Friday April 04, 2008
Friday E-Mail Bag
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.
Hey Mickey,
The new basketball coach at USC (Horn-coot) really disrespected Clemson in his press conference. To say that even talking about Clemson gives "relevance to their existence" is way overboard. Plus, even their President was heard to say "Hear, Hear" after those comments. I hope Coach Purnell will use this as bulletin board material and go to Coot-lumbia this fall and beat those idiot losers by 100 points.
Rick
Rick,
I have no problem with Horn making any of his comments. He is trying to rally the troops. He was sending a message to him team, to recruits and to boosters. Coaches should feel free to make these type of comments to their boosters. If the president said that then that might be a different story.
Morning Mickey
I try to avoid the race issues, but I agree with the earlier call, who cares what color the coach or player is, as long as the coach and the player are willing give 100% toward the goals of learning, winning and being part of a TEAM. I have coach my son since he was 4, in basketball, soccer, and baseball, he will turn 13 on Friday and he will tell you that you don't spell TEAM with an I or there is no me in it, my teams have had ever race you think of but I TREAT everyone the same. My goal was and is to teach the fundamentals and have fun, of course to play to win but winning is not the number one goal for me it is playing as TEAM, because then you win and lose as a team. So for me if my son were to be recruited by any coach color would be the last thing that I looked at. I would want to know if he is Christian, then the rest would fall in place.
GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike
Mike,
I think we have probably made more strides in athletics than in most segments of society. I was fascinated with some of the comments we had on the radio about winning and race. The one that I am really interested in is how race affects rivalries. A question I want to ask more in the future is, “If you are an African-American would you pull for an African-American coach at your rival school?” I think this is an intriguing topic. African-Americans are very loyal to their race in many cases but does this cross rivalry lines? Thanks for the e-mail.
Mickey,
I’m a regular reader of your blog and love your enthusiasm. Since I don’t want to sell either the current staff or current players short, I wanted to mention a few other 4* players from the 2nd Tiger team to make it to the ACC championship game and from next year’s team, which will have the potential to not only make it to the final, but to win it.
Per Scout, only Sam Perry of the current senior class made 4* star ranking. He did it largely on his ability as a defensive stopper, specifically in a tournament where he went head to head against former UConn Huskie and current NBA star Rudy Gay. Sam didn’t completely shut him down, but he slowed him down more than anyone else he saw that year. Mayes and Moore were both highly regarded and just missed the 4* level. Prepstars did think more of Mays and had him inside the top 100, but they don’t use the star system.
For next year’s team, both Trevor Booker and Demontez Stit rated as 4 *’s. Next season, the entire class is rated 4*, Young and Caitu toward the higher end of the level. Tanner Smith gets much less respect coming in, but so did Cliff Hammonds. I find the fact that he was considered as the bottom end player of Purnell’s 1st full class that included not only this year’s seniors, but also Cheyenne Moore and Troy Mathis. The fact that those two talented players are no longer with the team, to me, says as much about Purnell as anything and I respect him all the more for it.
Trey
Trey,
I was using Rivals.com as the star system in the article and on the radio. Nothing against the other services because I respect them but I just had the rivals.com stuff in front of me. I think recruiting is getting better in basketball and it is pretty easy to tell that by watching them on the court. Thanks for the info.
Mickey,
I have a lot of respect for Purnell and the basketball program he is building. He is definitely on the right track. As much as I hate to see Hammonds, Perry and Mays go, we must also realize that 2/3rds of the free throw problems also graduate as well. Younger pure shooters are already on the team and are currently being recruited. We will see free throw percentages increase with Purnell’s tenure.
My two cents…
Houston
Houston,
Clemson will be different next season. In some ways they will not be as good but in other they will be better. One area where I guarantee an improvement is the free throw line. I said they would shoot 66% this year and they did not but I feel better about next season.
Mickey,
Regarding your discussion about CJ Spiller this morning:
What about Darren Sproles for the Chargers. I realize he isn’t making a ton of $$, but he is a solid back-up to LT and one of the better return men in the NFL. I understand your point regarding CJ as a high profile back, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a solid back-up and return kicks and make a career for himself.
Joel
Joel,
I see Sproles as a short back but he is a thick back also. I see him more of a power back than Spiller. I see Spiller as a smaller Reggie Bush and Bush has struggled. Sproles is more powerful than either and has been successful. I think if Spiller wants to be a long-term pro back then he will need to be more physical. However, I have heard great things about Spiller this spring. On my radio show Thursday Dabo Swinney said he has looked fantastic this spring.
Mickey,
I just wanted to ask if you would share with anyone at Clemson basketball a big and hearty THANKS. I may even write a thank you letter to Coach Purnell. This year was great. I only feel bad for the seniors as they came to Clemson when I was there and have watched them build this solid foundation. Hate to see them leave.
I wanted to throw in my two cents about the keys to next year's team. My feeling is that the continued success for 2009 Clemson basketball will hinge on three players. We know KC will need to step up and he will offensively. That is his best contribution, but Clemson needs more from these players:
1. Trevor Booker
2. Raymond Sykes
3. David Potter
Booker needs to develop a consistent outside shot as he is an offensive talent. But as offense is his strength, I hope during the offseason Trevor works on his free throw shooting, his passing abilities, and more importantly his away from the post defense to avoid unnecessary fouls.
Sykes needs a good bit of work to build his confidence. He needs to play much smarter and with more desire. I hope the coaches will sit with him and build his basketball skills. He needs to improve dramatically in his focus, offense, passing, ball handling, free throw shooting, rebounding and all-around defense. He also needs to learn to set picks as a wall and not a gate. He could be a great front man on the press if he will learn how to use his abilities in the best way, hustle back and not slacking off.
Potter's improvement and consistent contributions will be needed more than people realize. He will be a junior, so the continued progress for Clemson will sit on his and Booker's shoulders. He needs to be a more consistent scorer as he can both shoot from the outside and drive to the basket. He is taller so he could post smaller guards up. He needs to become a defensive minded player... someone Coach Purnell can use to get that needed rebound, create a turnover and help shut down an opponent's scorer when we need that. Plus, he like everyone needs to work on free throw shooting.
Grant, Stitt and Ogelsby will all be improved simply by not being freshmen. I hope that the coaches can light fires under these players and help them see how they need to improve their basketball abilities and intelligence. Right now we are 7 deep with supposedly three talented freshmen coming in. Now if we could just get Karolis Petrukonis to start contributing... plus maybe get the JC player... then could we possibly become 11 deep?
Next year will be fun. Not sure how Coach will set-up his team as it could be a big team... 6'9" Booker, 6'11" Sykes, 6'11" Petrukonis, 7'1" BoBo, Grant 6'8"... Potter and Tanner Smith 6'5". Hope we can muster a way to be as good defensively. Perry, Mays and Hammonds were a special trio. Also, I hope Clemson will work on setting picks as this team will need to get T.O. and KC open for three's.
Thanks for all your information and reporting.
Stuart
Stuart,
First, I would definitely write Purnell because they like hearing positive reviews from fans. I think next year’s team will be fun to watch. I also think the following team will be as good if not better. This program has been a pleasure to watch as they continue to improve. Thanks for the imput.
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Sorry Trey you are completely wrong about the recruiting. As Mickey said earlier only Caitu is a 4 star the other two are 3 star recruits. I dont know what you are looking at but its wrong.
Posted by drock4484 on April 04, 2008 at 02:00 PM EDT #
Stuart, Trev Booker is 6'7" standing on the Yellowpages.
Posted by CM Shack on April 04, 2008 at 03:37 PM EDT #
As a lifetime Charger fan and Clemson fan, I can tell you that Spiller is bigger, faster, and stronger than Darren Sproles. Sproles, however, is fearless. I think he runs with his eyes closed because, at 160 pounds in the NFL, he runs North/South at full speed 100% of the time. Spiller could learn a lot from watching Darren Sproles.
Posted by shankw on April 07, 2008 at 06:48 PM EDT #