Clemson gets a (much needed) transfer

[Klemnop]

It's not clear if Demarcus Harrison will get an NCAA waiver for this year (I hope so) or how his potential Mission would impact next/following years' participation - but the Tigers were much in need of a boost:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/delayed-mormon-mission-leads-damarcus-harrison-leave-byu-181005976--ncaab.html

Harrison was rated 4*/Top100 by Scout and Rivals, so he's got some of the better credentials of any of the underclassmen on the roster. (Not to mention, it's time to unburden Milton Jennings of the McD's AA yoke that's been holding him back for three seasons.)

For those that missed it (and it's quite easy to miss news on Clemson hoops...as it's essentially non-existent), the Tigers lost one of last year's freshman wing players, Devin Coleman, to an Achilles injury. Also the most highly-rated incoming freshman (wing Jaron Blossongame) fractured his lower leg over the summer - putting his participation for '12-'13 into jeopardy.

After two seasons I'm firmly convinced Brad Brownell is one of the five best coaches in the ACC. But he's got to get some momentum in recruiting or it won't matter. Jimmys and Joes and all that...

[devildeac]

It's not clear if Demarcus Harrison will get an NCAA waiver for this year (I hope so) or how his potential Mission would impact next/following years' participation - but the Tigers were much in need of a boost:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/delayed-mormon-mission-leads-damarcus-harrison-leave-byu-181005976--ncaab.html

Harrison was rated 4*/Top100 by Scout and Rivals, so he's got some of the better credentials of any of the underclassmen on the roster. (Not to mention, it's time to unburden Milton Jennings of the McD's AA yoke that's been holding him back for three seasons.)

For those that missed it (and it's quite easy to miss news on Clemson hoops...as it's essentially non-existent), the Tigers lost one of last year's freshman wing players, Devin Coleman, to an Achilles injury. Also the most highly-rated incoming freshman (wing Jaron Blossongame) fractured his lower leg over the summer - putting his participation for '12-'13 into jeopardy.

After two seasons I'm firmly convinced Brad Brownell is one of the five best coaches in the ACC. But he's got to get some momentum in recruiting or it won't matter. Jimmys and Joes and all that...

Thanks for sharing, Klem. Always nice to get an update from a conference foe and wishing you well. I believe many of us here like the upgrade you folks made with Brownell. I still have plans for your photo shoot on Franklin Street...

[coldriver10]

I don't know why I ever read the comments section following articles...nothing good ever comes of it.

I hope the NCAA does the right thing and gives him the waiver.

[Olympic Fan]

After two seasons I'm firmly convinced Brad Brownell is one of the five best coaches in the ACC. But he's got to get some momentum in recruiting or it won't matter. Jimmys and Joes and all that...

Interesting get on Harrison -- I agree that this is a case where the NCAA should grant a waiver.

Klemnop, I share your view of Brownell. I think he's done a great job COACHING the talent he's inherited from OPurnell. But he's done a terrible job -- worst than Steve Donahue or Jeff Bzdelik -- in recruiting new talent for the program.

It's an interesting situation -- he's lost his top two scorers every year with just a small dropff in production. Actually he inherited a 21-win NCAA team that lost its best player (first-team All-ACC Trevor Booker). He won 22 (9-7 ACC) in 2011, then lost Demonrez Stitt and Jerai Grant off that team. He dropped to 16 wins (but just to 8-8 in the ACC) last season. His top scorers were Andre Young and Tanner Smith.

Now they are gone and I suspect that Milton Jennings and Dervin Booker -- the only two returning starters -- will be their top scorers this year. The problem is that Booker and Jennings are the last of the Purnell-recruited players. When they are gone, where does the production come from? There is nobody in the junior class (that was the transition year) So far Brownell hasn't recruited a single player who has averaged 5.0 ppg -- how many of K.J. Daniels, Rod Hall, TJ Sapp and Bernard Sullivan will prove to be ACC-quality players? I thought Devin Coleman had the most potential ... now he's out for the year. The five-man freshman class has numbers, but it's a lot like BC's big class last year -- it's not that highly regarded. And now the guy who's probably the best prospect (Blossomgame) is coming off a severe injury.

Something's got to happen. At least a couple of the young guys have to blossom or Brownell, for all his coaching ability, is going to fail. There are guys who fly under the radar who are good, but it's hard to build an ACC program entirely of under-the-radar guys.

It's funny, but Brownell is in many ways the flip side to Roy Williams. There's another thread about the CBS coaches poll that picked Roy as the nation's most overrated coach. They obviously don't respect his bench skills. But he wins because he recruits great players (granted, that's a lot easier at Kansas and UNC than at Clemson). Brownell hasn't recruited any great players. But he coaches the heck out of the players he has.

So which is the better coach?

[Klemnop]

Interesting get on Harrison -- I agree that this is a case where the NCAA should grant a waiver.

Klemnop, I share your view of Brownell. I think he's done a great job COACHING the talent he's inherited from OPurnell. But he's done a terrible job -- worst than Steve Donahue or Jeff Bzdelik -- in recruiting new talent for the program.

It's an interesting situation -- he's lost his top two scorers every year with just a small dropff in production. Actually he inherited a 21-win NCAA team that lost its best player (first-team All-ACC Trevor Booker). He won 22 (9-7 ACC) in 2011, then lost Demonrez Stitt and Jerai Grant off that team. He dropped to 16 wins (but just to 8-8 in the ACC) last season. His top scorers were Andre Young and Tanner Smith.

Now they are gone and I suspect that Milton Jennings and Dervin Booker -- the only two returning starters -- will be their top scorers this year. The problem is that Booker and Jennings are the last of the Purnell-recruited players. When they are gone, where does the production come from? There is nobody in the junior class (that was the transition year) So far Brownell hasn't recruited a single player who has averaged 5.0 ppg -- how many of K.J. Daniels, Rod Hall, TJ Sapp and Bernard Sullivan will prove to be ACC-quality players? I thought Devin Coleman had the most potential ... now he's out for the year. The five-man freshman class has numbers, but it's a lot like BC's big class last year -- it's not that highly regarded. And now the guy who's probably the best prospect (Blossomgame) is coming off a severe injury.

Something's got to happen. At least a couple of the young guys have to blossom or Brownell, for all his coaching ability, is going to fail. There are guys who fly under the radar who are good, but it's hard to build an ACC program entirely of under-the-radar guys.

It's funny, but Brownell is in many ways the flip side to Roy Williams. There's another thread about the CBS coaches poll that picked Roy as the nation's most overrated coach. They obviously don't respect his bench skills. But he wins because he recruits great players (granted, that's a lot easier at Kansas and UNC than at Clemson). Brownell hasn't recruited any great players. But he coaches the heck out of the players he has.

So which is the better coach?

Great assessment and questions, Olympic Fan.

The next two years will be a perfect study of Coaching vs. Talent in the state of South Carolina. Frank Martin has come in and bought (err....recruited) the most talented group of basketball players that USouthCarolina has seen in nearly 20 years. Martin has no qualm about walking as close to the line, or over, regarding interactions with AAU Agents (err....coaches) as anyone. Meanwhile Brad Brownell and staff have been unwilling to play that game. Will Brownell's homegrown talent be able to win out over Martin's Hired Guns? We'll see.

As it impacts Clemson's competitiveness in the ACC I expect Clemson will become a bit of a see-saw contender. The current class has two Seniors and 10 So./Fr. That's bad (really bad) for this year - though Brownell, as you point out, has managed to significantly exceed expectations both seasons in the face of supposedly unsustainable talent losses to graduation. In two years those 10 players - assuming no attrition - will all be Jr./Sr. Among them is a nice mix of everything you would want in a well-rounded team - and they'll be well-indoctrinated in Brownell's suffocating Defensive mindset and his takes-time-to-master Motion Offense. I can see Clemson being Top 4 in the ACC and a serious threat for post-season damage once this group matures.

But two things need to happen along the way if Brownell will manage any long-term success: 1) He's got to get the classes balanced while; 2) He's got to get his hands on at least one or two studs.

If Damarcus Harrison does go on a 2-year mission and if Jaron Blossongame does end up red-shirting to fully recuperate his busted leg, you're talking about two kids that were Top 100 quality that are now staggered into the year behind the aforementioned 10 Jr./Sr. That will help with the spacing a bit.

As for getting some studs, after James Johnson moved back to VaTech Brownell replaced him with Steve Smith (GaSouthern). The few people around the program that are knowledgeable about such things think Smith was the proverbial "Homerun Hire" given his ultra-strong ties to AAU in the Southeast. But, apparently, he's managed those ties without getting his hands dirty - which seems contradictory to me...but what I want to hear through my orange-colored muffler. The next two classes will prove if the combination of Smith and Brownell can attract an elite-level player to TigerTown. And that will ultimately tell the story of Brad Brownell at Clemson.

I will say this much with confidence: If Brownell can either nab a truly elite player (or two) to graft in with his exisitng group of workmen...or if he manages to have found a Greg Buckner/Trevor Booker-type Diamond in the Rough amongst the kids he's already got on campus - WATCH OUT. This guy is dangerous enough already when he's playing short-handed. Giving him anything close to a set hand would be really fun to watch.

[JasonEvans]

It's funny, but Brownell is in many ways the flip side to Roy Williams. There's another thread about the CBS coaches poll that picked Roy as the nation's most overrated coach. They obviously don't respect his bench skills. But he wins because he recruits great players (granted, that's a lot easier at Kansas and UNC than at Clemson). Brownell hasn't recruited any great players. But he coaches the heck out of the players he has.

So which is the better coach?

Roy... and it ain't close at the moment. Just look at their records.

Recruiting is such a tremendously large part of the college basketball game. Kyrie Irving was sublime from day one. I am sure Coach K improved him in many ways over the course of his time at Duke, but he arrived on campus ready to dominate college basketball. The same is true of many elite players every year. Any one of us on this board could have coached Kentucky to a fabulous record last year with the talent they had on that squad.

Now, I am not saying that recruiting is everything. I am not saying that Calipari just rolled the ball out there and watched Kentucky win a national title while sitting on the bench reading the newspaper. I am merely pointing out that if you gave me a choice of a coach who knew the game but was a sub-par recruiter (perhaps Brownell) or a coach who could recruit really well but was a sub-par strategist/developer of talent (perhaps Roy, but a better example might be Bobby Cremins), I sadly think that the stud recruiter is likely to have more success over the long haul.

It is worth noting that I think you need to be both a good recruiter and a good coach to win a national title and have a team that is consistently at the top of the college game.

-Jason "we are most blessed to have a guy who is clearly one of the tops all-time at both recruiting and 'coaching' -- but that is why he has won more games than any coach in history" Evans