Brad Brownell: Clemson's short turnaround was 'less than ideal'

One of the real challenges of the NCAA Tournament can be the travel, particularly if you’re a higher-seeded team that didn’t have a regional advantage in scheduling. Clemson learned that the hard way this week.

The Tigers finished their Round of 32 game against Baylor in Memphis, Tenn. late on Sunday night, then had to make the trek back to campus.

“We had a less than ideal probably — we got home at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday. Then kind of realized we play on Thursday,” coach Brad Brownell said. “So we’d better get back out to California. We chartered a plane, and we had to drive an hour to Greenville. So we left campus at 4 (p.m. ET). We were really only home about 12 hours.”

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That short time didn’t give players a whole lot of time to unwind and grab their things before heading out for what they hope is an extended stay on the West coast.

Clemson will meet 2-seed Arizona on Thursday night in the West Region, playing in Los Angeles, Calif.

How much the team has been able to do has been impacted by the travel, so Clemson might not have quite as much preparation work done by the time the game rolls around as it would for a typical in-season game.

“Yesterday was a little challenging,” Brownell said Wednesday. “We practiced, but it wasn’t easy. Just trying to get our legs back, just get used to the time change and all of that. I’m optimistic we’ll be ready to go tomorrow. But it’s been a quick turnaround, that’s for sure. A lot of sleepless nights for the staff trying to get ready.”

Brownell preaching finishing to his team

One of the things that Brownell wants to see his team do is finish strong. There’s a certain danger in being happy with reaching the Sweet 16 after missing the NCAA Tournament entirely a year ago.

Brownell thinks his Clemson team is capable of reaching the Final Four. And that’s only two games away now.

“Obviously we’re going to have to finish the season the right way,” Brownell said. “And we played better, still a little inconsistent at times. But I do think there’s a belief our guys have that we’re pretty good. And when we’re clicking, we can play with anybody in the country. We’ve proven that. We’ve beat some of the teams in this tournament. So I think that’s a big part of it.

“But these seasons are so long. They’re almost too long, to be honest with you. We start practicing in September, and now we’re at the end of March. You’re going to have ups and downs. You’re going to have some times that don’t go well, and you’ve got to respond.”

Clemson has done that well in the postseason so far, so we’ll see if the Tigers can keep it going the rest of the way.

The Tigers will tip off against the Wildcats at 7:09 p.m. ET on CBS on Thursday.