MEMPHIS — As viewers from across the country have tuned in to watch the NCAA tournament, Clemson games have left them asking one question.
What's with the chef hats?
Not atop the players' heads, obviously. But these tall, white, slightly grooved cylinders have found a place atop the heads of the Clemson band, piquing the interest of those who are unfamiliar with the the hats' very obvious backstory.
Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin, pronounced Chef-Lin, has been granted the nickname "Schief" by the Tiger faithful.
The 6-foot-8, 238-pound forward, who probably looks more like an Average Joe than any other player on the Tigers' squad, has become a fan favorite for operating as a scrappy "glue" guy in the paint.
At the Louisville game in late January, Schieffelin first noticed a few students wearing the "Schief" hats atop their heads. But it wasn't really until Clemson's next home game, Feb. 3 against Virginia, that the student section started wearing the chef hats (known in France as the "Toque Blanche"), distributed by Clemson as a promotion, en masse.
"People just started calling me Schief," said Schieffelin, who was actually called "John Wick", for his thick black hair, by high school teammates. "You start seeing somebody wearing a chef hat, I kind of assumed it was for myself."
Schieffelin's success, averaging 9.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, and voted the ACC's most improved player, probably contributed to the chef hats becoming a fixture. Because, as the kids like to say when someone is achieving something special, "Let him cook."
"Schief" has been cooking so far in the NCAA tournament, notching a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds in the Tigers' first-round win over New Mexico. The junior forward followed that with 11 points and six rebounds versus Baylor as Clemson advanced to the Sweet 16.
As his All-ACC front court mate, PJ Hall, sat on the bench with foul trouble, Schieffelin hit a couple of clutch shots versus Baylor, including one where he flipped the basketball over his own head and in as he was being fouled.
"I was on the ground and looked up and it went in," Schieffelin said. "If I took that 10 more times, I don't know if I make it. But it went in when it mattered."
Clemson's promotional team has distributed hundreds of chef hats this season, and, undoubtedly, they will be atop the heads of many more Tiger fans when they play in Los Angeles in the Sweet 16 this week.
