Two months after his viral NCAA Tournament moment, High Point's Flynn Clayman has built an amazing schedule

High Point upset Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament. Its coach then went viral for a postgame rant on the need for high-major scheduling. It worked.

Matt Norlander

May 14, 2026

10:51 am ET

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7 min read

On March 19, the 12th-seeded High Point Panthers upset the Wisconsin Badgers 83-82 in one of the best games of this year's NCAA Tournament.

Literally seconds after it ended, HPU coach Flynn Clayman did this on national television.

> “Looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors during the season. They said we ain’t played nobody—we played somebody now. Nobody would play us. just like nobody would play Miami Ohio. But they gotta play us in this tournament.”

🗣️🗣️pic.twitter.com/lySuQkyyFk

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 19, 2026

Clayman's sweaty honesty provided a rare, authentic postgame TV moment — and therefore immediately went viral. (It also impressed Charles Barkley, so much so that Clayman and the Chuckster hung out at a cigar lounge at the Final Four.) The win was validation for a High Point program that had just notched its 87th victory in three seasons, making it one of the winningest schools in the sport over that span.

Clayman then brought his blunt energy to a lesser-viewed setting: the postgame press conference. In his opening statement, he hammered home that legitimate point about the lack of nonconference opportunities for most high-end mid-majors.

"It's pretty obvious to me that something needs to be done about this nonconference scheduling," Clayman said. "High Point and Miami Ohio are 2-0 in Quad 1 games. We couldn't get games, they couldn't get games, Akron couldn't get games, UNCW couldn't get games, Belmont couldn't get games. We won 22 of our last 23 games and we didn't move up one spot in the metrics. Not one. ... We've won 25 games by double-digits. That team right there (Wisconsin) is a fantastic team that beat five top-10 teams. If we can get games like this on neutral courts and some home games, I think we'd know whose really the best teams."

The first-year High Point coach was feeling himself, and rightly so. The Wisconsin matchup was only the third time in three years that High Point had an opportunity to face a high-major opponent — with two of those three tilts being mandatory by way of NCAA Tournament inclusion. The lone example of a power-conference school opting into playing High Point in the past three years was Georgia in 2023.

Clayman's hope was that, by pulling a major upset, he could use his newfound pulpit to affect some change for the 2026-27 season and beyond.

That hope has become a reality. The Panthers' high-profile tournament win combined with their coach's widely seen stump speeches have led to one of the stronger mid-major nonconference schedules of the past decade-plus.

In an exclusive to CBS Sports, Clayman revealed High Point's biggest games for the 2026-27 non-league slate. The big get? That coveted slot against a high-major opponent. LSU will be that team; Will Wade signed the contract this week to host the Panthers on Dec. 18, both coaches told CBS Sports.

Why did Wade say yes?

"It's pretty simple: It's a good game," Wade said. "They'll be a Quad 2 game, most likely. It'll be a very tough game for us to win, but those are the types of games you need to schedule in the nonconference. We've always tried to do this, whether it's High Point or Liberty or someone else. We've played Ohio, Belmont in these type of games. I'm glad the dates worked and we could make it happen."

The dates worked because High Point's president and athletic director both permitted Clayman to shift off another game that was previously agreed to on that date. When a power-conference scheduling opportunity arises, you don't hesitate to do everything to make it happen.

"We have great synergy with our president and athletic director down to myself," Clayman said. "In this era of college athletics, you need that to get things done. We had to move stuff around to make this LSU game work. Not every administration is doing it. It's a team effort and I feel really grateful to be here. I know there's a ton of coaches out there that don't get opportunities like this."

While LSU is the headliner, Clayman has parlayed High Point's rise over the past three seasons into a terrific non-league slate. LSU is the biggest get, but there's a mid-major matchup that has the most widespread appeal due to the opponent.

Miami University.

Clayman and Miami coach Travis Steele told CBS Sports that they're in agreement to play next season, but the logistics of when and where still have to be hashed out in the weeks ahead. As for the RedHawks, Steele hasn't been as successful as Clayman in scheduling to this point, which is unfortunate after that once-in-a-lifetime 32-2 season. But he's still reaching out to most power-conference programs.