CLEMSON -- Regardless of where you think college athletics is headed and how justifiably pessimistic that view could be based on various factors, one thing we can probably all agree on:
The view of what portal additions can and can't bring to a locker room and to a culture has been fundamentally reshaped for a lot of us the last few years based on what we have seen.
BECOME A TIGERILLUSTRATED.com SUBSCRIBER!
And what we've seen of late from Jaeden Zackery on the basketball court has provided yet more convincing evidence that the right type of transfers can actually strengthen the fibers that bond a team instead of weakening them.
If you were watching this team early this season, it probably didn't take long for Zackery's presence to resonate.
Resonate is probably not a strong enough term.
Galvanize? Inflame?
Whatever the word, Zackery's style -- a total bulldog on defense at the top, and a bundle of energy and passion on the whole -- instantly told you that this Boston College transfer was a vitally important piece to this team.
It was the same feeling you got a year ago when you got your first glimpse of Joe Girard in Clemson orange instead of Syracuse orange and you saw not just elite long-range shooting but also an emotional investment and commitment that simply can't be faked.
Same deal with Viktor Lakhin, and we could go on.
But let's stick with Zackery here, because you could make a strong argument that he's the team's most valuable player with the Tigers 15-4 overall and 7-1 in the ACC as they prepare for tonight's visit from Syracuse (9-9, 3-4).
Entering the season, it seemed plainly obvious that Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin were this team's best and most valuable players after the departures of PJ Hall, Girard, Jack Clark and RJ Godfrey.
And of course here in late January it would be crazy to say Hunter and Schieffelin aren't enormously important. Of course they are.
But consider what happened last Saturday at Pittsburgh over a fiercely contested 45 minutes of basketball in a forbidding environment.
Schieffelin was an absolute warrior, fighting through back spasms to play 39 minutes while supplying 15 points and 11 rebounds. But he was still less than his full self, and there's little sign of that changing anytime soon.
Hunter was 5-of-9 from 3 and scored a game-high 20 points, including of course the long-range, step-back dagger with 14 seconds left in overtime.
Zackery's line: 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover in 41 minutes.
But it's the hounding defense at the top -- the head of the snake, as opposing coaches have marveled -- that brings Zackery's most vital value.
That's not recorded on a statistics sheet. But it's firmly imprinted in the minds of anyone who watches a Clemson game and is paying even remote attention.
And the biggest beneficiary is Clemson's best player.
Last season, Hunter was largely at the top guarding the opposing team's point guard. And that gets into your legs over the course of the game.
The most impressive thing about Hunter this year is how slow the game looks to him when he's really feeling it.
And how fresh his legs are toward the end of games at money time.
During Clemson's win at Georgia Tech last week, TV color man Terrence Oglesby observed that Zackery has been just as much of a defensive revelation this year as Girard was an offensive revelation last year.
In football terms, the closest comparison might be a defensive tackle that's always in the backfield. Or an elite corner that wipes away the offense's best weapon.
The point here: Zackery's presence makes the opposing quarterback, or point guard, uncomfortable. He gets into their legs and heads. That's a big deal over the course of 40 or more minutes.
Yet it goes so far beyond just the production and impact on the court.
Of course, the operative part of portal acquisitions is what we typed above in the third paragraph: the right type of transfers.
Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!
Certainly there are plenty of cases abroad of the wrong type of transfers.
But here at Clemson, with this basketball program?
It's not just possible for random men from elsewhere to become Clemson men, and quickly.
Zackery is the latest example of it becoming an inescapable reality.
TODAY: BIG DEALS on a ton of Clemson gear at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
(Checkout code: 24SHIP)
