MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As his team gets set to play No. 11 seed New Mexico in the West Regional of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Friday, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said there were a few distractions they had to worry about as they prepared for the Lobos.
One of those distractions – the transfer portal.
The transfer portal opened on March 18.
When asked about the timing of the portal coming open, Brownell was quick to give his opinion. He admitted the transfer portal opening before the NCAA Tournament is a distraction and he is against it.
“And I’m on an NABC committee that — I was adamantly against this for this very reason,” he said Thursday from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. “It’s a hard time of year for everybody, players, coaches, the whole nine yards. There’s a lot of coaches, especially at mid-major schools, whose tournaments end earlier, and they were very vocal about, the longer we have to wait, the harder it is for us to have to figure out what to do.”
Brownell understands there are colleagues of his that want the portal open before the tournament, and he understands their points of view. However, he does not believe this is the right time.
“And for folks to be talking about it, and the media is talking about it to some degree, and as coaches have to have one eye on it — I wished we could wait a couple more weeks,” he said. “Maybe not all the way through the Final Four certainly, but at least one more week to next week when now there’s only 16 teams playing, and even, if possible, to get to the following week of the Final Four would even be best.
“But we’re all kind of living and learning through this process right now.”
The 6th seeded Tigers play New Mexico at 3:10 p.m. (TruTV).
— photo by Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
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