The matchups for the ACC / B1G Challenge were announced yesterday. The matchup that we all care about pits a rebuilding Purdue team against a rebuilding Clemson team. Purdue, coming off a 22-13 (10-8 B1G) season in which they lost a very close game in the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament, must replace its top 2 scorers in Robbie Hummel and Lewis Jackson. Purdue's 4th best scorer, sharpshooter Ryne Smith is also gone.

Purdue is will be undergoing the same type of turnover that our Tigers will be facing next year without Andre Young and Tanner Smith. Unfortunately for Clemson, Purdue is rebuilding from a better place, as they've been a consistent tournament team, while the Tigers are coming off a postseason-less season.

With the game at LittleJohn, the Tigers will have an opportunity to pick up a resume building out of conference victory. I'm not sure at this point who will be favored, but I'd think it'd be close to a pick 'em. As we've stated numerous times, the hopeful development of veterans Devin Booker and Milton Jennings, along with the continued progression of sophomores-to-be KJ McDaniels and Devin Coleman is the key to this team.

Booker and Jennings need to have their heads on straight on show up on a consistent basis night in and night out. This team doesn't have the depth to pick them up when they don't feel like putting in the effort.

McDaniels and Coleman have shown flashes of being big time talents, but their roles and playing time were limited. How will they respond when they are called on to be the go to guys?

Here's the rest of schedule followed by my quick thoughts.

Tue, Nov 27

North Carolina at Indiana

NC State at Michigan

Minnesota at Florida State

Maryland at Northwestern

Iowa at Virginia Tech

Nebraska at Wake Forest

Wed, Nov 28

Ohio State at Duke

Virginia at Wisconsin

Michigan State at Miami

Purdue at Clemson

Georgia Tech at Illinois

Boston College at Penn State

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Clemson Tigers (16-15, 8-8 ACC, 0-1 ACCT)

Snapped a streak of 5 straight year of at least 20 Ws, which had been the longest in school history.

Kenpom Ranking: 75th; RPI: 146

ACC Finish: 7th; exactly where the ACC Media picked us.

The Clemson Tigers came into the 2011-2012 season with a number of questions marks, which we touched on in our 2010-2011 season review post as well as in our 2011-2012 season preview post. Replacing our two best players was never going to be easy. But trying to replace them with true freshmen was bound to make the task that much tougher.

In order to ease the pressure on the freshmen we needed Devin Booker and Milton Jennings to step up their games. Everyone knew what they were going to get with Tanner Smith and Andre Young, but the hope was that the highly regarded juniors would take a giant leap now that their roles were going to be expanded. This did not happen early in the season and the results showed. Clemson suffered embarrassing losses to Charleston, Coastal Carolina, and South Carolina. All were close games, all winnable at the end, but without a go-to scorer we struggled to close out ball games.

Clemson continued their lackluster results early in ACC play. They started 1-3 with a bad loss to a very young BC team. There wasn't much improvement during the next quarter of conference play, going 2-3 over their next 5 to move to 3-6 in the ACC. Then the Milton Jennings suspension happened. Guys started playing harder for each other, understanding their roles, and doing whatever it took to win ball games. Milton came back after a couple games and played his best basketball of the season. The Tigers went 5-2 in their last 7 to finish 8-8, which was good for 7th place in the conference. Unfortunately in the ACC tournament we drew a tough Virginia Tech team instead of a Wake Forest team that we would've blasted. The result was yet another close defeat.

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Rick Ray, Clemson basketball's Associate Head Coach and top assistant, is making the big jump from a top assistant to head coach at Mississippi State. The fact that he is leaving Clemson is not a major surprise. He received a lot of interest last offseason from smaller schools and it was expected that he'd eventually take a head coaching job in the near future. It is, however, a bit surprising that he landed big time gig in the SEC. It's also interesting that Clemson tried to hire Rick Stansbury 2 years ago from Mississippi State, and now Mississippi State is stealing our top assistant.

Ray worked primarily with developing our backcourt players. He helped turn Demontez Stitt from a sporadic talent into an All-ACC performer. Andre Young and Tanner Smith also developed nicely over the past 2 years under Ray's watch. Aside from being regarded as a good teacher of fundamentals, Ray was regarded as the best recruiter on the staff. He nabbed TJ Sapp and Bernard Sullivan in the 2011 cycle.

Although losing Ray may hurt a little, Brownell more than likely has had a mitigation plan in place, as he's been aware of Ray's intentions since he got here. The twitter world has already started floating rumors of possible replacements. Several interested candidates have reportedly already contacted Brad Brownell. Rather than speculate on who Brownell my bring in, we'll be in wait-and-see mode and provide our analysis after the hire is made.

The ACC Tournament kicks off today. The Tigers know going into this tournament that their only shot at the NCAA tournament is to make a miraculous run to the title. Here is the schedule of today's game:

8 Maryland vs 9 Wake Forest @ Noon

5 NC State vs 12 Boston College @ 2:30

7 Clemson vs 10 Virginia Tech @ 7:00

6 Miami vs Georgia Tech @ 9:30

Clemson was unfortunate to get Virginia Tech for a 3rd time this season. Each of the previous 2 games came down to the wire with each team winning at home. I expect much of the same in tonight's game. If Virginia Tech had been lucky enough to pull off a win at home against NC State the last game of the season then we would've been fortunate to face Wake Forest for a 3rd time. The same Wake Forest team that we blew out twice already this season. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, Virginia Tech is a superior team to Wake Forest. But an early season blunder down in Winston Salem cost Virginia Tech the tiebreaker. So here we are.

Just because this tournament is ACC title or bust as far as the NCAA tournament goes, the NIT is still a realistic option. I've seen mock NIT brackets that put Clemson in the tournament, but I've seen more that put Clemson on the outside looking in. Fortunate for Clemson I've seen many that actually include Virginia Tech in the tournament, so picking up a win over VT and taking the season series 2-1 would go along way towards pushing VT out and nuzzling our way in. I think it's far from a done deal that if we beat VT that we'd be in, but lets at least start there and see what happens. As you may already be aware, the post season tournaments have expanded greatly over the years, so there's always a chance at one of the less prestigious CBI or CIT tournaments. However, those tournaments get a lot less air time than the NIT and usually select more mid majors than the big name schools.

Back to the ACC tournament. We ended up on Duke's side of the bracket. After watching UNC turn it on late in the year and completely demolish Duke the last game of the season, if we can get past VT I'd much rather face Duke than UNC. While Duke is a good team, I think they are far from elite. They rely way too much on their outside shot and have struggled defensively all year. I'm not saying we are going to knock them off. But they are more susceptible to an upset than UNC, in my opinion. That's also a healthy tidbit when you fill out your NCAA brackets this year....beware of sending Duke too far. Depending on the matchup I think they could be a 2nd round or Sweet 16 casualty.

As for tonight's game, the key is to control Erick Green. As he goes VT goes. VT, much like most non-elite teams, lack an inside scoring presence. They do have perimeter scoring threats though, led by Green. It will be interesting to see how Brad Brownell chooses to defend him. He is a good tough shot maker. His shooting stroke comes from way behind his head, so it's difficult to disrupt or block. As long as Marquis Rankin isn't on the court I don't think Brownell has any option but to put Young on Green. The key is for Young to get up in Green's shorts and keep him from getting into his shooting motion.

A lot of people like VT to steal this win tonight. However, Clemson should have more motivation, as it looked like VT had all but packed it in against NC State in their last game. Either way, I expect a very competitive game. The team that executes down the stretch and knocks down their free throws will come out victorious. Lets hope it's the good guys.

Let me first say that Florida State is a very good basketball team and I didn't expect to go into their house and come out victorious. Having said that, I came away from that game frustrated because we had an opportunity to win. That was the worst defensive performance I've seen from FSU this year, but we couldn't capitalize because of our porous perimeter defense.

FSU finished the game 11-19 from 3-point land and at one point were 8-11 from deep. Credit to FSU for knocking down the shots, but Clemson's defenders were giving them wide open looks. When playing defense you must always see your man and the ball. It's the first team defense fundamental that is taught. Too many times our defenders got caught watching the ball and lost track of their man. Other times we would collapse our defense to help on a benign penetrator (Jeff Petersen) and leave Michael Snaer or Ian Miller wide open. Our defenders need to be smarter and recognize who they are guarding and who is penetrating. Stay at home and make Petersen make a play.

Despite FSU's hot shooting, Clemson was able to trim a 16 point halftime deficit to single digits with just under 13 minutes to go. The Tigers were able to make a valiant run at 'em in the last 2 minutes, almost stealing a victory. But it was lost opportunities at other points in the 2nd half that allowed FSU to keep Clemson at arms length. And these key plays are what has me left feeling like we let an opportunity get away.

• Poor shot selection - Booker and Jennings forced tough jump shots out of the rhythm of the offense on key possessions
• Unforced turnovers - There were several possessions when our guys simply weren't on the same page and threw the ball away. Devin Coleman's pass to the Tigers' bench and Andre Young and Tanner Smith's backcourt violation coming out of a timeout are just a couple that come to mind.
• Lane violations - We had two separate line violations. The first one didn't end up costing us, but the 2nd did. Bernard James missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but a lane violation gave him another opportunity. He converted by knocking down both shots.
• Fighting teammates for rebounds - On the possession following James' free throws, FSU missed a 3-point attempt. Two Clemson players were in position to secure the rebound, but they ended up fighting each other for the ball and knocked it out of bounds. On the ensuing inbounds play Snaer knocked down a 3.

If you're looking for the bright spot in this loss it's obviously the play of the freshmen. KJ McDaniels had a stellar performance. He had a career high in both points and rebounds. He finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds (7 offensive!), 4 steals, 2 blocks, and several ferocious jams. The guy has star written all over him. Those that were concerned about his defense shouldn't be after watching this game. He has lock down defender potential with his athleticism and wingspan. Not to mention that he is already a great help-side shot blocker.

Now that I'm done gushing over McDaniels, I need to give props to Devin Coleman. If you look at the box score his numbers don't jump out at you (9 points, 4-11 FG). But if you watched the game you noticed his contributions. I've been skeptical about him because of his jumpshot, but if you look past that part of his game, you start to realize he does a lot of other good things. He is good at getting to the rim, he shoots a nice mid range jumper, and he has better vision than I've given him credit for in the past.

Losing Andre and Tanner after this year is gonna be tough to replace, but the freshmen have given us something to be optimistic and excited about next year. This year's team played a lot of young guys and started the year slowly as a result. But we've been playing our best basketball the last 12 games of the year. I'm not sure whether we'll get into the NIT or not, but a win or two in the ACC tournament can't hurt our chances.

Mark Gottfried replaced Sidney Lowe after an extremely disappointing 5 year stint. Sidney Lowe was a terrible head coach. His teams looked like they were playing streetball. There was absolutely no cohesion. But the one thing Sidney Lowe was able to do during his time in Raleigh was stockpile talent. Even after losing their starting PG to transfer (Ryan Harrow) and top post player to graduation (Tracy Smith), NC State still sports a starting 5 with NCAA Tournament caliber talent. And don't expect that talent to drop off anytime soon because Gottfried is a very good recruiter. NC State has the #7 ranked 2012 recruiting class in the country.

The Wolfpack have a very balanced scoring attack with 5 players averaging in double figures, ranging from 13.8 to 11 ppg. CJ Leslie is the leading scorer. The sophomore forward is very talented and athletic. His on court attitude seems to have changed under Gottfried and his motor is running better as a result. He has the versatility to play some on the wing, but is primarily a 4. He uses his athleticism to make up for his lack of bulk (listed 6'8 and 208 lbs). He seems like he is on a pogo stick because he is so quick off the floor.

Lorenzo Brown made the transition from 2-guard to PG when Harrow left for Kentucky. I wasn't sure how that would turn out because he seemed like a natural 2, but he's actually done very well play PG. He averages 12.3 ppg and 6.4 assists per game. I am surprised by how well he distributes it, but he does a very good job of keep his head up on dribble drives. Watching Brown play, he almost lulls you to sleep. He tends to coast at half speed, and just when you become complacent he turns on another gear and will blow by you.

I tend to preview at least 3 guys on the opposing team whenever I do a preview. I thought about Scott Wood as the 3rd guy for this week, but I don't think what he does is a mystery. He's sharpshooter from distance. There isn't much else. Therefore, I'd like to present to you Richard Howell. The guy is a monster on backboards. He pulls down 9.3 rpg while also scoring 11 ppg. He is 3rd in the conference in defensive rebound pct and 4th in the conference in offensive rebound pct. Booker has to get a body on him and keep him for getting underneath the hoop. Howell isn't a jumper in the same way Booker is, but he is old school in the way that he is able to use his body to get optimal position. Clemson has struggled at times clearing the defensive glass and I'd be lying if I said that Howell didn't worry me. 2nd chance opportunities are the best way to get open looks. And with Scott Wood looming around the perimeter, Howell could provide a back breaker.

As good as NC State has been this year, I actually feel relatively confident. We've played well on our home court. And although NC State has a talent advantage, they aren't a very deep team. They only go 7 deep. At the end of the game Clemson should have fresher legs.

Game starts at 2:30 on the ACC Network.

Here's what I had to say last time Clemson played GT. Not a lot has changed since that game. GT is still in the cellar in the conference while Clemson sits in a 7th place tie (although Maryland holds the tiebreaker). As of today, that'd put Clemson in the 8/9 game in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament with a matchup against Virginia Tech. If we can somehow get the 7th seed, as it stands today, that'd match us up with Wake Forest. We've already beat Wake Forest twice this year, but we lost at Virginia Tech. That makes tonight's game with Georgia Tech that much more important.

While not much has changed in the standings between the two teams since the last time they met, the biggest development heading into this game is the suspension of Glen Rice Jr. Rice was suspended indefinitely for undisclosed reasons prior to their last game against VT. Rice is GT's leading scorer and rebounder. However, without him in the lineup in Blacksburg, GT gave VT all they could handle, losing on a last second OT 3-pointer by Dorenzo Hudson. It was a game that GT should've won.

If Clemson thinks they are going to go down to Atlanta and have the game handed to them, GT will pull off the upset. I don't think that will happen though. Brownell has had his troops ready to play since conference games started. The only blowout loss we've suffered in conference play was at UNC against a much more talented team. And even in that game we were still in it midway through the 2nd half.

The key to this game is going to be finding a complimentary scorer. We know Andre Young is going to get his. He's been in double figures in 13 of the past 15 games. He has an offensive rating of 119 on the year, which is good for 7th in the conference. Who's gonna help him out?

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I don't know if there is much to analysis needed for a game like this. Clemson rolled into Chapel Hill as huge underdogs (-12) against one of the most talented teams in the country and weren't able to cover. It's really quite simple. Clemson isn't going to break their losing streak in Chapel Hill until they start pulling in talent that is comparable to UNC. Right now the talent gap is just too wide. Player development is crucial, but we've gotta close the talent gap in recruiting first and foremost.

UNC's starting five consists of three 5 star recruits and two 4 star guys. Tyler Zeller was the lowest ranked recruit at #33 in his class. They are long, athletic, and have firepower across the board offensively. They can have an off game and still win easily, like they did tonight.

I'd like to be able sit here and tell you that we didn't execute well, or that we were out of position defensively, or that we were out coached. That'd give us hope that these are things that can be corrected. But I'd be lying. It comes down to talent. And right now they have it and we don't.

On to the game....Andre Young was the only Clemson player in double figures, finishing with 13 points. The guy plays his heart out and does all he can to score for this team. But the lack of complimentary scorers is very disturbing. I don't want to have to keep singling out one player, but Clemson needs considerably more production from the Small Forward position. Bryan Narcisse played 17 minutes and finished with 0 points, 0 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. KJ McDaniels played 15 minutes and finished with 4, 1, 0, 0. Small forwards should be giving a team much more production than this. It usually takes big men time to develop, so you may see a lack of production at the 4 and 5 spot at times. But SF's should be able to produce night in and night out at this level.

We're off to Atlanta to play GT on Tuesday. Right now we're fighting for postseason eligibility. Finishing at .500 or better gives us a chance. We gotta bounce back from this loss and show up to play at GT.

I'll be damned. That's how you finish off a close basketball game. Behind a suffocating defense and the combo of Devin Booker and Tanner Smtih stepping up offensively down the stretch, Clemson was able to close out a tight game for what seems like the first time all year.

Behind 11 points from Andre Young, Clemson headed into the break knotted at 24. We came out in the second half and grabbed the lead 2 minutes in on a Devin Coleman jumper. It was a lead that we wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. In a low possession game against two teams that play at a snails pace, you'd expect the game to always be within reach for both teams. But even with UVA trailing by only single digits for the majority of the second half, Clemson seemed to have a firm grasp on this game. And the reason for that is that Clemson's defense was not giving up any easy baskets and wasn't sending UVA to the foul line (1-1 from the line). With Joe Harris limited due to a hand injury, UVA's lack of alternate scoring threats became a glaring weakness.

Clemson has now beat FSU and UVA at home this season. The Tigers clearly play like a different team in front of the home crowd. As satisfied with the win as I am, I do have to question whether Brad Brownell has the freshmen draw straws for playing time. It seems completely random with the amount of PT these guys get. Bernard Sullivan and KJ McDaniels put together a couple of solid games, and now they barely see the court. TJ Sapp used to be a starter, but played just 1 minute in this game. Devin Coleman, who was the low man on the totem pole for most of the year, is now getting the most run out of all the freshmen. Winning is what's important, but I'm a little concerned that some of these freshmen are going to have their confidence shattered with the way he is shuffling the lineups.

Clemson now sits at 5-6 in the conference. With games left @ GT and home against VT, 7 wins is definitely not out of the realm of possibilities. I think all of us would consider that an achievement considering how bad we looked during losses to C of C, Coastal Carolina, and Sakerlina.

And lastly, Rod Hall can throw it down! Damn....I didn't see that coming. He has a lot more bounce than I thought.

I restructured my expectations for 6-10 in the ACC. Maybe that was wishful thinking, but at 3-3 I thought finishing the year 3-7 was realistic. Winning at Wake is key if Clemson is going to have a chance at 6 wins this season.

Lets go Tigers!

Drop your comments here throughout the game.

Clemson took care of business at home against Wake Forest earlier this year, 71-60. Wake is an improved team from last year, but that's not saying much, as last year they were one of the worst teams in ACC history. They do have some firepower on their team this year. The thing that is really holding them back is a 3rd scorer and depth off their bench. They are led by CJ Harris and Travis McKie (pronounced Mck-EYE). These two guys carry the scoring load night in and night out and are the only 2 Wake players averaging in double figures.

McKie was a super frosh last year and arguably their best player even as a freshmen. He has continued playing solid basketball this year, averaging 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The only thing overshadowing his play this year is the excellent play of Harris. Harris has transformed himself from a streaky shooter that shot just 38% from the field and 32% from 3 in his first 2 years, into one of the best shooters in the conference. He's shooting 49% from the field, a ridiculous 46% from 3, and 83% at the foul line. If Clemson is going to win in Winston Salem, making these guys take a ton of shots to get their points will be objective number 1.

Keeping one of the role players from going off is objective number 2. The leader of the second tier players is Tony Chennault. He's a strong, quick, tough point guard out of Philadelphia, PA. He is a good player, but is limited due to his lack of outside shot. He shot 14% from 3 last year and is shooting just 28% this year. He shoots just 1.5 3's per game, and that is out of necessity to try to keep the defense honest. Our guards should not run out on him. Sag off of him, give help on Harris and McKie, and let him shoot it.

From Clemson's perspective, the Tigers have to get off to a better start. They have been doomed recently by poor starts, only to bounce back late and make the game competitive. I don't know what Brownell is going to do to try to get this team going, but he's gotta try something. I'd either tweak the starting lineup and go with a more athletic group of Young, Smith, McDaniels, Jennings, Booker, or I'd change up defenses early and often. We've seen over the last couple games that teams aren't prepared for anything other than our standard man-to-man. If Brownell were to mix in some of the zone press from the Virginia Tech game and the 1-3-1 zone from the Maryland game, it could potentially lead to turnovers, easy points, and more energy. Easy baskets are key for a team like Clemson that struggles to score in halfcourt sets. The last thing I want to see is us falling by double digits in the early going again.

Sitting at 3-6 in the conference, winning at 2-7 Wake Forest is a must. There is a logjam at the bottom of the ACC standings with six teams sitting with between 2 and 4 wins. We've gotta beat up on the bottom half to improve our tournament seed.

Clemson is 3.5 point favorites. The game tips at 4:00PM on RSN.

Free Throws. Free Throws. Free Throws. They cost us again. There isn't much to be said about them that hasn't been said already. We've consistently missed them at crucial times all season. Hence the number of close losses that we've suffered this year. And it doesn't seem to matter if it's a freshmen or a senior. They're all missing them. It looks to me like our guys don't want to be on the line in pressure situations. Just look at Terrell Stoglin's body language compared to our guys when they head to the line.

It was a sloppy game that lacked flow throughout most of the game. Clemson again found themselves in a double digit deficit in the 2nd half. And they again found themselves making a furious rally in the final minutes to get back in the game. Last game it was aided by a zone press, this game it was aided by an extended 1-3-1 halfcourt trap. Switching from man-to-man to a 1-3-1, we were able to force the ball into troubled spots on the floor and produce a number of turnovers and rushed shots. The sped up pace of the game seemed to energize our guys for the second game in a row. Maybe we should start integrating different defenses earlier in the game in hopes to mitigate the flat starts we've had recently.

Behind the 1-3-1 trap, the Tigers quickly trimmed a 14 point deficit to a one possession game. With under a minute to go the Tigers got tight at the foul line and missed 4 out of 5 attempts from the line. Devin Booker missed 2 that could've cut a 3 point lead to 1. That was followed by Andre Young drawing a foul on a 3-point attempt, only to miss 2 of 3. There was something in the way both guys walked to the line that left me uneasy about their chances. Or maybe it's the fact that I've seen us struggle in clutch situations so often this year. At this point, its difficult to distinguish between the two.

Young, Jennings, and Booker were the only Tigers in double figures. Young and Jennings both got hot in the 2nd half from downtown, knocking down seven 3's. It was Jennings first game back from suspension, and although he still does many things that infuriate me, I thought he shot the ball with confidence and was generally pleased with his performance. I'd also like to point out that Booker is playing with a lot more confidence and energy the past couple games than he has at any other point this season. For as much as we ride him for being lazy, he has been busting his ass to on the backboards the last couple games. I believe that Jennings suspension may have had an impact on him. It seems it may have made him realize that this should be his team and that he needs to take ownership of it on game days. We'll see if he can sustain it, but in the mean time it's only fair to give credit where credit is due.

The most disappointing part of the game to me (besides losing) was that KJ McDaniels didn't get the start or as much run as I think he deserved after his tremendous game on Saturday. I think the worst thing you can do to a young guy is toy with his confidence level. After the way he played on Saturday, Brownell should've tried to keep the momentum going. Instead, he was subbed in and out frequently and was never able to get in a flow. He ended the game with just 2 points.

After evening their record at 3-3 in the ACC, the Tigers have now dropped 3 straight. They'll look to break that streak this weekend in Winston Salem when they take on Wake Forest.

The difference in this game was the first 10 minutes. Clemson was run off the court in the first 10 minutes of play, managing a measly 9 points in those first 10 minutes. That led to a 14 deficit just a quarter of the way through. Virginia Tech would take that difference into the locker room at halftime with a 42-26 lead. It’s hard enough to win on the road in conference play, but digging yourself an early hole is almost impossible to get out of.

In the 2^nd half the Hokies were able to keep Clemson at arms length for the majority of the half. Every time it looked like we were going to make a run, they’d come back with a bucket. Dorian Finney-Smith made several clutch shots, which was surprising considering he was 0 for his last 24 attempts from the field coming into this game.

At the 4 minute mark we made our last run, sparked by an excellent follow-up and-one by freshman Bernard Sullivan. I can’t say enough about the effort and the heart our guys showed down the stretch. Booker, Smith, Sullivan, Young, and McDaniels was the lineup that was leading the charge. Brownell showed a full court press defense that sped up VT and forced them into a couple turnovers and bad shots.

With just under 30 seconds left, Victor Davila missed the front end of a 1 and 1, leaving the Tigers down 2 with a chance to tie or take the lead. Brownell let them go initially without a timeout, but as the possession was starting to fall apart he called a timeout with 11 seconds left. Brownell showed tremendous confidence in his freshman and isolated McDaniels at the top of the key. McDaniels made a great move and got to the rim where he was fouled. He missed the first, intentionally missed the 2^nd, where the rebound was tipped out to the corner to Tanner Smith for an open look at the buzzer that just rimmed off.

I feel bad for Kevin McDaniels. He played one helluva game and has to be feeling terrible right now about that one missed free throw. If you’ve never had to shoot free throws with the game on the line, you don’t realize the amount of pressure and nerves that run through you, especially for a freshman on the road in ACC play. The kid has to keep his head up because this loss is definitely not on him.

One of the reasons it’s so hard to win on the road is it’s difficult for the players to maintain their intensity for 40 minutes without the home crowd behind them. That was definitely the case today. Our intensity level in the last 10 minutes was unbelievable and much greater than it was at any previous point during the game. I think playing the more athletic guys like Booker, Sullivan, and McDaniels together helps raise the energy level up. Those guys seem to feed off of each other and really get after it on the backboard.

Here are some more random thoughts I jotted down during today’s game.

• When I talk about Clemson’s defense not being up to snuff compared to last year, I’m referring to 2 things in particular: defensive rebounding and finding shooters in transition. Baciu gets himself out of position on the defensive glass and is too slow to recover. He tries to come over to help, but isn't a shot blocker. At one point in the 2^nd half he grab an uncontested defensive rebound but was slightly off balance and just started walking with the ball. Having a center that cannot rebound is obviously a huge liability. In addition, our guards have mental lapses and completely lose their man, usually the best shooter on the opposing team.
• Brian Narcisse should not be starting. I know we’re thin on talent now and we have 5 freshmen seeing playing time, but he does not bring any redeeming quality to the table for this team. At one point we had Booker, Smith, Hall, Coleman, and Narcisse on the floor. Are you kidding me? That’s playing 2 against 5.
• KJ McDaniels dunks at will. The kid has phenomenal athleticism. And he’s so smooth and under control, unlike someone else that starts at the 3 and is completely out of control. He played a great, great game and will continue to see significant minutes. Clemson fans should be giddy about this kid. His ceiling is ridiculously high.
• Seth Greenberg is still a jerk. Running and shouting at Smith when he is shooting a 3 from the corner is Busch League, especially when you’re up 15 in the first half.

So this week I got an email from a childhood friend who just so happens to write for UVA's SBNation site Streaking The Lawn. Tim and I played sports together growing up and he was always a huge sports fan. I keep up with UVA sports, but when Tim reached out to me I figured his thoughts would probably be more in depth than my own. Therefore, instead of writing a preview for tonight's game at UVA I decided to go with a Q&A. We'll use this article as the gamethread for tonight's game as well.

Head on over to Streaking the Lawn for my responses to his questions.

UVA was expected to be much improved this season, but I didn't expect them to be this good. Have they exceeded your expectations?

They’ve definitely exceeded my expectations. I feel like we’re playing at the level I thought we’d be playing next year. A large part of that has been Mike Scott’s return, obviously. But the way the team has gelled on the defensive end is probably the biggest story. The players clearly understand Bennett’s Pack-Line Defense and they’ve bought into it. We’re holding conference opponents to 51 points per game. As long as we have something resembling a decent offense, we’ll have a chance to win every game this year.

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If Clemson is going to salvage any sort of decency this season, beating GT at home is a must. Georgia Tech heads to Littlejohn Colliseum with a record of 9-10, 1-3. They are fresh off a pasting on their (pseudo) home court at the hands of UVA. UVA is a very good basketball team, but losing by 32 at home is not good.

Brian Gregory is more than halfway through his first season as GT's head man, and it's been a rocky start in what already figured to be a rebuilding year. Gregory comes to GT from Dayton, where he took the Flyers to 2 NCAA tournament appearances in 8 seasons. He is a Tom Izzo disciple. He was an assistant coach under Izzo at Michigan State for 5 years, 3 of which resulted in Final Four appearance (1 National Championship).

GT's best player is Glen Rice Jr. He can shoot from 3, but his forte is really midrange pull up jumpers. He loves to shoot it off the bounce. The key to throwing off a rhythmic shooter is to make him uncomfortable. Don't let him get to his spots on the floor. I'd expect to see Tanner Smith guarding him. Tanner needs to crowd him and be physical with him. If you let him catch it and get a rhythmic dribble into his shot, he'll hurt you.

Junior PG Mfon Udofia is GT's 2nd leading scorer. He was a highly regarded recruit coming out of high school, but hasn't really lived up to that billing thus far. He's not a very good shooter and is left hand dominant. However, he is quick, but that shouldn't bother Andre Young too much since he's as quick as almost anyone in the conference.

In the frontcourt, GT has very good length. Kammeon Holsey is a bouncy PF that seems bigger than his listed 6'8 height. Daniel MIller is a 6'11 shot blocker (2.6 bpg) that could give our undersized frontcourt a bit of trouble (think Henson vs Grant). Neither guys poses much of a threat with their backs to the basket, so it will be important to clear the defensive glass and not let these guys get any easy points.

The last guy to keep an eye on is Jason Morris. He was another highly regarded 4-star coming out of high school. He was supposed to be a shooter, but has struggled with his shot so far this year (30% from 3). I'm not counting him out though, since Malcolm Grant was struggling with his shot until he got out of his slump against a soft Clemson perimeter defense.

This is a game we as fans should expect to win. Lets go out and avenge our football team's beatdown at GT.

I'm not sure how this is possible, but ESPN3 blacked out the game where I live, yet I couldn't watch it on TV either. Instead, RSN was broadcasting the 1-12 Washington Wizards. Forced to choose between the Wizards or following a gamecast for 2 hours, I decided to follow the gamecast for 2 hours.

My thoughts and opinions are strictly based on what the gamecast has told me, so if I'm wrong I plead ignorance. Please feel free to fill me in on anything I may miss.

Tanner Smith owned the first half for Clemson. He was absolutely on fire and finished the first half with 18 of Clemson's 39 first half points. Unfortunately he didn't receive much help from his supporting cast and our defensive effort was atrocious. F1NS' comment after last game, where he said we can't seem to get multiple guys hot at the same time is very true. If Tanner is feeling it, it seems like Andre Young is off. If Jennings sneaks up on us and has a good game, Tanner is off.

In the second half, the good Tanner cooled off and turnover Tanner came out. He finished the game with 6 turnovers, of which 5 came in the 2nd half.

This loss does not fall on the offense, though, from what I read. Yes, we could've shot better from the foul line and from behind the arc, but we put up 73 points while shooting 48% from the field. We had 4 guys score in double figures, with Tanner leading the way with 23 points.

What hurt us in this game was our defense. We allowed Miami to shoot 51% from the field and 45% from behind the arc. Miami was also able to knock down 13-14 free throws. Malcolm Grant got out of his slump, just as Category 6 had predicted, leading Miami with 16 points. This is not the same defensive team we saw lock people down defensively last year. I may not have been able to watch this game, but I've seen enough this year to know that our perimeter defense is soft and we lack a shot blocking presence to mask this deficiency.

It's tough to win on the road, especially in conference play. Losing to Miami by 3 isn't a terrible loss by any means. Miami is a more talented team than Clemson. I believe 4 out of their 5 starters would be starting for Clemson right now. So losing on the road at Miami doesn't surprise me. However, I'd like to be able to stop using the lack of talent excuse after every loss and instead praise these guys for winning with effort and smart play. The FSU game gave us a false sense of hope, which makes this losing streak tougher to swallow.

Also, can we get more KJ McDaniel? Please??

I'd love to hear the thoughts of people that were actually able to watch the game...

Clemson looks to move to 2-0 in the conference against BC, after a sluggish (to say the least) start to the season in non-conference play. BC (5-10, 0-1) comes into the game with a resume that includes losses to Rhode Island (3-14), Boston U (6-11) by 14, and Holy Cross (8-8) by 22, just to name a few. Their signature win on the season, I think, would have to be considered beating Stony Brook at home. Yeah, it's been that ugly.

Boston College is in a major rebuilding phase. They were forced to overhaul their entire roster with freshmen due to graduation, transfers, and Reggie Jackson leaving early for the NBA. They brought in 9 freshmen in their 2011 recruiting class. As a result, these guys aren't getting a chance to learn from veterans. They've been thrown right into the fire. Against UNC the last time out, their entire starting 5 consisted of freshmen. Out of the 9 players that average double digit minutes, 6 of them are freshmen,

BC is not likely to start bringing in top 25 recruiting classes any time soon. However, their 2011 class was a pretty good class for BC in terms of talent and needs. They brought in a lot of size with 2 power forwards and 2 centers.

One of those PF, Ryan Anderson (9.7 ppg), was the most heralded of the BC recruits. He's 6'8 and plays a face-up 4, with range out to the 3-point line. They also brought in a talented German named Patrick Heckman who flew under the radar on the recruiting sites because of where he hails from. Heckman has good size (6'5) for a 2-guard and is shooting 46% from the field. He leads the team at scoring at just over 11 ppg.

Although it's a road game, this is a team that Clemson out-talents and out-experiences by a wide margin. BC is one of the friendliest venues to travel to in the ACC for opposing teams. With BC being as bad as they've been, the stadium should be a quarter full. Coming off a big win over FSU this past weekend, Clemson should come into this matchup with confidence. As long as Brownell can light a fire under their asses and get them to play with urgency and energy early, Clemson should be able to walk out of Chestnut Hill with a W and a 2-0 start in ACC play.

Before the season began, I put forth what I believed were moderate expectations for this season. I knew two things definitively going into the season: 1) Clemson lost its two best players from last season and 2) the ACC is still way down, maybe more so than the 2010-2011 season. I thought if we could play hard-nosed defense like last year, knock down enough open jumpers, and get steady improvement from Milton Jennings and Devin Booker that we’d mitigate the losses of Grant and Stitt and be able to finish around 8-8 in the ACC. 8-8 in a down ACC where Duke and UNC are going to be in the 14-2/13-3 range would be good enough for a 4th-7th place finish depending on how things shake out.

Well after watching the first half of the season, which includes bad losses to Coastal Carolina, South Carolina, UTEP, and Hawaii, we're going to have to readjust our expectations. Out of those four teams, Coastal Carolina has the best RPI at #146. Sitting at 8-6 heading into ACC play is very disappointing. Even in a rebuilding year we shouldn’t be losing to so many bad teams.

Clemson is really only doing two of the three things that I thought would make us competitive. While our defense has more mental lapses this year than last, we are performing well enough on that end of the court to win ball games. Right now opponents are averaging just 0.91 points per possession against us, which is good enough for 46^th best in the country. We’re also doing OK at cleaning up the defensive glass, giving up offensive rebounds just 27.5% of the time (32^nd nationally). Keep in mind that these numbers are not adjusted for competition, and as we all know, we haven’t played the toughest schedule this year. I expect to see these numbers rise when we get into ACC play.

So why are we struggling so much? We don’t have anybody on the roster that can break down a defense and either score one on one or find an open man for an easy bucket. When we do get wide open looks we cannot knock them down. We are a terrible shooting team (26.9% from three) that takes far too many deep shots for the personnel we have. So what’s an offense to do if they don’t have guys that can make plays off the bounce or shooters that can knock down shots coming off of screens? Dump it inside to your big men and let them operate. The problem with that for Clemson is that we don’t have anybody that can score consistently or draw double teams in the post either. There’s a reason that Ohio State leads the country in 3-point FG%. Jared Sullinger is doubled every time he touches the ball and they have shooters that can knock down wide open looks. Andre Young would be able to shoot a much higher percentage from 3 if our big men could draw the defense away from him to give him open looks.

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We caught up with The Smoking Musket this week to gather as much information as possible about West Virginia prior to the Orange Bowl. Below our questions and their answers. Feel free to head over to their site and check out our responses to their questions.

STS: Clemson's defense has struggled throughout the year. But, like most teams, we've had some success when our front 4 has been able to control the line of scrimmage. How is WVU's offensive line this year? What are their strengths and where are they weak?

The line is definitely the weak spot of the WVU offense. They struggle both in run blocking and in pass protection, which has really limited playcalling during the second half of the season against some of the stronger fronts we faced like Pitt and Cincinnati. Somehow, the line played really well against the best defense we faced all year, LSU. I'm not sure if that's a result of the team being amped up to face LSU in primetime or what, but it gives me hope that they can perform well against Clemson as long as they are mentally ready. The good thing is that the offense is not entirely dependent on quality line play, as Holgorsen designs many of his plays for short and intermediate routes that get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quickly and allows receivers to make plays. In the end, this is definitely a huge matchup to watch, as it could mean the difference between WVU putting up 21 points or 42 points.

STS: I saw that you guys rate WVU's WR/TE unit as better than Clemson's. That caught my attention since Clemson has a 1st Team All-American WR and TE. I would take Clemson's unit, but I do have to admit, WVU's WR's numbers do look pretty impressive. Could you break down these guys individually?

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It's obvious that Brad Brownell isn't satisfied with his team's play so far this season. Brownell has been tinkering with the starting lineup throughout the early part of the season He's tried both TJ Sapp and Rod Hall at the point. He's tried Brian Narcisse at the 4. His latest move was giving Catalin Baicu the nod over Milton Jennings at the 5. Whether this was a ploy to send a message to Jennings or simply a move to play the (relatively) hotter hand, I'm not sure. But it seemed to work on one of the two levels.

Clemson was able to snap a 2 game skid by knocking off Winthrop 60-40. And Brownell's move to insert Bobo into the starting lineup seems like a good one. I thought Bobo played a very solid game. He gave Clemson an inside presence on the defensive end that gave Winthrop problems. He altered many shots, hedged well on ball screens, and effectively shut down an opportunity for Winthrop to establish an inside game. His length will give almost any big man a problem. If he is able to get himself in the right positions defensively, which he did in this game, he can become a major asset.

The flip side to the move is that it failed to light a fire under Jennings ass. If anything, I think it made him more timid when he did get into the game. He finished the game with and 0-fer from field and the line, while committing 2 turnovers. At this point, you've gotta continue to play Bobo at the 5 until Jennings proves he can help this team.

Tanner Smith played his best game of the year. Offensively, he did a little bit of everything. He drove the ball well, especially to his left, and finished at the rim. He also hit from the mid-range, from deep (2-3), and from the foul line (5-6). Defensively, he shut down Winthrop's best offensive player Andre Jones. Jones came into the game averaging over 19 PPG and was help to just 12 points by Clemson. A majority of his points were scored when Smith went to the bench in the second half. When Smith was in he harassed Jones into tough shots and forced him into the teeth of the defense. This was one of the better overall games that Smith has played in a long time.

Andre Young and Devin Booker chipped in to help out Tanner in the scoring department. Young was very efficient, scoring 15 points on just 8 shots. He was 5-8 from the field and 2-3 from downtown. Booker, fueled by an early follow dunk, seemed to play with an energy that's usually lacking. He scored in the post a couple of times, dropping soft lefty jump hooks over his defender. He finished with 9 points (4-7 from the field) and could've really helped himself if he were able to shoot better from the line, where he was 1-5.

Next up for Clemson is Alabama State. After that they'll head out to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic, with a 1st Round matchup against UTEP on December 22nd.

Clemson will try to break out of their slump against what should be an inferior opponent. At this point, I'm not 100% confident that we are a superior team to Winthrop. We'll find out.

The game is on ESPN3.

Clemson heads west to Tuscon, Arizona to take on the Arizona Wilcats this Saturday at 4PM ET. This is the type of out-of-conference game that we have been clamoring for in recent years. With the way that RPI is calculated and the weight that it holds with the Selection Committee, it's very beneficial to schedule marquee non-conference games. It also creates more excitement around campus and helps fans transition from a football to basketball mindset quicker.

I will caveat all that by saying that you don't need/want to schedule only marquee non-conference games. Games against regional mid-majors are important as well, as they result in more home games for the Tigers as well as more W's (thanks for nothing College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina). The game against Arizona is the first in a home-and-home series that will bring the Wildcats to Clemson next year. That's a win for the fans.

Arizona is led by head coach Sean Miller, who is a rising star in the college ranks. He turned down an opportunity to head to Maryland in the offseason and decided to stay in Arizona. Miller played PG back in the late 80's to early 90's for Pittsburgh. He held several assisant coaching jobs before landing his first head coaching gig at Xavier in 2004. At Xavier, Miller really made a name for himself. In his 5 years at Xavier he won 3 A-10 titles and 6 NCAA tournament games. He took Xavier to an Elite 8 and Sweet 16, respectively, in his last 2 years at the school. In 2009 he was hired to be Arizona's head man. The 2009-2010 season was a rebuilding effort (16-15), as Miller had to clean up the debacle that was the end of Lute Olson's career. Miller's 2010-2011 group had a breakthrough year. They won the Pac-10 regular season, made it to the Elite 8, and never lost a game at home all year (17-0).

This Arizona team, although talented, is not the same team that wrecked Duke's shop in the NCAA tournament last year. Derrick Williams is gone to the NBA as the second overall draft pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Also departing from last year's team is MoMo Jones, who transferred to Iona to be closer to his sick grandmother. He would've been Arizona's leading returning scorer if he had come back. Some speculate that part of the reason for his transfer is due to Arizona bringing in an uber-talented PG in Josiah Turner, which could've decreased his playing time.

And that brings us to this year's Arizona team. Let's start with Turner, who we just mentioned. Turner was left behind in Tuscon for Arizona's OT loss on Wednesday night at Florida. He was suspended by head coach Sean Miller for a violation of team rules. As of this writing, there has not been word yet on whether Turner will be available to play on Saturday against the Tigers. This would be a loss for Arizona. They played most of Wednesday's game against Florida with fellow freshman Nick Johnson handling the PG duties. Johnson is more naturally a SG (10.1 PPG), but was forced to play the position in Turner's absence.

Kyle Fogg and Jesse Perry are co-leading scorers at 11.9 PPG, with Solomon Hill following closely behind at 11.6 PPG. Fogg is an excellent outside shooter, knocking down 45% of his 3's. Jesse Perry is a scrappy, undersized power forward who outworks his opponents. At only 6'7 he pulls down 9 rebounds per game in just under 32 minutes of action. Solomon Hill is probably the team's most versatile offensive threat. He is a 6'6 SF/PF hybrid with a bit of a throwback game. While he has the ability to knock down 3's and score inside, it's his midrange game that impresses me most. If we try to put Tanner Smith on him, look for him to take him down low. If we put Jennings or Booker on him, look for him to turn and face up. He's a bit of a matchup nightmare for us since we don't have the size or strength at the 3 to match Hill.

In order to keep up with Arizona we're going to have to play tough. Tougher than we've played all year. Booker and Jennings will have to find it inside them to match the physicality that 'Zona is going to throw at them. We'll need to be aggressive offensively. We can't just pass the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds and chuck up a shot from deep. That doesn't work on the road, shooting on new rims, against a crowd that will grow more raucous as the shot clock winds down. We need to get into our offense sooner and try to score earlier in the clock.

After the way we've played so far this year I'm not expecting a W by any stretch of the imagination. I'm looking for overall improvement from a team that is lost right now.

Let's keep the mojo going today by putting a whoopin' on the Gamecocks on the hardwood. Sakerlina is not a good basketball team and sit 2-5 through the first 7 games of the season. 2 of those losses were to Elon and Tennessee State.

I hope to see more playing time and good things from Rod Hall, TJ Sapp, and KJ McDaniels. These guys are the future and have shown promise in the early going of the season.

Game starts at 3:30 and is on ESPNU.

Go Tigers.

Rivalry Week/Hate Week, whatever you wanna call, wouldn't be complete without exchanging question and answers with the enemy.  This week we caught up with South Carolina's SBNation site, Garnet And Black Attack.

STS: Clemson's offensive line hasn't played well all year, but has been even worse in recent weeks.  Is there any reason to believe that Ingram, Robertson, and Clowney won't chew this group up and spit them out?  Any signs of USC's DL wearing down?

There are still some questions regarding whether Clowney will play or not; he suffered a concussion last week and hasn't been as quick to pass all his tests as was expected. However, he's likely to be ready to go, and everyone else should be full speed.

I expect a strong performance from USC's defensive line in this game. What you have to like here as a Gamecocks fan is that teams that can get pressure with the front four while dropping the rest into coverage have had a lot of success stopping Clemson's running and passing game. That approach has been USC's forte all season long; USC doesn't blitz much but still manages to get pressure because of strong end play. The only questionable performance here came against a streaking Arkansas team with a very good offensive line. Unless something changes drastically this weekend for one or both teams, USC's defensive line versus Clemson's offensive line is a matchup USC should win.

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I usually don't do an extensive recap on games against Big South opponents, but when you lay an egg for the second game in a row against an in-state mid major, I need a place to rant my frustrations.

As a team, we don't do the fundamental things well.  A lot of our turnovers come as a result of this.  We over dribble instead of moving the ball via the pass, we attempt to make post entry passes from bad angles, and we are lazy as hell with our passing.  If I see one more pass picked off because our like to lackadaisically throw one-handed passes, I'm gonna pull my hair out.  If you can pass like Kendall Marshall I'll turn a blind eye to one-handed passes.  Until then, put two hands on the ball and make an accurate pass.

We also don't box out well, as shown by the last possession of the game.  I've heard that we don't work on boxing out in practice and it shows.  If true, that blows my mind.  I wish we practiced boxing out like Tom Izzo does at Michigan State.  He essentially has his guys performing mixed martial arts in practice during rebounding drills.  As a result, his teams are always extremely physical and dominant on the glass. 

Offensively, at strategy that relies on a 5'8 guard to get open often enough to knock down 3's is a recipe for disaster.  Andre Young is too small to consistently carry this team.  He can't create his own shot and relies on others to get him open enough to get off shots over significantly taller defenders.  The fact that Young, who finished with 20 points, can shoot so well from deep should open up opportunities for everyone else since he is stretching the defense 25 feet from the basket.  Yet we still can't get another scorer in double figures against a Big South opponent.

Individually, Devin Booker and Milton Jennings have not improved from the past 2 seasons.  Their numbers will show 'improvement' at the end of the year, but that is simply due to an increase in minutes.  Their efficiency still isn't what it should be (Booker - 11 shots for 7 points, Jennings - 8 shots for 8 points).  Granted, Jennings got himself in foul trouble and only played 18 minutes.  But as I said in the preview, our bigs need to avoid the dumb fouls and stay on the court.  On the other hand, it is obvious that Booker doesn't practice his jump hooks against an actual defender or else we wouldn't see him struggling with it the same way he did last year.  If he ever wants to have a consistent jump hook he needs to get more physical.  When you pivot you need to pivot towards the basket and get your shoulder into the defender's chest to get him off your ass.  You can even use your guard-hand to get some separation.  Instead, he continues to fade, which will ultimately result in more performance like last night.  It's supposed to be a high percentage shot, but with Booker it feels like a wasted possession.

So what does all this mean?  We're playing veterans and we're still not a very good team right now.  I'd like to see the freshmen continue to get more minutes.  I'm optimistic about TJ Sapp and Rod Hall's futures.  I'd like to see more of KJ McDaniels.  He simply looks like a basketball player.  He is long and has an extra bounce in his step that most don't have.  Bernard Sullivan needs to get his conditioning/asthma under control so that he can get on the court.  The opportunity for playing time is there, as Bobo has shown time and time again that he isn't capable of contributing at the college level.  He still has trouble catching the ball and further limits an already limited offense.

The Tigers look to rebound from their poor performance against College of Charleston as they take on Coastal Carolina tonight.  Coastal Carolina is no pushover, and may actually be a better team than College of Charleston.  Coastal has already beaten LSU this year, the same LSU team that beat Ga Tech last week.  They have size up front and on the wings, and their backcourt is led by their lead scorer, 6'1 JR Anthony Raffa.  Clemson has already dug themselves a bit of a hole regarding their tournament profile after losing to CoC, so bouncing back with a win tonight against a good Coastal Carolina team is a must.  

Milton Jennings and Devin Booker need to be able to stay on the court and out of foul trouble.  This team lacks depth at this point in the season and can ill-afford to lose their only inside presences on stupid fouls.  Brian Narcisse plays with great energy, but he is too undersized to be asked to fill in at the 4 spot for a significant period of time.  Especially against a Coastal team that goes 6'11, 6'8, 6'7 across their front line.

In the backcourt, Andre Young needs to bounce back from his off-night against CoC and TJ Sapp needs to be aggressive offensively.  I've seen enough in the early part of the season to realize that Sapp is going to have to be an offensive contributor in order for this team to score.  There is a lack of offensive fire power on this team (I feel like I've been saying that for a year straight at this point), but Sapp has the offensive talent to be the spark that Clemson needs.

For those that aren't able to make it to Littlejohn, feel free to use this as your game thread.