Thoughts on Clemson Basketball's Program and Future

Several people have asked me via email what I think of Brad Brownell and our program following another disappointing season, so I'll take a break from retirement to share those thoughts here.

First things first, Brad is not going anywhere. Radakovich wouldn't fire Jack Leggett when it was blatantly apparent he needed to do so, he pushed the decision off and fed us a bunch of bullshit last summer about why he didn't. I don't think he wants to make the hard decisions. And, he gave Brad a nonsensical buyout to Brownell's contract like he did Hewitt at Georgia Tech (though not as bad). DRad wanted to lock up Brad through the facilities changes, and push his decision off until afterwards. So no, unless we basically finish 1-30, or Brad decides to jump ship, he'll be here until the Littlejohn changes are completed. I wouldn't be surprised if DRad is just looking to jump ship himself within 2-3 years, he seems poised to be a conference commish someday.

But coming back to the program, my opinion is that Brad Brownell is not going to be the answer here to getting us back into the NCAAs consistently. When I watch Clemson, i see a very inconsistent team, and a team that looks like it has not been coached on how to play offense at all. They don't have that offensive mindset. We're a defensive squad and that is really all we can do. It seems like the plan is to teach guys how to play defense and not teach them how to shoot, so unless we recruit a great player who can do offense by himself, we're not going to play as an offensive unit. Brad's staff is just not developing them here. Blossomgame and Grantham are the only two players I see out there who have that offensive talent. The rest of our players should be at mid-majors.

Now I will say that I do like Brownell. I supported the hire, and in the subsequent seasons I was happy to see a team that did improve fundamentally. We could never set a screen to save our lives under OP, and Brad had that fixed almost immediately. Our overall defensive fundamentals are pretty damn good most of the time, with the exception of a few lazy players like Nnoko. In all but two seasons we have looked much better by February than in November, so you can't deny that his staff is coaching them up.

I will also point out the attitude of most Clemson fans, which is that basketball does not deserve any facilities or money spent on it because it does not perform. Such an attitude proves to me why football spent 20 years in Hell, but back then it was held by the administration, and not all of us. I was harping on this stuff 5-6 years ago, and people still told me we didn't need an IPF. Now the administration spends on football, and people wised up and see that success and spending go hand-in-hand. But they don't see that spending on basketball now will help it in the future. If you think that way, then just shut up about our basketball program.  You don't even deserve to have your opinion heard. Clemson can be successful at everything, and if you know me then you know that I've always pushed for that goal.

So that Clemson is finally spending some money on Littlejohn is welcomed by me. Facilities are all about recruiting. Men's Basketball is the only other athletic program at Clemson that turns a profit, the only one. Improving facilities for football took us from Top 30 classes to now Top 10-15 classes, and improving the basketball facilities will help greatly here. Will it help as much? I'm not sure, but it will help. We aren't in a metropolitan area, we're out in the sticks a little at Clemson, so we won't ever have the natural advantages that Atlanta or Chicago would have, but we can make sure the recruits are wowed by what we show them. We haven't helped Brownell in this area and he clearly needs it.

But I have some questions, that after his term here need to be answered.
Who is responsible for the almost complete lack of talent here? I'm not excusing him just because Clemson won't spend to help him.

Who is responsible for recruiting not one dead-eye shooter for a 4/1 motion system that needs shooters? I see them at Wofford or Winthrop, why do we never have one? Have we had one since Oglesby?

Who is responsible for losing at least 1 or 2 players to transfers every winter? This is a big red flag. And why does it seem that we always need those players back a month later?

Why do we look like we haven't been coached on how to play offense in some games? Self-explanatory. Its not every week, or every moment in every game, but its often.

Who is responsible for the lack of mental toughness? lack of killer instinct? We lose a game and its like the bottom drops out from under us. Lose to ND? Then lose again and again. We look great one week, then get the next team down, and can't finish it, or vice versa, when we get down by 15 to a team we can beat, then come back and still lose because of crucial mistakes.

Who is responsible for us dropping a few games to teams we have no business in the world losing to? Look like crap against High Point? Lose to Winthrop? Lose to SC? Losing to Auburn last year basically kicked us off the NCAA bubble. What about generally looking like shit from November until ACC play starts in nearly all of his seasons as HC?

I knew when the hire went down that recruiting would determine his tenure. I thought Rick Ray was a good one there, but I know that Ray would play ball with the AAU guys, and Brad won't do it, so Ray left. I don't think Brad filled with as good a quality recruiter. I don't think the rest of the staff is very good at it either. James Johnson would've been, but VT hired him before we could get him here.

Basically what Brad needs is 2 or 3 Dabos to recruit for him, and then find an assistant who can coach offense, because Brad only seems to be able to draw up a few set plays and coach defense.

But like I said, Brad is not going anywhere until the facilities are done. They'll give him at least one year in the new LJ to show substantial improvement, and only then will a decision be made. A new coach would not want to jump into this until the new LJ is done. At that point, if Brad Brownell is fired, and I currently believe he will be, then we don't need to go cheap with the next HC. Clemson should go out and throw the money at someone who is not at a destination job.