Clemson Faces Baylor in NCAA Tournament After Calling Out Big 12 for ‘Manipulating NET’
It appears the saying, “Time is a flat circle,” is officially coming true for Clemson head coach Brad Brownell.
After taking down No. 11 New Mexico in their first-round matchup, Brownell’s team is now set to take on the 3-seed Baylor Bears in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after Brownell called the Big 12 out for “manipulating the NET” earlier this season.
“A couple of things that folks don’t understand, you can manipulate the NET,” Brownell said in a February radio interview. “And there’s a strength of schedule dynamic where the Big 12 has managed it with their scheduling. Their nonconference scheduling, they’re playing 300-level teams and winning by 40 and 50 points to increase their offensive and defensive efficiency numbers, which is a big part of the NET tool. So that’s why you see teams trying to win at the end of games by 30 or 40 points instead of putting in your walk-ons.”
Ironically, for Brownell, the Baylor Bears happen to hold the title of having faced the toughest schedule strength of any team in all of college basketball this season. In addition to Baylor, six other teams from the Big 12 Conference were listed in the Top 20 with the toughest strength of schedules, including No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 Kansas, No. 11 Houston, No. 12 Kansas State, No. 13 West Virginia, No. 16 Iowa State, and No. 17 Texas (SOS Rankings).
The seven Big 12 teams featured in the Top 20 are the most of any conference in college basketball, with the next closest being the Big Ten, which has six. The ACC, however, had zero teams in the Top 20, with the first team representing the league, North Carolina, checking in at the No. 32
In a recent video from Heartland College Sports’ Pete Mundo, many around the Big 12 Conference are calling for Baylor to hand the Tigers some karma on Sunday due to Brownell’s ridiculous comments.
“Brad Brownell is the guy who started this grand conspiracy theory that the Big 12 is secretly manipulating the NET to try to get more teams in the NCAA Tournament to try and make it appear like they’re the best conference in college basketball,” Mundo said. “I want to see Baylor and Scott Drew blast this team by 25 points. Don’t take your foot off the pedal. Just keep grinding them down and blow this team out so they never forget Baylor, and they never forget the Big 12.”
Brownell’s opportunity to face one of the top teams from the Big 12 Conference will take place on Sunday, March 24th, at 5:10 p.m. CT on TNT.
