunter is going to be a starter for sure. Are
you positive? I mean, if Clemson wins in the portal

(34:28):
the way they want to win in the portal, other
than loyalty to Dylan Hunter, where's the guarantee that he's
going to be the starter? I don't think that there
is a guarantee and so as we continue to follow this,

(34:50):
it can go one of two ways, Clempson could it
could be bountiful and plentiful, or it could be slim
pickings in Tigertown next season. That's for sure. All right,
quick breat We'll put the ball on our number one
Timber eight hour two. Stay with us the show, the
Chas of south Land, Lowton Swan, Clemson Sports Talk. We're

(35:11):
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where you are, and I hope that you are when
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oh Man Alumni Hall. Get all your hats, T shirts,
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(35:35):
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(35:56):
get a little benefit there. You can have a ship
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(36:18):
of that's available at alumnight haul eight zero three four
to five zero zero eighty six text line phone line.
All right. Last night, the Clips of Tiger baseball team
got back to their winning ways with a convincing victory
before heading to Georgia Tech for a three game series
this weekend. The Tigers top the Presbyterian Blue Hose nine

(36:40):
to one yesterday behind Chance Fitzgerald's five scoreless innings pitched
in relief, helping the Tigers to a victory and a
bounce back win for the number three ranked team in
the country. Of course, Clemson was defeated on Tuesday night

(37:00):
in their matchup against Coastal Carolina. Following the game, Eric
Backatch and Fitzgerald met with the media. Here's about two
minutes of their conversation.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
Yeah, you know good. Good to get back in the
win column. Obviously, after playing so poorly last night. You know,
we played better tonight. Not perfect, you know, but that's
all right. We don't have to be perfect. We were
We're good enough. We had plenty of scoring opportunities.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
We cashed in on a lot of them. We could
have cashed in on even more of them, but you know,
we'll certainly take it. It's good to see.

Speaker 6 (37:39):
Tallon Bell get back out there and make his collegiate
debut and his Tiger's debut.

Speaker 7 (37:46):
And then really, I thought the biggest storyline of the
game was was Chance Fitzgerald. He really saved the bullpen.
You know, was cruising through those middle.

Speaker 6 (37:58):
Innings, putting a lot of zeros up, having a lot
of one two, three quick innings.

Speaker 8 (38:02):
Attacking with a fastball that's got armside, run at cutter
that obviously cuts, and then a good slider as well.
All three pitches working and did a really good job
settling things.

Speaker 6 (38:14):
Down so our offense could separate a little bit, you know, offensively,
Don Listi and Jared Puri if I continue to really
do a great job set the table at the top
and you know, allowed cam And and Gaffi to get
some RBIs tonight. But those guys, we're eleven and eleven
new quality.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
At bats, which is really good. So all in all,
will take it and you know, look forward to a
big challenge ahead this weekend in Atlanta.

Speaker 9 (38:40):
I think, you know, just having a new gaffing back there,
just being a wall picking up our guys, and coach
Balonder called it a great game. So I mean, where
you go out with that combination mixed with seven of
the best defenders in the country behind me, it just
things things kind of click. It's it's easy to work
with for the other realm, Yeah, I mean, you know,
we like to roll some arms out out in the weekend.

(39:00):
I think just you know, kind of saving guys for
the weekend is you know a big part of especially
in the midweek, like it's being able to beat up
aning so those guys with God give us a real
valuable innings in Atlanta week I mean, you know, I
have josh Man a third base. I'm just having him
give me and give me nuts, telling me to keep going.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
For every ending.

Speaker 9 (39:20):
I mean that that means more than he knows. It
means there's you know, the guys around me helped to
pick me up, make me out.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Anything about it.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Again that's Clemson pitcher Chance Fitzgerald, and also before that
you got a chance to hear from Eric Backage. Following
Clymps's nine to one victory, the Tigers improved to twenty
four and four on the season with the win. They
take both games against the Blue Hose this year. Fitzgerald's
now three to oh, allowing just two hits in one walk.

(39:51):
The Tigers got things going in the first inning off
of a Luke Gaffney sacrifice fly, then Tristan Bessett walked
with the bases loaded later in the frame to push
across another run. The Blue Hose responded with a run
in the top of the second inning, but it was
Jared Purifies rbi ground out in the bottom of the

(40:12):
second the gave Clempson a three to one lead. Later
on in the fourth inning, cam Canerella doubled with a
two run single, then Gaffney followed up with a two
run home run, his fourth in the year, and then
in the seventh inning, cam Canerella drive basis loaded walk
and Gaffney also sacrificed another. Excuse me, Gaffney also had

(40:32):
another sacrifice fly, almost said, Caffy sacrificed another fly. It's
like mister Miagi with the chopsticks. Gaffey's gonna sacrifice this
fly for good luck. No Gaffney hit another sacrifice fly again.
Clypson will travel to Georgia Tech this weekend. Tomorrow's game

(40:54):
gets started at six o'clock. It to be on the
ACC Network Extra all of the game games. As a
matter of fact, this weekend for the Clepson Tiger baseball
team on the ACC Network Extra as Saturday's contest gets
going at four o'clock and Sundays contests at one o'clock.

(41:20):
And one of the things I have not done a
good job of here on the program, partially because the
NCAA Tournament has been taking place and I haven't quite
shifted my mindset to baseball season and the spring sports,
is what these teams and what their records currently look

(41:40):
like in the league. Overall in conference, Florida State is
five and one. They are on top by virtue of
their record and an eighty three percent winning percentage. They
are twenty one in three overall. Georgia Tech is seven
to two in conference play in second place in twenty
one in four. Wake Forrest is seven and two. They

(42:02):
are twenty and six, and then Clemson is four and
two in the league twenty four and four, So a
great matchup taking place over in Atlanta this weekend. And
just looking at Clemson's right number three in perfect game,
Georgia Tech number nineteen, it's gonna be a great one,
all right, quick break. Timbre joins us around the band.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan call
me Swanny.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
It is our number two. That's drive time right here
on the show. The shakespare Southland, Clemson Sports, Tall and
Swad hanging out with you on a Thursday. Tim Berray
set to join the program momentarily, and don't forget the show.
The shakesare south Land and brought you in part all right,
good friends over at METS Plumbing seven three to two drip, Drip, drip,

(43:26):
you know the jingle, seven three to two drip, that's
Mets Plumbing. All right, Tim Beray joins us. We're gonna
talk with him about Clemson's lost to McNeice, the reaction
being in the venue for that thirteen point first half,
the NCAA Tournament, the transfer portal, maybe even a little
Clemson football. Tim welcome in Hope, you're doing well.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
I'm doing fine lot now you today.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
I'm good. I gotta I gotta get your pulse check
on being in the venue for the first half last Thursday.
Is the Tigers, we're just stumbling to thirteen points. I
can't imagine that. You and Don Munson, after watching this
team all season, when you're sitting there at the break,
you just got to be flabbergasted. At what point for

(44:12):
you did it kick in like, uh oh, this team
might be in a lot of trouble today.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
Well, you know, we had we had stumbled in terms
of three point shooting the last few games. I mean,
remember when we wanted Virginia, I think we were one
for ten and then one another game we were three
for twenty. So we'd been in a slump shooting, and
then of course started out one for sixteen against McNeice.

(44:47):
So yeah, I mean the middle of the first half
when we were still just couldn't knock anything down. That
was because we were getting decent shots, just couldn't make them.
The biggest surprise me in the game though, was that
we just couldn't get any shots inside for Shefflin, for
Scheffler and Cheflin. I'm watching golf as I talked to you,

(45:10):
So Scottie.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Scheffler, Shefflin, Locklan Locking.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
Yeah, and Lockett. So that was surprising to me, and
uh so early. You know, the whole first half just
in general, we couldn't get them shots. We didn't make shots,
and we scored thirteen points, and you know, that was
a few of Swedetes scored in any hampsince we had
ten against Virginia, I guess in twenty thirteen. It did

(45:37):
make remember a lot of people were texting me asking me,
what have you seen an offensive half like that? And
I did remember the Wake Forest game in two thousand
and one, after we had beaten North Carolina when they
were number one, and the very next game against Wake
we trapped forty one to nine at the at the half,
so I was thinking about that. And then the second

(45:58):
half we scored fifty four points and we outscored the
East by sixteen. And it's just crazy, very disappointing, and
it's just interesting how you know, I've always said it's
easier to come back from a game we get slaughtered

(46:20):
than it is from losing close. And you know, last
year we lost by twenty two twenty one in the
first round of the Agency Tournament. We went to the
Elite eighth. This year, we lose by three and make
a great comeback against Louisville and you know, then we
lose the first round of the twelfth seed.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Yeah, it was a painful day offensively for Clemson, certainly
the second half, as you mentioned, a huge comeback, but
not enough for that group to advance. And now they're
sitting at home. But the entire roster, Tim, because of graduation,
because of the transfer portal, it's as depleted in some

(47:00):
respects as any roster I can recall in terms of
players who have any experience right now, Really it's just
Dylan Hunter and Christian Reeves after Jake Hide Breeders' names
in the portal. Now, we got to make it clear
to everybody. Going in the portal does not mean you're
leaving necessarily, but most of the time when you go in,
you are leaving. And so ultimately, Tim, can you think

(47:23):
of a time since you've been covering Clemson basketball since
the late seventies where the roster turnover is going to
be as significant as the one we're gonna see in
between now and November. I guess when Clemson tips it
back off.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
No, not even close. I think in eighty two, eighty
three week, we've brought in seven new guys. And then
in ninety five ninety six when the mcatire was a freshman,
we had seven new guys. Of course we did have
Buck and returning. So those are the those are the

(48:03):
most revamped teams that I can I can remember. And
of course you're going to be in this situation a
lot where you change. Oh I mean, I mean, how
many returnings did we have to this year's team for
the previous year four? I remember thinking I thought we
only had four guys who had played for Clemson in the.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Yeah, that's probably right, Hunter Chflin, Hunter Sheflin Wiggins and
two Hunters, Yeah, the two Hunters, Yeah, two Hunter Wiggins.
Yeah right.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Uh So, and you know, it's not even close to
being unprecedented in this day and age. I mean, uh
and you know, I mean, I hate to say, it
goes both ways. I mean, so you look at Missouri
this year. They were on eighteen in the SEC the
year before and then went to the NCAA tournament issue
where ranked almost all year. You know, Michigan was really

(49:02):
bad last year and uh, you know, they're still playing.
And then it goes the other way. NC State goes
in the final four to not making the ACC Tournament.
And it's because unfortunately, we're in an era where you
build teams, you don't build a program. It's you know,

(49:23):
I mean even Duke, I mean Duke doesn't go into
transfer portal that much, but they bring in forward great
freshmen every year and then they leave and go to
the NBA.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Is a strange place I think for all fans to
kind of be because for so many years, Tim, and
I think you as somebody who covered it and dealt
with these guys for so long, Uh, it was the
I think part of what made college sports great for
so long was the relationships.

Speaker 5 (49:49):
You know.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
It was that it felt like Matt Harpering played for
seven seasons at Georgia Tech because you were always going
to see him. He's gonna be a thorn in your side.
And I think that's what made colle in sports what
they were at one point. And my biggest fear in
all of this is not about the money the kids
are getting or the kids transferring. It's about the consistency

(50:12):
of a group of fans that are becoming disinterested in
college sports because of it, and I think that's a
dangerous place for this, you know, for college athletics to
be because without eyeballs and interest, you can't generate money.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
Yeah. No, I I I agree with you, and you
just you, you know, you get to know players on teams,
and that's how you get to to you know, and
enjoy following programs, and so if everybody leaves after one year,
it's it's a difficult situation. It's just not gonna work

(50:55):
long long term unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Now, if you're Brad Brownell, by the way, Timbray with
us here on the program on Twitter at Timbrey of
the longtime Clymson sid currently who also does some color
analysts with Clemson football and Climpson basketball alongside Don Munson
who does the play by play, If you're Brad brown El, Tim,
how how do you how do you even kind of

(51:20):
address this situation in terms of trying to replace these guys.
I mean it's it's easy, I think, to replace and
believe you're going to find a better player than Adel
Jones or a Jake Hide Breeder, But how do you
go out and try to replace guys like Cheflin and
and Chase Hunter and what is this time of year?

(51:40):
What must it be like for them? I can't imagine
how hectic this time of the year is.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
Yeah, you're one hundred percent right, because in the back
of your mind, well, I better do this quickly or
somebody's going to get the guy I want if I don't,
if I don't act, you know, quickly. So this is
two weeks are you know, are very important and I'm sure,
well I don't know specifics, but I got to believe
we've got a couple of guys coming to campus. I mean,

(52:10):
I know there's been I think nine guys out there
who have said for the various social media things that
they're involved with with Clemson, and it's probably the normal
with most uh, you know, with most schools. So but yeah,
it is the It is a pressure packed time and

(52:32):
I do have to chuckle though. That's this This system
is set up where, you know, it's almost the teams
that lose in the first within the first two rounds
of the n C Double A are at an advantage.
I mean, uh, you know, all all the teams that
are into sweet sixteen, they really aren't having They're not

(52:52):
really messing with, you know, getting transfers because they're trying
to prepare. You know, you saw the time is Thoy
his press conference day before yesterday that he's he's just
worrying about this this team, and and that's great, and
that's commendable, but but what's it mean for next year's

(53:13):
team unless he's got a lot of guys coming back.
But it doesn't seem like anybody's got a lot of guys.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Coming back any more.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
No, that's a great point. I think even coach Kyli
Pari at Arkansas didn't even know that the Portland window
was opening. Like he's so invested in in this team.
I think he said something like when's it open, and
they were like, oh, it opens Monday. He's like Monday.
You couldn't couldn't believe that that was the case. And so,
you know, I think we look around the world of
college sports and we try to wrap our minds around it,

(53:41):
and I think the thing that is missing, and I
really I feel bad for the players. And I know
they don't know about this yet because most of them
are too young to understand it. But Chase Hunter and
Ian Shefflin and and those guys, they have a place
they can call home forever. They'll be able to go
downtown Clemson, somebody will buy him a or cheeseburger or whatever,

(54:02):
and they won't have to worry about it. But there
are so many other players who don't necessarily have that
because they bounce around three and four times. Like I
was watching Baylor and they had nor Chad Omeir, the
former player at Duke who excuse me, the former player
at Miami who had played earlier in his career. I

(54:22):
think in a smaller college, and I'm just like, I
can't imagine loyalty was the thing that also made college
support special. And if you're not sticking around, I don't
know why anybody's loyal to you. After your days are done.

Speaker 10 (54:39):
Yeah, now you're you know you're right. And the thing
I also think about you, I'm still affiliated with helping
out with the Clemson Hall of.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Fame and the Reign of Honor. And we're gonna have
quite a gap in about ten years where you're not
going to have any candidates for your Hall of Fame
because all these people, you know, now, we had two
this year. I guarantee you Chase under I and Shefflin
will be in the Clemson Hall of Fame someday. But
you know, as you look forward and and really all

(55:13):
the sports, you know, you got all these people that
are just there, you know, for one year, and you
know those people aren't going to be in your Hall
of Fame because you just don't look at them as
as being you know, attached to your you know, to
your program.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
You know what they you know what I think they'd
have to do. I'll see if you agree with this.
I don't know what goes into the being in the
Clempson Hall of Fame, but you'd have to lead Clemson too,
like a national championship in basketball, you know what I mean,
you'd have to come in average twenty points a game
and be the guy that leads them to a title.
I can't think of another way you'd do it. If

(55:49):
you just play a year.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
Yeah, you're right. And you know in other sports, like
I think that's the sport of track. You know, we've
had a couple of women who have transferred in here
and just played and just competed for one year, but
they won a national championship. If you win a national championship,
even if it's an individual, you know you're probably gonna
get in your school's Hall of Fame. But but you're right.

(56:13):
Other than that, you know, the only guy that comes
to mind that would have a possibility recently would be
Joe Girard who played one year, who just had a
huge impact on us going to the Elite eight of
the NCAA tournament. So you know, I could see that
possibly happen, but it's got to be something very special,

(56:34):
very spectacular. Certainly, you know, PJ. Hall and Hunter Tyson
are going to get in Clemson Hall of Fame yes
before Joe Girard would, and the same with Shefflin and
Jase Hunter again.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
On Twitter at Tim Burray. He joins us every Thursday
to talk about Clemson sports here on the program, and
Tim will ship gears a little bit talk about this
Clemson Tiger football team obviously as they get ready for
the spring game. And one of the conversations that's been
out there is something that Dabo Sweeney has kind of

(57:06):
amplified over the years. You're starting to hear a little
bit more about it. Colorado and Syracuse trying to figure
out a way that maybe they can play a spring
game against each other. And Sweeney was asked about that
the other day, and he said, look, I've been saying
that for a long time. You've been around the game
for many years. What do you think? Because I do agree,
like as as somebody that has to talk about the

(57:27):
spring game afterwards, for you know, I try to get
about a week or so out of it, maybe more.
It is difficult to talk about a defense against three
interceptions off your starting quarterback because you can't decide if
that's bad or good, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Yeah, right, yeah, I can That's I can see it
happening someday that we have that we have, you know,
a spring game against another school. I can also see
that someday the games against the one double A teams
are going to go you know, by the wayside. So
I could see, you know, Clemson playing Firman or Wafford

(58:06):
in a in a in a spring game. People are
always looking for ways to you know, to raise money
in this day and age. I can see schools having
a spring game like that to raise money for their
nil funds. You could, you know, you could if you've
got seventy thousand people come to a Clemson firm and
spring game that you could probably raise a good bit
of money for your ni L give part of it

(58:29):
to Furman or you know whatever. So you know, I
could see that happening someday. And Dad has been in
favor of playing game like that for for a long time.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
And in basketball, you know, there's probably a portion of
our listeners that don't know this, but in basketball they
do play some closed door preseason basketball games against other opponents.
How how does that work? Tim, do you have any
insight into it? I mean, do you get to a
tend Have you ever seen one of those games?

Speaker 4 (59:04):
So they said you can have too, and one of
them is must have been a closed door that that
nobody gets into and that uh, I usually don't go
to it because there's a football game going They used
to do it on a weekend and so there's usually
a football game, you know, going on at the same time.
There seems like there's been some exempt games though recently,

(59:27):
and uh where people raise money for a charity. You
remember the beginning of last season, Iowa played the paul
in a women's basketball game in Kinnick Stadium that's had
fifty five thousand people attend and they raised a quarter
of a million dollars for the Uh, that hospital that's

(59:51):
right across the street. Yeah. Yeah, so you know you've
got to believe ideas like that can can and grow
and and you know, make a positive impact. So it
have goo that that changed coming.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Yeah, have those closed work kind of scrimmages preseason things
existed as long as you remember.

Speaker 4 (01:00:14):
No, I'd say they're about I know they go back
to least let's see seventeen eighteen season in basketball. I
think we played somebody good and we beat them, and
I remember thinking that's a good that's a good indicator.

(01:00:35):
This team might be pretty good. So obviously it was
so so.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Probably less than ten years then, what's that? So probably
less than ten years they've been doing this.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Yeah, probably less than ten years. Yeah, oh wow, I
can't exactly remember the first one was, but they've been around,
you know since then. But so yeah, and I you know,
I think they're good for you know, football coaches would
love to play a preseason and see how they see
how they stand done things for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Yeah, no doubt. Well, Tim, we will hold you any longer. Man,
Go enjoy the golf. I know the Masters is right
around the bin. You'll be excited for that. I'm assuming
you're gonna be making your way to Augusta.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
Yeah, I'm actually working the Valero Texas Open next week,
so I won't be able to be on with you
next Thursday, but and then I am going to the
Masters on Friday, So the Thursday before the Masters, I'll
be able to there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
We go, well, enjoy it and we will talk to
you soon. Thanks Tim as always, all right, thanks, there
you go, timber Ray, I forget it's golf season. Tim's
gonna be back in the South of doing his stats
the Valero Open.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
Is that what he is?

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
That what he said?

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Tim Beray, love love getting that insight. How cool is
that giving us the the old scoop on the closed
door scrimmages. I like, it's kind of like soccer taking
place right now up at Clemson. Like I saw Clemson
soccer beat Firman five to one, and there's spring soccer,

(01:02:14):
but I don't remember spring soccer existing when I was
in school at Clemson at all. Our quick break will
come back with more on the Thursday. Back at it
on a Thursday, they show the Shakes to south Land.
That was Tim Bray before the break, So again Clemson
baseball will travel. We didn't even talk baseball with ten,
but the baseball team will travel to Georgia Tech this weekend.

(01:02:34):
The Tigers are ranked number three in the country twenty
four and four, four and two in the ACC. Georgia
Tech is twenty one and four and seven and two
in the conference. They're ranked number nineteen in Perfect Games rankings.
Tomorrow's matchup at six o'clock Saturday, four o'clock Sunday one o'clock,

(01:02:58):
and of course all of those games will be on
the ACC Network. Extra over at Rush Chandler Stadium in Atlanta,
as the Tigers and Yellowjackets face off in what has
to be one of the most hotly contested baseball series
in the country. I would assume it dates back to

(01:03:18):
nineteen oh two and the all time series record is
one twenty two, one seventeen and three or Clemson. The
Tigers have a five game advantage all time in the series.
Now over in Atlanta, Georgia Tech has an eighty one,

(01:03:40):
forty six and two lead, but either way to play
two hundred and forty two games and only have a
five game discrepancy all time. Solid Tomorrow, in the bumping

(01:04:02):
before Clemson, the righty Aiden Cannock no surprise there or
the yellow Jackets Tate McKee. Saturday, the Tigers will throw
the lefty Ethan Darden up against right handed Brady Jones
from the yellow Jackets, and neither team has disclosed who
their starting pitcher will be on Sunday. So for the Tigers,

(01:04:27):
their first road series, their first conference road series as well.
And is that does that go without saying their first
road series? No, because they could technically have played a
road series and that's not a conference one. So it's
not that. Doesn't that doesn't go without or does it No?
I think it does go without saying at that point,

(01:04:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
Look at you do.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
You're doing the show live. You're doing the show live,
big dummy. Sometimes you start say something and you can't
doesn't resonate in betwixt your ears? Did you say that right?
Did you get out? What did you did? Did that
make sense?

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
What I do wonder about is this as somebody that's
done radio for as many years as I have, One
thing I can tell you is there are times where
we're talking about something. Let's say it's Clemson quarterbacks. Let's
say I'm talking about k Klubnick. But then in the
midst of the conversation, for some reason, I maybe compare

(01:05:32):
him to you know, something we saw at some point
in Trevor Lawrence's career, and then later in that segment
you go and so this season when Lawrence is taking
snaps at quarterback and you don't even know you said it,
and people who are listening, like you, guys, your your
brain's in tune with what I'm talking about, not all

(01:05:54):
of this other stuff that as you're trying to carry
a program for two hours or thinking of and you
hear the mistake and I don't. And occasionally I'll hear
it happen to people on air or watching a game
or whatever, and I'll feel so bad because it is
something that happens naturally that you just don't even fathom.

(01:06:18):
And quite frankly, I don't think it happens as much
for us in day to day life as it does
when you're doing this business, because especially when there's news
that breaks and you're having to break all of that
down for the listener, and so you're kind of running

(01:06:42):
through the scenarios in your head while you're talking or reading.
I mean, I know that sounds impossible. But there are
times where I am reading while I am talking, but
I am not saying what I am reading, and you're
trying to compartmentalize it and train your brain. Honestly. One time,

(01:07:03):
I'm low the producer. This was during one of the
kind of the down the dead season, whatever you wanna
call it, kind of after baseball concluded. This is like
early June. Loll the producer extraor Dare and I are
in I've never told this story on the air before.

(01:07:24):
I'm not sure why I'm telling this story, but just
goes to show you how sometimes in this business you'll
challenge yourself a little bit to just try to push
your mental capacities a little bit. So there was this
game called Slither dot io and what the way slither

(01:07:48):
work does? I don't think I've told you all this story.
If I have text me to stop a three four
five zero zero eighty six. And so this game you
had like this snake worm whatever, and you eat these
little pieces of other worms and your you know, snake
gets longer or whatever, and then if you run into

(01:08:11):
another worm, you die or whatever. And so the goal
is to stay alive right as long as possible, and
I told Loel that we were going into the second
hour of the show back then, and I forget we
had a topic that I was pretty keen on and
knew exactly what I was going to talk about, and
I said, all right, Lol, here's what I'm gonna do.

(01:08:31):
I'm gonna see if I can play this game while
also putting together a great segment.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
Did you need a lot of paint chips when you
were a kid?

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
Why?

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
And he was like, Swanny, you cannot you There's no
way that you could play this game and put together
a great segment. I was like, dude, I can. I
can have half of my brain playing this video game
and the talking half put on a great segment.

Speaker 11 (01:09:05):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Actually, I think I did reveal it. I think I
revealed it that day. I think I was so I
was so proud of myself when I had wrapped that
segment up and I was like still playing the game.
I said, Lowell, how'd you like that? He was like, Swanny,
that was insane. He's like, that was absolutely insane. But
you do in this business. You have to do multiple things,

(01:09:28):
and sometimes you're doing so much at once that you
you know you and there are some flubs that I've
had in my career, like Louisville and LSU. For whatever
reason for me, I've Chris crossed those names a lot.
But the name drop of something you were just talking about,
I'm telling you, if you hear it on the radio,
don't hold it against the host. It happens and you don't.

(01:09:50):
They don't even know it. You don't even know it.
All right, quick break, we'll come back. We'll hear from
Dabo Sweeney right after this. Lawton swan with you on
a Thursday, Timber he joined us an hour number one.
We'll hear a little bit at Dabosweeney today, we'll hear
a lot tomorrow. He did thirty minutes with the media,
so we'll give you a good bit of that on Friday,
of course, Clempson Base Baltimore as well as they take
on Georgia Tech. Dabo Sweeney, though, was asked yesterday about

(01:10:14):
how dabos Sweeney performed during Clemson's scrimmage. Here's what coach
had to say about one of the top returning quarterbacks
in college football and k Clubneck.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
He was good. He was good. I mean he's good
it bounce back, I mean he wasn't terrible.

Speaker 5 (01:10:28):
I know everybody may, oh my god, if I say
one critical thing, it's like Jesus mighty.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:10:33):
I mean, he's had a really good spring.

Speaker 5 (01:10:35):
I didn't think he was as sharp as he needed
to be in that first scrimmage, you know, got there
was just a couple of things that I just expected him.
You know, at this stage two years ago, I might
not have said anything, but at this point, like you know,
he's got to be a coach on the field force.
But I mean he's been I mean he knew it,
just don't like he didn't know it. But anytime to

(01:10:57):
get an opportunity yell at some of those guys is great.
He don't give you a lot of opportunities, so take
advantage of advantage of it when you get a chance
to really coach those best players hard. So but again,
fortunate for him, he doesn't give you a lot of
that opportunity. But he's been good, and he's bounced back,
had a goods, had a good couple of days and
I don't know, I think he was five or seven

(01:11:18):
day and did what he needed to do with his
reps were really pressing, you know, those other guys and
and just trying to you know, we gotta we gotta
be those guys gotta be ready to go play. So
some guys limited a little bit. We've got a few
guys that are taking all the reps, were you know,
not tackling them. H We're a little thin. We got
a bunch of guys that are out just you know,

(01:11:40):
I guess just kind of part of it. But so
but we got to practice.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
We've got a lot we.

Speaker 5 (01:11:45):
Gotta get done. But you know, limited would as a
little bit today. We still got the work he needed,
but really forcing an issue on some of these guys
that we really need to strain and it not cost
us a ball game, you know. So now's the time
to get that stuff done and not as much worried
about winning the practice as I am getting guys.

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
You know, exposed and and get them better.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
That's clipson, Hey, coach Dabos. When you're following yesterday's scrimmage.
She was also asked about the cornerback play and how
that's gone so far.

Speaker 5 (01:12:20):
Yep, you know they're there. I mean av has been
really good all spring. Ashton has has you know, been
uh pretty consistent. I think the biggest thing with him
is just again continuing to be really detailed in his
work and and just just being a little bit more
serious from time to time. He's just his personality, He's

(01:12:41):
got a lot of He's just a kind of a
happy old lookie kid, lucky kid, and and just you know,
there's sometimes where I think he just needs to be
a little bit more intense in the moment. But I mean,
elite talent, you know, GIP Gifts made a lot of
progress this spring. I mean, he had a he had
a PA today and it was just really more just awareness,

(01:13:04):
you know, uh, he was in great position and just
you know, just just really you know, not panicking in
a situation Miles Oliver had to pick today. It's good
to see him because I mean, he's been here three
years at place snap. He's been hurt the whole time
he's been here. So I mean's just good to see
him out there, and it's good to see him make
a big play in a two minute situation today.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
That was that was good.

Speaker 5 (01:13:28):
And you know, so we're trying to bring as me
of those guys along as we can and get them ready, but.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
They're all making some shouts. That still got a lot
of work to do.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
That's Clemson head coach Dabbos when he was also asked
about Christopher of Vezena Clympson's backup quarterback and his thoughts
on what he's seen from CV during the first two
scrimmages this spring.

Speaker 5 (01:13:51):
Yeah, some really good and then some things where you
just go, man, just you know, a couple of layups
that he needs to make, just a couple of situational
awareness things that that he needs to learn from. Uh,
he's had a couple of turnovers. But he's I mean,
he can do it. I mean, he's big and strong.

(01:14:12):
He's he's this night and day from where he wasn't
start last spring when he last spring was the first
time he really took any reps outside of just you know,
scout reps. And then that carried into the fall. We
really saw him kind of make a jump the latter
part of the season and you know, so, I mean

(01:14:33):
we're really pushing. He's a guy that we're really strained
in the spring and uh so he's uh again, he's
done some good. He's done some things he needs to
do better, and uh, but he's a he's a very
conscientious guy. Uh, it's important to him and again he
can do it. He's made some he's he I I
think in the again in the last scrimmage, I thought

(01:14:54):
he did some good things in particular, especially when he
didn't know he was going in and all of a sudden,
the sudden change your in and he throws a touchdown
in the red zone, really well placed, Paul.

Speaker 3 (01:15:03):
So he's had some of that.

Speaker 5 (01:15:04):
I think he's had some other things where it's like,
you know, just uh guy's wide open and a flat
route and just all of a sudden, he gets a
little anxious speeds up and we we you know, we
throw it at his feet and we catch it for
three yards instead of going to touchdown.

Speaker 3 (01:15:19):
And uh so, just a little bit of mixture. But
it's just playing. He's just got to play. And so
that's what this is. Our opportunity to create that that
that stress, that stress for him.

Speaker 5 (01:15:32):
You know, he's gotten a lot of work with the
ones which he needs and uh so he's just gonna
keep getting better because again he's he's wired the right
way and he's important to him and he's a guy
that that we got to have.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
Him ready for. You know, if a moment comes up
and we need him to go win a game.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
That's Clips and the head coach Dabbos sweety following Clips's
scrimage yesterday, So we'll have more for you on that Fridays,
So tomorrow we'll have more Sweeney. We'll obviously talk about
tonight's ten CAA tournament games as they get going in
a little over an hour seven oh nine to tip
off between second seeded Alabama and BYU in the East.

(01:16:16):
Then at nine to thirty nine in the East, it'll
be top seeded Duke in Arizona facing off both of
those games on CBS. On the flip side in the West,
it'll be top seeded Florida in four seeded Maryland at
seven thirty nine on TBS and True TV. That'll be
followed up at ten o nine by Texas Tech the
three seed and ten seeded Arkansas on TBS and True TV.

(01:16:42):
So that's what we're looking at this evening in terms
of sports clumpson baseball again, traveling to Georgia Tech this weekend,
so looking fun again. I'll take Alabama, Florida, Duke in
Texas Tech. Give me, give me the lower seeds, give

(01:17:03):
me the two seed, the two to one seeds and
the three seed all the advance. A little chalk action
from you, boy, Swane. I told you my bracket's doing well.
I don't beat myself up. I don't take a five
twelve upset on one side only to be five twelve
do on the other. I don't pick all chalk either.
But I'm definitely not a risky business picker, and I've

(01:17:27):
done well for years. Final segment, next, stay with us.

Speaker 11 (01:17:33):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Look you for us at Clemson. The answer to the
questions what have you done for me lately? And what
have you done? Always are the same.

Speaker 4 (01:17:59):
We win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
Sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Final segment on the Thursday again, they had the Timber
ray for being a part of the program beginning the
news out of Tiger Town. In terms of roster retention
in basketball, not great, not great right now. Dylan Hunter
the lone senior, Christian Reeves the lone junior. He's a
red shirt junior. Two red shirt freshmen and Ace Buckner

(01:19:10):
and Dallas Thomas, Chase Thompson, Zach Foster and Trent Steinhauer
are all freshmen. That's it, that's all you're looking at.
I mean, it's slim pickens. That's all I can say.
Eight is eight roster spots available. Brad Brownell is out there.

(01:19:33):
Guy's fishing rod Brad Brownell that I've never seen anything
like it, and I do. I don't. I don't necessarily
agree with the Again, the conversations that people say, oh,

(01:19:56):
it's it's one of those things where everybody's dealing with
I don't agree with that. I don't think. I think
CLEMPS is in a unfortunate situation where they're top players,
where all guys with no eligibility remaining. Now, granted, if
you get lucky and you do get the return Jayden Zachary,

(01:20:20):
that helps, but it all has to come from the outside.
And and yeah, maybe one of these guys that's on
the roster or that's coming in as a freshman can
play and have an impact, and that's all well and good.

(01:20:44):
But even like Christian Reeves at this point is not
somebody that you would go, yeah, you know what, I
think he's going to be a big contributor this coming season.
Like Reeves has the body to be a monster, but
he doesn't look skilled, and he kind of lumbers up

(01:21:08):
and down the court. He can't. I don't think he
can play many minutes. He would have to vastly improve
over the next eight months, seven months to even be
a starter going into his red shirt junior season. I mean,

(01:21:31):
he was a clear project at Duke and he is
a project at Clemson. I'd love for him to work out,
don't get me wrong, Like I'd love for him to
be this grand rim protector, a guy who could figure
out how to develop some sort of you know, hook
shot that's difficult to slow down and he's comfortable with

(01:21:51):
his back to the basket, distributing the ball, making passes
out of the post. But I don't know that he
can be that, And absent of his rapid development, Dylan
Hunter is the only player remaining that you can say

(01:22:11):
is likely a starter. And I don't even know you
can say that if you go and get the pieces
that you want. And you know what's kind of scary
about that unless the windows just closed on Dylan Hunter's
ability to leave. If you were to go out there's
hypothetically here, Let's say Clemson went out and just almost

(01:22:34):
said dabos Winny and Brad brown Now just won the portal.
He just crushed it. He got every guy he wanted,
every great player that was out there, and he brought
in seven guys that could really play, and Dylan Hunter
was gonna have to come off the bench again. I

(01:22:55):
don't know that Dylan Hunter is willing to come off
the bench again. Like that almost feels like a spot
where you can't over recruit it. We talk about it
in football a lot. It's a little different in basketball
because basketball is a little more intimate in terms of
the numbers. But I mean, could you imagine if Brad

(01:23:20):
Brownell just crushes it in the portal and all of
a sudden, you're looking around and you got all these
former four star and five star guys that are juniors
and seniors coming on to your roster that are better
than maybe the guys that are sitting there like you.
Certainly you gotta think they're gonna get players better than
the freshman. I would think they're gonna land a big

(01:23:42):
man better than Christian Reeves. I think what you really
want to do is go out and land a senior
big man. Land a senior big man, and then that
gives Reeves another year mature and then give Reeves his
season if he can do it. But if you go

(01:24:07):
out and bring in a guy that's kind of a
couple of years remaining, and there's some speculation that one
of the big man Clemson is currently looking at might
very well be a guy with a couple of years remaining,
then I don't know, you know what that sets up
for a guy like Reeves long term and whether or

(01:24:28):
not he would even want to stick around. It is
a strange world we are living in, all right. Tomorrow
more from Dabo Sweeney. We'll talk about the basketball games tonight,
all that more until then, As always, you'll take care
now and go Tigers.