* No emotional, post-game comment from Clemson coach Dabo Swinney resonated more around here than what he said before the national championship game. “Hey, we had snow up in Clemson, so it’s been just fine here. This has been great.”
* Chris Fowler, who called the play-by-play action for ESPN, added insight on the big game’s ambience. “It’s much more collegiate than corporate,” observed Fowler. Good.
* My favorite media shot from ESPN’s pre-game coverage was its nightly analysis at Curtis Hixon Park–with the well-illuminated minarets of the University of Tampa as a backdrop. Now THAT was awesome.
* For USF men’s basketball, it’s about as bad as it gets. The team hasn’t been winning, attendance is bad, head coach Orlando Antigua has been fired and the university is in the crosshairs of an ongoing NCAA probe–reportedly for potential academic violations. It’s a worst-case scenario. Typically teams under NCAA investigation are at least winning–and the downside is the manner in which they’re doing it. This is a lose-lose scenario.