"I'm not in love with their talent." Anonymous coaches dish on the ACC, Big Ten and Mountain West

Part one of Enemy Lines is here. Can you handle the truth?

You signed up for this newsletter because you want inside information from around the world of college basketball. You don’t want cliches. You don’t want faint praise. You don’t want cagey hints. You want the truth.

Can you handle the truth?

If so, read on, because today I am publishing part one of my wildly popular Enemy Lines series. Last week, I spoke with three coaches (both head coaches and assistants) from the ACC, Big Ten and Mountain West and asked them about the top teams in their respective leagues. I granted all of them anonymity so they could speak candidly. If these assessments seem overly harsh, that’s on me. We know these teams are good – that’s why they’re on my list. The point of this exercise is to spy weaknesses and deficiencies, the kind that could send a team home early in the NCAA tournament.

In the coming days, I’ll send you two more reports that cover the rest of the high-major leagues as well as a few top mid-major teams. Here, then, is the first installment of Enemy Lines:

ACC

CLEMSON: “They struggle with athletic teams. They want to be the bully on the block. They’re not shooting it great as a team but they really pound the offensive