ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips sat courtside for Clemson's NCAA Tournament opener against New Mexico on Friday with a striped orange-and-white tie over his shirt and for a significant portion of the first half, Clemson AD Graham Neff “sat right beside him” -- a reminder that, regardless of what is happening in a court of law, the two “remain bedfellows -- at least for now -- on courts of hardwood,” according to Jon Blau of the Charleston POST & COURIER. Clemson last week sued the ACC but has “not given the conference notice it intends to leave for another league,” leaving them still an ACC school. A week featuring Clemson's suit against the ACC, and the ACC's countersuit against Clemson, was “capped by lawyers representing Florida State and the ACC converging in a courtroom in North Carolina.” In Friday's initial hearing, there “were four hours of arguments about jurisdiction” and whether “documents involving broadcast rights between the ACC and ESPN should be unsealed.” Midway through the first half of Clemson-New Mexico, Neff “came to fill" the empty seats between Phillips and Clemson Deputy AD Kevin White. Phillips and Neff “greeted each other,” but they were not “particularly chatty as the game progressed.” Neff “left at halftime,” and he did not “return to that seat beside Phillips for the second half” (Charleston POST & COURIER, 3/23).
LOCKING HORNS: CBSSPORTS.com’s Dennis Dodd wrote Clemson joining Florida State in filing a lawsuit against the ACC this week has “given new life to another potential round of realignment.” If the 'Noles and Tigers are “deemed unworthy” of Big Ten or SEC membership, perhaps "even the Big 12 shows interest.” In December, Dodd wrote that FSU extracting itself from the ACC “felt like a 5-10 year process.” Dodd: “Now, you could perhaps move that timeline up a bit since there are two saber-rattling schools challenging the league. It seems only a matter of time before the three sides come to a negotiated resolution in the nine-figure range.” Dodd wrote it is clear FSU and Clemson “don't want to be in the ACC.” The three parties “will co-exist, but they won't like it.” Now, attention turns to whether the conference's financials “can withstand the heat in the long term” as the league has countersued both schools (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/22).
