Originally Posted by
kako
For all you Bilas haters out there, here's some raw meat from The Athletic today. It's the update from their Bracket Watch. Pretty sure they are referring to him as they discuss Clemson. My emphasis in bold.
Clemson (23-9, 14-6; NET: 61, SOS: 106) We love this time of year. We love it all: The late hours, the eye strain, the floating along on the wave of 15 hours of basketball, not entirely digesting or understanding everything we see, but gradually coming to what we think is some basic holistic understanding of the tournament picture, the bubble, where everybody stands. And then, bam, watching Clemson blow out NC State, comes the bold proclamation that Clemson HAS TO BE IN, and in fact they were IN ALREADY, but now they’re DEFINITELY IN. This stuff is always so funny. It comes from a different reality, and broadcasters who spend a lot of time covering specific conferences do it all the time. Teams are constantly made locks. Every team that wins a game against another average team “just punched their ticket.” It is comedic, but also kind of weirdly deceptive, and maybe even contributes to the disconnect a lot of fans have about their team’s bubble positioning when they come on here and leave a comment and wonder why Pitt or NC State isn’t a lock yet. Guys: You’ve been listening to the wrong people! Look around at the whole country. Look at the other teams on the bubble. Watch them play. Don’t assume X wins in an ACC ranked seventh in the NET gets you anywhere. Engage with the reality!
Anyway, LOL, Clemson is not a lock. Clemson is not even necessarily on the right side of the bracket! Clemson just beat the hell out of NC State again Thursday night, 80-54, and for the second time in two weeks, too — they won in Raleigh, 96-71, on Feb. 25 — and that is a good thing to have done. Clemson may yet get in. But the notion that Clemson HAS TO BE IN is silly, and a person holding that belief could be easily disabused by looking at Clemson’s team sheet. Go ahead, go on. This team has played 12 games against Quadrant 1 and 2 teams; it was won seven times. It has played 20 games — 20! — against Quadrants 3 and 4, and lost four times. It scheduled so badly in the nonconference (rank: 335) that Brad Brownell almost had to have tried. There is nothing about this team that is a lock or a sure thing or anything else beyond a bubble team that beat N.C. State badly and maybe needs to beat Virginia Friday to get in.
Sheesh. People just say whatever.
For the record, I am pulling for NC State, Pitt and Clemson to all get in. But I think the odds are against it.
9F