Move Over Semi, We’ve Got a Game to Cover
Clemson is one of those places that’s wonderful once you’re there. From my house its roughly the same distance to Clemson as it is Charlottesville, about 3 1/2 hours. The drive to Charlottesville up Highway 29 is one of my favorites. Central Virginia is beautiful, especially during the fall or spring. But getting to and through Charlotte has never been that much fun, and it’s the best part of the trip to Clemson. Catch 1-85 for the two hours remaining and all you have is red clay, scrub pines and semi tractor trailers. Those long uphill grades where they whip out into the left lane and remain for five miles is not my idea of happy motoring.
But Clemson itself is a great town. Beautiful lake. Rolling hills. And Tim Bourret and his sports information staff always treat you really well. The late Bob Bradley, Bourret’s predecessor, was the best sports information director I’ve ever known. He was to Clemson what Skeeter Francis was first to Wake Forest and later to the ACC. Those men knew hospitality, and they taught it to the next generation. Bourret, assistant Sam Blackman and associate Brian Hennessy learned their lessons well at the foot of the master. They’re the perfect combination of friendly and competent. They take good care of you.
It’s a 3:30 tip and we don’t want to do the down-and-back in one day. So Lenox and I are headed down to Greenville for tonight. We’ll cover the game tomorrow and drive back in, getting home around midnight. We’ve done it so many times, and if the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise we’ll do it many times more.
This trip reminds me of Tim Duncan’s senior season of 1996-97 because the stakes were so much the same. The Deacons were ranked No.4, the Tigers under Rick Barnes, were No. 2. When Wake Forest, coming off a loss to Maryland, pulled out a 65-62 thriller to improve to 14-1, there appeared to be nothing in the way of the Final Four. The Deacons won four more in a row before getting wobbly in February and losing six of their last 12.
You never know what will happen to a team from one game to the next, but this squad looks pretty solid. The Deacons are playing so well, but more important, they’re playing as a team. To this point they have all embraced their roles. Coach Dino Gaudio fretted openly about a bottle-neck in the schedule that had the Deacons playing three games in seven days in three different arenas, right as classes were starting back. But the Deacons have two of those wins in hand. If they could somehow go three-for-three over that stretch it would be a remarkable accomplishment of ability and mental and physical stamina.