First up this game is not an easy one to watch outside Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. The syndicated ACC Network is only showing up in a handful of markets on the weekdays (but at least Happy Valley gets to watch some good basketball). So the other viewing options are online at ESPN3.com or if you have the ESPN FullCourt package (hooray for a wife that forgot to cancel the package!).
It’s an 8 pm start, so that feels a little awkward.
As a brief aside, it sure seems like the early returns on ability to watch non-ESPN aired ACC games is inferior to the old Big East. Say what you will, and I know we have said plenty, but at least the Big East got their syndicated football and basketball games on wider reaching sports channels.
I’ve convinced myself that this is going to be a very tough game for Pitt. Clemson has only one inexplicable loss — at Auburn. After that, their other losses were to good teams like FSU and UMass and at Arkansas — which is one of those bad road/great home teams.
Before taking the cash grab that DePaul desperately tossed his way, Oliver Purnell could be considered nothing short of a turnaround wizard. He was the one that made Dayton something that mattered so that Brian Gregory could succeed there. He created success, excitement and even expectations at Clemson.
Clemson had to replace Purnell, and it sure looked at the time like they got a good one from the mid-majors ranks in Brad Brownell. Plucked from Wright State, Brownell made his name at UNC-Wilmington as an assistant and head coach there. He had turned down other jobs before taking Clemson. A guy familiar with recruiting in the Carolinas and in the ACC footprint. Considered a very good Xs-and-Os coach. Clemson looked like a program ready to build on its success.
But it hadn’t worked out that way in the first three years. Diminishing returns each year, and very low expectations this year — picked to finish 14th in the 15-team ACC.
