Your humble hunter and pecker has plenty of problems, but luckily writer's block isn't one of them.
Not usually, at least.
Well, trying to explain what happened last week in Tallahassee brings a sudden onset of the rare affliction.
How does a team that's struggled so much for so long suddenly cleanse its problems for a methodical, resounding sweep on the road against a really good team?
Um...
Er...
Uh...
I got nothing. Sorry.
Aaron Brenner of The Post and Courier went over and visited with Jack Leggett and the Tigers yesterday as they enter the ACC Tournament fighting for an NCAA Tournament spot -- and fighting for Leggett's job, presumably.
Today, Clemson sits at 31-25 overall, 16-13 in the ACC (fourth in the Atlantic, fifth overall) before they head off to face Florida State, Louisville and either North Carolina or Virginia Tech in ACC Tournament round-robin action.
The Tigers’ No. 55 RPI would indicate they need at least two victories this week in Durham to give themselves a fighting chance at the school’s 21st NCAA bid in 22 years under head coach Jack Leggett.
“I like the way we’re playing right now,” Leggett said Monday. “The last month and a half, we’ve played some really good baseball, so hopefully we can carry that into the weekend.”
The bad news: Clemson is an unspectacular 10-11 against teams projected to make the NCAA field in D1Baseball.com’s latest release, which doesn’t nicely complement Clemson’s arsenal of bad losses (Presbyterian, Wofford, Charleston Southern, Georgia Southern and a pair each to Georgia and Wake Forest.)
The good news: That FSU sweep pushed Clemson’s record vs. top-25 teams to 7-4, and seven wins in eight games entering postseason play, amplified by a win over potential regional host College of Charleston. Winning two of three early in the season over perennial power South Carolina (updated RPI: No. 60) looks pretty on paper as well.
“Do I think we have to do anything specifically? Just keep on winning,” Leggett said. “I think we’re in pretty good shape based on the way we finished in the conference. We finished fifth, really finished half a game out of third place. Yes, I think we’re NCAA Tournament worthy. I think we’d be a tough team to play in the NCAA Tournament.”
A few Tuesday links:
-- Mike London has a wild school bio, Jared Shanker of ESPN writes.
“A former Richmond police detective, London's time in law enforcement dealing with the entire spectrum of human emotions and actions has provided a wealth of experience that he draws on to assist players both on and off the field. There are few stressful situations he has not faced - including having a loaded pistol pointed at him and the trigger pulled, only to have the weapon malfunction and not discharge its potentially lethal round.”
-- In San Diego, they examine undrafted free agent signee Cole Stoudt.
On edge: Stoudt is competition for No. 3 quarterback Brad Sorensen, Telesco's seventh-round pick in 2013. The Chargers last year released Sorensen, signing him back after he went unclaimed. Stoudt's nearly five years younger than Sorensen, 27.
Don't forget: Undrafted Pete Thomas rotated with Stoudt in Friday's practice and had the session's best completion. Thomas, 6-1 and 228 pounds, had 36 career touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He shares an alma mater, Louisiana-Monroe, with the lone quarterback to take San Diego to a Super Bowl -- Stan Humphries, a sixth-round choice of Bobby Beathard in 1988.
Chargers trial run?: One of many benefits Telesco cited to the Mariota visit was running a hybrid "spread" quarterback through a tailored workout. Though Philip Rivers, 33, has missed no starts since 2006, McCoy and Reich someday may have to groom a spread alum into a franchise quarterback.
Stoudt may not be that guy, but he worked in a clever spread system designed by Chad Morris, a former Texas prep coaching legend. The Chargers may learn something from Stoudt, who, like Rivers' close friend and ex-backup, Charlie Whitehurst, is a Clemson alum and son of a former NFL quarterback.
-- At Warchant, a scheduling compromise in football could be difficult for the ACC.
With 15 member institutions -- 14 full-time schools and partial member Notre Dame -- the conference's annual spring meetings now feature several more voices than in years past. And while Swofford praised all of the athletic directors, coaches and faculty representatives in attendance for bringing a spirit of cooperation to the meetings, those extra voices also bring different agendas.
And the league's challenging football scheduling discussions showed that consensus can be tough to come by in today's age of super-sized conferences.
Practically every participant at the meetings expressed a desire for a change to the current football rotation, which sees several teams squaring off only once every six years. But the group was no closer to a solution when the meetings adjourned than when they began four days earlier.
"In the end, everybody may have to give up something," FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox told Warchant. "And we're trying to minimize what has to be given up. There are a couple options that we've looked at, and we've asked them to give us more options. So the conference is going to go back and work on different options."
-- Congrats to former Clemson beat writer Travis Sawchik, who's spent the past couple years covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sawchik, who became a father within the last year, also joins the author's club with the publishing of a book on how the Pirates turned it around. Here's a Kirkus review. And a Q&A with an Indianapolis writer.
-- And in Rolling Stone, a really, really sweet tribute to B.B. King from Derek Trucks.
I woke up on the bus this morning and my wife, Susan [Tedeschi], was playing B.B. King records up front. I looked up and we were passing the Indianola, Mississippi exit, driving to Jackson, and it was kind of too much to take. I had to put sunglasses on and just sit there and take it in. It definitely hit home harder than expected. We got into our hotel and the lady behind the desk, said, "He stayed here twice a year." I feel like I'm kind of walking the trail today.
When B.B. King played, it was just the cold hard truth [laughs] – like hearing Martin Luther King speak. You just needed one word, one note with B.B. No one has that. No one lived the life he lived. None of the quote-unquote "torchbearers" have that history, that spirit. There's a bunch of people out here that are going to carry on the memory of it, but he did it. My good friend Col. Bruce Hampton said, "B.B. ain't coming back. He got it right this time." A lot of people might have to keep coming back to work it out, but B.B. did it. He ain't coming back. He did what he was supposed to do. He left an amazing legacy and a bunch of disciples.
-- Here's a superb version of "Midnight In Harlem" from the Tedeschi Trucks Band:
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