83 - 73 When you think Brad Brownell’s seat it’s at its hottest, he starts winning. When he starts putting something substantial together, then he starts losing. It’s the cycle of Brad Brownell at Clemson. He usually wins just enough to not fire, but is too bad to ever trust.
Earlier this year we wrote how Brownell came into the season on the hot seat and then had Clemson on top of the ACC and likely headed to the NCAA Tournament.
The wheels started recently coming off.
The Tigers started getting players back from injuries and got worse. First, it was a flat effort in a 62-54 loss at Boston College. Then there was the Tiger’s first home loss of the year to Miami 78-74. That was followed by 20 point loss at North Carolina.
It was the Heel’s only win in their last 6 games.
Florida State came in depleted to Clemson, and the Tigers did win that game by 40 giving hope that Brownell had figured things out.
Then it happened… The worst loss imaginable for a bubble team that can be had during conference play. The kind of loss that can completely wreck a resume. Losing to 8-17 Mid-Majors like Texas Southern and Central Michigan wouldn’t be worse than this. Losing to 3-24 California wouldn’t be worse. Even the losses to teams like South Carolina and Loyola-Chicago that Clemson already had were to teams dozens of spots higher in the NET Rankings than who beat Clemson Saturday.
We all know who it was – The Louisville Cardinals with previous a 3-23 record and NET and RPI ranking in the 300s. By the computer metrics, arguably the worst ACC team we’ve ever seen. Louisville hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record this year.
To their credit, they got one against Clemson in an 83-73 win where Louisville controlled the majority of the game.
Brad Brownell with so much to play for didn’t have his team ready. This is why Clemson fans can’t trust Brownell even when they want to.
Now at 19-8 (11-5) and a 7-4 Q1/Q2 record, Clemson has a NET of 80 and a whopping 3 Q4 losses.
That’s as many as the 13th and 14th-place ACC teams Georgia Tech and Notre Dame have combined.
Will a 21-10 (13-7) Clemson make the NCAA Tournament if they split games with Syracuse, NC State, Virginia, and Notre Dame?
I don’t believe so. They’ll need an ACCT win, possibly two, maybe even three.
When there is that much on the line, you simply can’t lose to Louisville. You just can’t, and now anything short of a NCAA Tournament will have Clemson fans frustrated and disappointed.
Brownell who looked safe a month ago will again be back on the hot seat.
That is what losing to this years Louisville’s team can do.
