TigerNet -- Blogs -- Mickey Plyler's Blog

Friday E-Mail Bag
Each Friday I publish your comments and answer your questions. To submit a comment or questions please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.

Mickey,
I’ve read that DL Jock McKissic will move to the offensive line which, I believe, is a good move for him and the team.

Stew,
The last time I talked to the staff they had not made a decision on McKissic but they were considering the move. I think anytime you lose three offensive linemen you need to be concerned but it is not like they are having to replace Art Shell and Gene Upshaw.

The key to the offensive line will be the red-shirt freshmen. If Mason Cloy can play center then Thomas Austin can move back to guard. Also David Smith is a key. Some of the staff feels like he is a potential star but they are not sure if he is a guard or a tackle. Chris Hairston appears to be set at one tackle and Corey Lambert, Landon Walker and Smith may battle at the other tackle. Barry Humphries seemed to be more comfortable at guard last season.

I think the red-shirt freshmen have a much better chance to help so I would not count on the true freshmen at this point.

Hey Mickey,
Whatever happened to the wide receiver we recruited last year who had to go to prep school? I
believe his name is Markish Jones. Did he ever get the grades to make it to Clemson or since he went to a prep school was he eligible to go somewhere else? I know he wanted to go to FSU but had already signed his LOI with Clemson and NCAA rules made him honor the
commitment to Clemson. I was hoping you could help me out!

Matt,
I wish I had a dime for every time I have been asked about Jones. He did not qualify and is at a JUCO playing football and running track. I doubt he will ever make it to Clemson.

Kirk,
I was surprised so many people were not more upset but I do understand the fatigue. One school of thought says that Clemson may get worn out at the end of the season because of playing so much full court pressure throughout the season. I am not sure that is the case but it is an interesting concept.

Joey,
Sounds a little like football huh? I will say that Clemson played extremely well at Virginia this season. I am still not ready to give them a pass but Maryland, Duke and others played bad this week also.

Chad,
I like what you said about criticism. It is hard to criticize student-athletes but you have to tell the truth also. Like you, I don’t buy the tired excuse. We have soldiers in Iraq that have a much better excuse when it comes to fatigue. We are talking about 18-22 year olds. Also the ACC tournament will hopefully feature three games in three days for the Tigers.

Mickey,
This is a big time red vote. The FSU's, Wake's, & VA's are the games you have to win because you are better than them. These are the games that get you in or keep you out of the NCAA. Taking the night off against this team was a huge mistake. Now, they are back on the bubble with MD & Miami as huge games. It's all on the line against better teams when you could have sealed the deal against a scrub team. I agree with you that you could be soft on a guy that had a bad night. This is not the case here. The entire team didn't show up.

Mark,
Unfortunately Clemson is back on the bubble. The Miami game is now huge. If the Tigers drop the Miami contest then they may lose four in a row because the next two games are at Maryland and at Georgia Tech. Too often we confuse shooting percentage and performance. My point was about effort.

Mickey,
Do you have the same power of the Sports Illustrated Cover?
What about the cover of the Madden game?
Did you break a mirror, cross a black cat ... walk under a ladder?

I hope there is no “Blog Curse.” You make good points and hopefully we will not look back to this game as the catalyst for the collapse. Hopefully we will look back as this game being the eye-opener and the wake-up call. Ask me again after the Miami game because hindsight is the only thing that will work here.

Scott,
The 1979-80 Clemson team went to the Final Eight before losing to UCLA. I agree with you in thinking that bigger and better are on the way.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Comments:

History certainly shows us that IF ... IF a Clemson Tiger basketball team ever gets past the ACC grind and makes it into the NCAA tournament, then we are as capable as any school in the country of being successful. Our infrequent forays into the "Big Dance" have demonstrated that we can compete and win. I'm not a whiner about how big a hurdle the ACC is for our hoops aspirations, but I'm a realist when it comes to what appears pretty obvious. Clemson has never been a consistent winner in basketball and may never be as long as they compete in the ACC. We have no choice of course, but dang, it gets tough watching our squads that go 7-9 in conference play get left home while schools outside the ACC that build their resume against weaker competition end up having fun in March! Win 2 of the remaiing 4 games and we are there. Go Tigers!

Posted by apextiger on February 22, 2008 at 11:06 AM EST #

I hope we don't look back on the losses to UNC-Charlotte, FSU, and Miami as games which kept us out of the tournament, or which really killed our seeding. Win those games and it is a different season right now. Still, I have faith our players will get the job done down the stretch.

Posted by Locotiger on February 22, 2008 at 11:36 AM EST #

Don't forget about Minnesota loss in Sweet 16 in 1996-1997 season. Minnesota went on to the Final Four, we probably would have to.

Everyone talks about UCONN in 1990 but the double OT loss to Minnesota was worse for me.

Posted by truetiger1998 on February 22, 2008 at 11:36 AM EST #

there was 3 recruits that were turned down by the AARC at the last minute. if it wouldn't have been for those 3, we probably wouldn't have known that the AARC even existed. out of those 3, jones, jones, and cox, none of them qualified last year. jones and jones didn't even qualify for this year.

you and everyone else was raging about how little they knew about athletic admissions and with a prep school help, they could contribute to our team. turns out they were on the money about these kids, they weren't able to even get in, and even if they did, it would require a 4 yr baby sitter to make it.

Posted by sregitog 1 on February 22, 2008 at 04:45 PM EST #