Clemson Tigers News: Florida State finally puts their money where their mouth is

Scoreboard

Clemson Women’s Basketball 73, East Tennessee State 50: The Tigers win big against the Buccaneers in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Ruby Whitehorn led the team with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Mackenzie Kramer added 12 points off the bench and went 4-7 from three-point range.

Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Chapel Hill on New Year’s Eve.

Clemson Men’s Basketball 109, Queens 79: The Tigers shook off their first loss of the season and took it out on the Royals.

PJ Hall feasted with 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks. Joe Girard and RJ Godfrey both put 19 points on the board.

Read more from RTR on this game here.

Next up is their final non-conference game against Radford in Littlejohn on December 29th.

Florida State announces intention to sue the ACC

Florida State had rattled its swords quite a bit in the last couple of years but hadn’t taken any substantive action.

Yesterday the FSU Board Of Trustees voted to take matters one step further and took legal action against the league.

Florida State has filed the suit:

"“…against the Atlantic Coast Conference in response to years of mismanagement that has left its member schools trapped in a deteriorating multi-media rights agreement while preventing them from joining other conferences because of “draconian” withdrawal penalties.”"

- FSU Board Of Trustees

Draconian. That’s a fantastic use of vocabulary.

In all seriousness, this will no doubt set a precedent for any other schools in the ACC who would like to find an exit from the Grant Of Rights, and Clemson would be one of them.

One interesting note that has emerged already from this action is that ESPN apparently has an exit from the GOR a lot sooner than the ACC.

This is not unheard of in sports. Players or teams often have an option to execute an extra year on a contract, and the other party has little choice but to honor the decision. This is the first time I have heard of it being part of a television contract, and being for such a long period of time.

It is hard to imagine, however, that ESPN wouldn't execute the final nine years of the ACC contract unless they are simply hemorrhaging money and have to cut expenses. If that were true, it would be one less bidder interested in a TV deal with the conference, so it is still a lose-lose for the ACC.

Maalik Murphy is transferring to an ACC team

Former Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy has announced his new school, and this is a bit of a stunner.

Murphy is coming to the ACC, but not with Florida State, NC State or Miami. He is going to Durham, North Carolina to succeed Riley Leonard as the starting quarterback for the Duke Blue Devils.

It isn’t a surprise that Murphy elected to transfer, with Quin Ewers and Arch Manning in the quarterback room in Texas. To select Duke, however, is a bit of a surprise. I would have to imagine there were other programs with higher visibility and more NIL available.

Manny Diaz might not have seemed like a brilliant fit for the Blue Devils as head coach, but he is making the best of the situation so far.