CLEMSON, S.C. — The storylines for the Clemson regional are more extensive than the usual regional.
Coastal Carolina and Vanderbilt play the first game of the regional at noon. It features the legendary Gary Gilmore who is retiring at the end of the season after 29 seasons in charge of the Chanticleer program. Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin is a former Clemson assistant under Jack Leggett and one of his former Vandy assistants is current Clemson head coach Erik Bakich.
But for Clemson's second year head coach, his only focus is on the regional opponent, High Point.
One has to figure the pain and disappointment of last year's regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium is still in the memory bank. As is the case this year, the Tigers were a top eight national seed but unlike this year, in 2023 Clemson was one of the hottest teams coming into the regional after having won the ACC Tournament. But the Tigers hit a wall and ended up stumbling against Tennessee and Charlotte.
So as the Tigers prepare to face the Big South champions, Bakich is expecting nothing less than a battle against the Panthers who as a four seed, will be the underdog against the Tigers but in this day and age of parity in the game, it is not a shock to see a four-seed beat a one. Bakich only hopes his team is not the latest of that parity.