Straight Up Sports

SoCon Commissioner Steps Down

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — The Southern Conference announced on Friday that Commissioner Michael “M.C.” Cross, Ph.D., has stepped down, concluding a tenure marked by meaningful growth for the league and its member institutions. Commissioner Cross led the conference through a period of significant growth during his tenure. Highlights included a six-year extension of the SoCon’s media rights…
Clemson Women Announce Non-Conference Slate

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson women’s basketball head coach Shawn Poppie announced the Tigers’ non-conference schedule for the 2026-27 season on Wednesday. THE HIGHLIGHTS Clemson will open the season with a seven-game November homestand at Littlejohn Coliseum, beginning with Radford, ETSU (Thursday, Nov. 5), UNC Greensboro (Sunday, Nov. 8), South Carolina (Thursday, Nov. 12), Stetson (Sunday,…
Clemson Athletes Named to ACC Honor Roll

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference named 383 Clemson student-athletes to the ACC Academic Honor Roll for the 2025-26 academic year, the third-highest total for Clemson in the 27 years of the recognition. The ACC Honor Roll is composed of student-athletes who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a grade point average of…
Clemson Basketball Gets Strange Win in Italy

The Clemson men’s basketball team picked up a crazy win in its first game of its Italy Tour on Wednesday. The Tigers beat BC Silute of Lithuania 40-35 at the Stella Azzurra Sport Complex in Rome, Italy. The game was called by the officials with 8:23 remaining in the fourth period. The officials called the…
SEC Wants PCSA Passed, but Not in Current Form

While football is the main point of this week’s SEC Media Days in Tampa, Fla., a majority of the conversations with its commissioner has been about the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA). The PCSA is a bipartisan bill aimed at stabilizing collegiate athletics by establishing a unified national framework for athlete compensation, transfers, athlete eligibility…
Conference naming rights for sale, will ACC decide to cash in?

Between the army of internet trolls and AI, it’s tough to tell what’s real and what’s not real on social media these days. So, it’s understandable that when I first heard this news report, I immediately blew it off as a phony. But believe it or not, it’s legit. On Tuesday, the Big 12 announced…
Clark is WNBA’s meal ticket, even if league doesn’t realize it yet

Caitlin Clark has been in the news and the subject of countless social media debates lately. That’s nothing out of the ordinary. Except that this time, the discussion isn’t about her trademark logo 3-pointers or her amazing court vision and passing. An incident in which Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas landed a fist to Clark’s throat during…
The ‘other’ Boozer helps deliver another ACC title for Duke

CHARLOTTE – With a player named Boozer leading the way, Duke beat Virginia 74-70 on Saturday to win its record 24th ACC Tournament championship and third in four seasons since Mike Krzyzewski passed the torch to his successor Jon Scheyer. Just as expected. Well, sort of. Cameron Boozer did hit the clinching free throws in…
Clemson’s Certa is Not ‘Gun Shy’

When Clemson made its run to the Elite Eight back in 2024, one of the reasons why they got there came from a sharpshooter from Glens Falls, N.Y. Glens Falls is not the place you think of when looking for a guy with dead stroke accuracy from the outside, but Joe Girard III was not…