Brad Brownell jokes Dabo Swinney, Clemson football are ‘selfish’ taking spotlight into January

The Clemson Tigers Men’s basketball squad is enjoying one of the better starts to the season in the program’s history. The Tigers improved to 15-3 after defeating the number 24-ranked Duke Blue Devils at home. That victory also improves them to 10-0 at home and 7-0 in conference play. Despite the hot start, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell jokingly blames Clemson football for the lack of spotlight the men’s basketball program has received thus far. After the victory over Duke, Brownell spoke on that belief while jokingly calling head football head coach Dabo Swinney and his program ‘selfish.’

“Yeah, the environment was unbelievable. And we’ve had this in other years that I’ve been here,” said Brownell. “When Little John is full like this, I think it’s one of the best places in the league to play. The crowd is on you, there’s great interaction, and part of it is obviously our responsibility to have a good team; to keep people excited. I’ve joked about this for many years, Dabo is selfish, and he plays all the way into the middle of January most years, unlike most teams. So it makes it a little harder, to be honest with you. It does. Part of the job at Clemson.

Obviously, we all love football, and I love it and support our team as much as anybody. But it makes it harder in December and November when some schools are done at Thanksgiving, and some are done early December, and we’re still rolling. You guys aren’t here; I can tell you that… it’s nice to have all of you here.

The Tigers were able to knock off the top-ranked Blue Devils 72-64, led by another solid performance from one of their bigs, PJ Hall. With the Blue Devils’ defense keying on slowing down the Tigers’ top scorer, this season Hunter Tyson, Hall was able to wreak havoc for much of the game. The six-foot-ten junior finished his night with 26 points and 26 minutes on 10-16 shooting from the field.

On the gridiron, the Clemson Tigers are the gold standard when it comes to the ACC conference and have been a perennial player in the national championship picture. That level of excellence is hard to come by, especially in the ever-changing landscape of college sports. And although it might make it tough on Brownell and the men’s basketball program, it gives them a standard bearer to look up to right on campus. And so far, the Clemson man’s basketball squad had started off the year hot and has been dominating the ACC just as their brethren do on the field.