Clemson Guard T.J. Sapp Transferring

Coach Brownell announced this afternoon that T.J. Sapp is transferring from Clemson. While I'm not shocked to see him go, I am shocked to see him leave after just 7 games. Sapp has started all 7 games for the Tigers so far this season, but was pulled from the South Carolina game less than a minute in after he threw up an ill-advised 3 early in the shot clock. Damarcus Harrison and Adonis Filer shared his minutes and more than filled Sapp's production.

Brownell stated that Sapp was looking to get 30 mins/game, which quite frankly wasn't going to happen with a 5-man backcourt rotation. I don't doubt that Sapp said that Brownell, but I imagine that desire came to surface after Sapp confronted Brownell following his quick hook from the South Carolina game.

Sapp was supposed to come to Clemson and provide outside shooting, yet he hadn't done so in his 1+ years on campus. He's not a very good defensive player, doesn't attack the basket much, and is not the type of playmaker that sets up his teammates. So without his outside shot, he doesn't bring much to the table. However, with Devin Coleman already out for the year with a torn achilles, depth can quickly become an issue if another player is lost to injury. I believe that Hall, Sapp, Harrison, and Roper are all more productive players at this point, but an injury to any of them could be devastating.

This opens up another scholarship for the 2012 recruiting class. Clemson is in desperate need of adding another big man, as we will only have Bernard Sullivan (undersized, under productive), Nnoko (raw), and Josh Smith (raw, undersized) on scholarship for the 2013-2014 season. That is quite simply not going to get it done in the ACC.

T.J. Sapp has never gotten into trouble while at Clemson, and by all account had been a good teammate up until this point. We wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up.