Brad Brownell just spent some time with the media as part of his regular end-of-season wrap-up. Nothing really earth-shattering. A few of the notables:
-- Undoubtedly he's happy something's finally being done with basketball facilities. He says the football program gets major facilities upgrades on a regular basis and it really helps the spirit of the football program. "There's something new done for them every year, and nothing has been done for me. After a while, that's hard on your players."
-- He says the biggest difficulty playing in Greenville next season will be the unfamiliarity with the building. The Tigers will seldom, if ever, practice there.
-- He thinks the home loss to Notre Dame dealt a strong psychological blow from which his players never really recovered. The talk going into that game was that a win would put the Tigers in good shape NCAA-wise, and his players were deflated after that narrow and costly defeat.
-- He says recruiting has improved each year he's been here. His best two players this past season, Jaron Blossomgame and Donte Grantham, were a sophomore and freshman. He says his staff has struck out on some high-profile guys, but Blossomgame and Grantham were highly coveted.
-- One of the big problems last season was lack of speed and quickness in the backcourt, and he thinks Avry Holmes will help that because he's a little faster than Rod Hall. He says Ty Hudson "is not super fast." He said Holmes and Hall had some really good battles in practice, and Holmes is enthused about playing in the ACC. Said that's why Holmes transferred here. The staff will look at Holmes, Hudson and Jordan Roper at the point next season.
-- He thinks Gabe DeVoe made the case for more minutes and can be a weapon who can stretch the floor with long 3-pointers. Said he also developed a better feel for the game than some of the other guys. Said he must improve his conditioning and improve on the defensive end if he's going to play 20 minutes a game.
-- A lot of holes in the 2015-16 schedule right now. Brownell said they're hard at work trying to fill the spots. Said a couple of those vacancies will be filled by high-major opposition.
-- Undoubtedly he's happy something's finally being done with basketball facilities. He says the football program gets major facilities upgrades on a regular basis and it really helps the spirit of the football program. "There's something new done for them every year, and nothing has been done for me. After a while, that's hard on your players."
-- He says the biggest difficulty playing in Greenville next season will be the unfamiliarity with the building. The Tigers will seldom, if ever, practice there.
-- He thinks the home loss to Notre Dame dealt a strong psychological blow from which his players never really recovered. The talk going into that game was that a win would put the Tigers in good shape NCAA-wise, and his players were deflated after that narrow and costly defeat.
-- He says recruiting has improved each year he's been here. His best two players this past season, Jaron Blossomgame and Donte Grantham, were a sophomore and freshman. He says his staff has struck out on some high-profile guys, but Blossomgame and Grantham were highly coveted.
-- One of the big problems last season was lack of speed and quickness in the backcourt, and he thinks Avry Holmes will help that because he's a little faster than Rod Hall. He says Ty Hudson "is not super fast." He said Holmes and Hall had some really good battles in practice, and Holmes is enthused about playing in the ACC. Said that's why Holmes transferred here. The staff will look at Holmes, Hudson and Jordan Roper at the point next season.
-- He thinks Gabe DeVoe made the case for more minutes and can be a weapon who can stretch the floor with long 3-pointers. Said he also developed a better feel for the game than some of the other guys. Said he must improve his conditioning and improve on the defensive end if he's going to play 20 minutes a game.
-- A lot of holes in the 2015-16 schedule right now. Brownell said they're hard at work trying to fill the spots. Said a couple of those vacancies will be filled by high-major opposition.
