Recruiting, hoops and baseball: Volume I

Football signing day is here, there’s a basketball game of slight import and the baseball team had its first media availability since starting practice Sunday – where to start?

I’ll touch on all, but let’s go with football, because as is rather clear, folks in this state seem to rank their sports seasons as such: 1. Football. 2. Football recruiting. 3. Spring football. 4. ACC basketball. And the order of 1 and 2 are debatable.

Which is probably the strongest reason I’d think Oliver Purnell might entertain the Maryland job if Gary Williams departs. But I digress …

MACKEY MANIA
A note on Hargrave Military Academy defensive tackle Leon Mackey, who reportedly committed to USC after an impromptu trip last weekend.

The ACC finally confirmed for me today one of the obvious reasons.

Mackey, who pledged Clemson in early January, would have been forced to sit out the 2009 season and lose a year of eligibility because of a little-known league rule.

The rule penalizes a prospect if he signs a national letter of intent with one league school, then plays for another league school without attending the first institution for a year.

Mackey signed with Virginia Tech last February, then opted to return to Hargrave for a prep year instead of enrolling at Virginia Tech in order to reopen his recruitment.

The rule was last revised in April 2007 and still penalizes the athlete a year of eligibility regardless of whether the athlete was released from his national letter of intent by his first ACC school.

An athlete can obtain a waiver for the rule if his petition is based on hardship. Appeals must be made to the National Letter of Intent Steering Committee and the National Letter of Intent Appeals committee before going before ACC faculty athletics representatives.

“It’s important to remember those bylaws are voted on by our member institutions,” ACC spokesman Amy Yakola said.

Yakola said the league would not comment regarding a specific case and deferred comment about Mackey’s situation to the relevant schools.

That was all I needed to hear to pretty much feel secure the Tigers won’t get a ruling in their favor overnight.

It’s unclear whether Clemson filed a petition. But I do believe they’ve known about this situation for a while, as did Mackey. One would assume, though, that Mackey thought it would be taken care of by now.

The connection between Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and USC recruiting coordinator Shane Beamer is obviously no coincidence, but I’ve heard new DBs coach Lorenzo Ward also had a tie to Mackey, too.

What I find interesting is it wasn’t but a few years ago when Frank Beamer and Steve Spurrier were exchanging barbs publicly over USC snagging TE Jonathan Hannah from its clutches. Of course, it turned out much ado about nothing, as Hannah disappeared into oblivion.

LAND OF 10,000 LAKES, TWO CLEMSON FOOTBALL PLAYERS
Have a story in Wednesday’s paper about the unique/funny/weird circumstances that led WR Bryce McNeal of Minneapolis and his friend, QB Tajh Boyd of Hampton, Va., to commit to Clemson.

Great stat regarding McNeal: The last football player from Minnesota to sign with Clemson was receiver Pete Galuska, who signed in 1968, sat out as a freshman per NCAA policy, then lettered three years.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Clemson student SID Katrina Eddie, who saved me a trip and searched through media guides for more than an hour to come up with that info.

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS JAY BILAS DOING COLOR, NOT VITALE
Truth be told, it’s kind of a shame that No. 10 Clemson’s 9 p.m. hoops tilt with No. 4 Duke probably hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves largely because of the rampant interest in football recruiting.

A couple of significant elements to this game, at least as I see it:

·· The major factor in the Virginia Tech triumph was Purnell’s uncharacteristic decision to call off Clemson’s full-court pressure. Three of the Tigers’ last four opponents have torched their press for consistently easy baskets, rekindling the annual questions about its effectiveness against quality ACC backcourts. Duke points Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith aren’t the steadiest of passers, but you almost never see the Blue Devils crumble under pressure, a product of Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching.

That said, Krzyzewski is an offensive mastermind and does a brilliant job of maximizing talent by isolating certain 1-on-1 match-ups. And I’m rather skeptical whether Clemson is good enough defending off the dribble – as well as providing help around the basket – that it might not be less of a risk for the Tigers to press and give up some easy ones as opposed to getting butchered in halfcourt sets.

Given how slow a start Clemson has gotten off to its last 4-5 home games, it’s an intriguing dilemma. Press, and you risk falling behind big early yet again. Sit back and play a slower game, and you probably sacrifice the energy of your homecourt advantage.

Conversely, Duke’s tight perimeter pressure forces opponents to beat them defensively off the dribble. That’s not the game of wings K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby, but it can be for PG Demontez Stitt when he plays with decisiveness and aggression. It will be hard for the Tigers to get open 3-point looks if Stitt is unable to penetrate.

·· Furthermore, Oglesby was relegated to a situational sub the last game, logging his fewest minutes the last 13 contests (22). Oglesby will be challenged by another defense that figures to shadow him, and with apparent result. Duke held Oglesby to 6-for-19 shooting in two games last season, including 4-for-11 from 3-point range.

He tends to play the Tigers into a game or play them out. So it will be interesting to see which materializes.

·· My brother covers all the Tobacco Road programs for a North Carolina paper, and I’m beginning to buy his argument that Duke 6-5 junior guard Jon Scheyer is the league’s most underrated player. Beyond his exaggerated facial expressions, his game is a joy to watch. Moves so well without the ball. He’s not the least bit athletic, but knows how to use screens and his body to free space for a variety of jumpers. He rebounds (6.4!)and amazingly isn’t a defensive liability. I wonder how many people would guess he leads the team in scoring (18.4 points) ahead of junior wing Gerald Henderson (15.0) and sophomore forward Kyle Singler (16.2)?

Wait, did I use Duke and underrated in the same sentence? Scratch that.

·· All of which isn’t to say Scheyer’s the best player on this team. So much of what Duke does revolves around Singler creating a mismatch at the 4 position. The Blue Devils love the screen-and-pop play that usually leads to a 3-pointer for Singler, plus they also frequently stick him in a corner for a drive-and-dish 3 because most big men can’t help on the penetrator and still recover to the corner on the pass.

So I will be REALLY curious to see whether Purnell assigns Trevor Booker or Raymond Sykes to Singler. Booker has the footwork and quickness to counter Singler, but with it comes in the inherent risk that Booker gets into foul trouble, leaving Clemson devoid its ONLY interior threat. No Booker, no win.

Of course, I think it’s a pretty good bet Singler will actually see plenty of 6-6 reserve swingman David Potter, who has become Purnell’s ace in the hole.

Potter hasn’t gotten nearly the credit he deserves, it seems, for adjusting to routine defensive mismatches. Shoot, he was the one who drew Virginia Tech PG Malcolm Delaney during a key second-half stretch of Clemson’s comeback last week.

So barring foul trouble, I think they’ll get 25-plus minutes of Potter tonight, guarding either Singler or the slashing Henderson.

·· Prediction: Duke 81, Clemson 71. Rivers doesn’t tend to have consecutive lights-out shooting performances.

COVERING ALL THE BASES
By now, this already qualifies as longest entry in blogging history. And I haven’t even gotten to baseball.

Wasn’t able to make today’s interviews because of other assignments, but coach Jack Leggett said senior shortstop Stan Widmann is recovering from shoulder surgery.

That amounted to the only news I’ve seen, so I’ll pass along a few nuggets gathered the last month:

·· I had assumed Kyle Parker would be the presumed DH this year after how last year’s late experiment in right field went.

Apparently, I was quite wrong.

From what I’ve heard, Parker is the favorite to lock down the starting right field job.

With Addison Johnson returning at center field, that will force either senior Will Boyd or sophomore Jeff Schaus to be the odd-man out in left field. After watching how Schaus progressed at the plate the last month of last season, I’ve had a hard time justifying leaving him out of the batting order.

Parker, by the way, confirmed to media what I reported here a few weeks ago – he’s set to only miss two of the Boston College games during spring football practices.

·· Freshman infielders Brad Miller and Jason Stolz are making a strong push for playing time, perhaps as starters, on the left side of the infield.

I keep hearing that Widmann’s being pushed for his starting job, and on potential alone, I’d buy it. But Leggett is so loyal to veterans who’ve paid their dues that I’ll believe Widmann loses the job when I see it.

Regardless, I could easily see Miller or Stolz supplanting sophomore John Hinson/senior Matt Sanders at third base. Or, at worst, a platoon situation developing.

·· Catcher is the other position to monitor. In the end, everything I hear continues to point toward freshman Phil Pohl over sophomore John Nestor. Pohl’s not a big tools guy, but coaches and teammates keep talking about his leadership and presence behind the plate.

·· All this adds up to the main reason the Tigers think they will avoid last year’s monumental demise.

This freshman class has given them plenty of options on the bench. Last year, the pickings were dubiously slim.

·· As far as pitching goes, redshirt sophomore Graham Stoneburner and senior Trey Delk are two of the three weekend starters for sure. Delk, in particular, drew rave reviews from teammates this fall, having vastly improved his off-speed repertoire.

Of the three touted freshmen newcomers, lefty Chris Dwyer appears most ready to emerge as a weekend starting candidate.

Senior lefty Ryan Hinson hopes to have something to say about that. Hinson, for what it’s worth, had his throwing shoulder cleaned out in the offseason but is ready to go.

It will be a slower trek for senior closer Matt Vaughn, who had a bone spur shaved in his right (throwing) shoulder during the offseason. But when I talked with Vaughn last month, he said he thought he’d be ready to go for the Feb. 20 opener.

·· When I spoke last month with first baseman Ben Paulsen for a Baseball America feature on him that will run in its forthcoming season preview issue, he couldn’t stress enough how much more importance the Tigers have put on weightlifting. He said it was apparent the team just wasn’t very physically strong last season. Clemson no hit curveball … or any pitch for that matter … very effectively.

One look at Paulsen, and you could tell a significant difference, especially from what he looked like as a freshman. He’s gone from being a soft 185-pounder two years ago to a stout 210-pounder whom you understand why caught pro scouts’ attention with a great Cape Cod performance last summer.
OK, that’s enough for one post. Maybe enough for a month.

Guess I’m probably the Baron Davis of bloggers. I’m a volume shooter with little regard for how many misses it takes to get my points.

Happy Signing Day!