SBNation.com User Blog: ggggmen08

Clemson Basketball Season Review

ggggmen08 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:42:47 -0000

Clemson Tigers (13-18, 5-13 ACC, 0-1 ACCT)

Lost 7 straight and 10 of 11 overall to close out the season. Back-to-back seasons without a postseason berth. Offensive Efficiency Rating: 98.9 (230th nationally) Defensive Efficiency Rating: 96.7 (90th nationally)

Kenpom Ranking: 114

RPI: 175

ACC Finish: 11th

We had this year pegged as a rebuilding year from the time the 2011-2012 season ended. We'd like to get to the point where we reload and don't rebuild, but we're not anywhere close to that point right now. It was obvious that there was a lack of talent on the roster and no veteran leadership to help guide 11 freshman and sophomores along. Our issues were compounded when Devin Coleman tore his achilles tendon in the offseason and Jaron Blossomgame wasn't able to fully recover from his broken leg. Coleman was likely going to be our starting 2-guard and Blossomgame was our most heralded freshman recruit. The thought was this team would start slow but gradually gain confidence and show improvement throughout the season like Brownell's teams from his 1st two seasons. The best case scenario I could see was 9-9 in the conference, but I figured we'd need a few breaks to get there. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

Clemson had up and down results in the out of conference slate. They led Gonzaga at the half in Old Spice Classic before faltering late, losing by 8. They rebounded nicely with wins over Marist and UTEP to close out the tournament. Next came a disappointing loss at home to a mediocre Purdue team in the ACC/B1G Challenge. That was followed by a nice road victory over hated rival South Carolina and another hard fought loss to a top 25 Arizona, a game in which Clemson led by 6 midway through the 2nd half. After the hard fought losses to a couple of very good teams it seemed the team was on the brink of breaking through, they just needed to learn how to close out game. That was until they lost for a 2nd consecutive season to Coastal Carolina, this one a 23 point blowout on the road. That loss snapped us back to reality quickly.

In ACC play, Clemson was able to notch 4 victories in their first 8 games, including a home victory over a tough UVA team. That start, however, was followed by the uncontrollable downward spiral of 10 losses in their final 11 games. Clemson ended ACC play with a 5-13 record and an 11th place finish. Of those 13 losses, 3 were extremely gut-wrenching defeats. Clemson held late leads against NC State, FSU, and Miami before losing at the buzzer in each game. Each game consisted of missed foul shots and back breaking 3-pointers to finish off Clemson.

As inexperienced as Clemson was this year, an 11th place finish and a 5-13 conference record isn't acceptable. Simply finding a way to finish out games could've netted us 3 or 4 extra victories this year. But there's no use playing the coulda, woulda, shoulda game. Fans are upset and lacking interest in the program, and they have valid reason to be upset. Although this was a rebuilding year, it's never acceptable to lose 10 out of 11. That being said, I've thought from the time that Brownell was hired that he should be given 4 years to put his stamp on this program. You have to give him time to bring in his recruits, develop those guys, and implement his system. He also needs time to change the culture of a losing program. Clemson has only made the NCAA tournament 9 times in the past 33 years. Brownell has made the NCAAT 1 time in 3 years. I'm not saying the Brownell is our savior and that he is going to take us to the upper echelon of college basketball next season, but shouldn't a program that has historically been one of the worst in the ACC show a little more patience. Oliver Purnell's ACC record in his first 3 seasons was 3-13, 5-11, and 7-9. But because of the Clemson administration's patience he was able to pull Clemson out of a downward spiral that was started by Larry Shyatt. Season 4 for is critical for Browenll to show improvement. It's important to see that this team is on the uptick.

Coach Brownell needs to be able to identify his team's faults and fix them in the next 7 months. Judging by his Q&A with TI, I believe he is keenly aware of the faults of this team.

On the topic of the 1983 N.C. State team, do you think the lack of the intangible strengths shown by that team hurt your team down the stretch and made this season worse than it should have been?

BROWNELL: "Definitely. I think losing close games became a problem with this team. Certainly there were guys that didn't have good feelings about making plays or us making plays at the end of games to win, whether it was getting stops or scores.....Certainly there became doubt on our team. I can tell you that in huddles, I could look into their eyes and I didn't see strength and confidence. I tried a million things to get them to believe and figure this one out, that this was going to be the game that we were going to change it and make the play we needed to make.

We said it a throughout the season, but it was obvious that this team had the deer-in-the-headlights look coming down the stretch in close games. Good PG play and veteran leadership can help a young team overcome this issue, but Clemson didn't have either of those things this year. The PG position was a weakness throughout the year, as Rod Hall struggled to create offensively and Adonis Filer's decision making was questionable. I can't say it enough how important it is to have good PG play. It's like playing with a coach on the floor, and that type of player inspires confidence in his teammates and cures the deer-in-the-headlights problem. It's important for a team to get to a point where players can play without looking over to the coaches during the game for guidance. A quality PG that can get the team into the offense, control the tempo, and make the right decisions is needed for that to happen.

Have you been able to recruit the type of player you envisioned recruiting when you first took the job?

BROWNELL: "No. And we probably haven't done as good a job of that as I would like, in all honesty. We need to be more skilled. We need to maybe give up some athleticism for skill. And that's challenging, because we've got to find more skilled guys. Because we have to be able to shoot the ball better. We need to do that better. And I think we've tried to do that.

"Certainly we think Patrick Rooks can shoot the ball. Austin Ajukwa, I don't know if he's a great shooter but I think for a kid of his size he has more skill and he can pass and dribble a little bit better than some guys maybe that we've started with in certain areas.

It's clear that Clemson lacked skilled players this past year. Their 29.8% shooting from 3-point range was last in ACC play, as was their 40% shooting from the floor. It's tough to win games if you can't put the ball in the basket. Although we struggled to score, we certainly could've helped ourselves out in other areas. There are plenty of teams that don't shoot the ball well from deep that are still able to win basketball games because they are tough, physical basketball teams that beat you up inside. Clemson needs to get tougher, and it starts with their ability to rebound the ball, both offensively and defensively. In tempo free stats, Clemson was 167th and 176th, respectively, in those areas. That's middle of the pack, but not good enough to overcome their shooting ineptness.

We also need to play better team defense and limit easy baskets. We were a very good shot blocking team, ranking 21st nationally in block percentage. But I heard Brownell state that this team only took 5 charges all year. That's one charge every 6 games. That's insane. He said that it wasn't in Booker's makeup to take a charge, that is worse. Tanner Smith took at least twice as many on his own in 2011-2012. There are two ways to protect the basket and we completely neglected one of those areas. Charges can actually be more beneficial than blocks because it guarantees you possession of the ball and gets the opposition into foul trouble. The fact that we only took 5 charges all year tells me that this team wasn't committed to doing whatever it takes to win ball games. Don't you think Duke takes fake charges and gets the call their way on anything borderline? Don't you see their star players doing it too? We're not nearly talented enough to get away with neglecting the little things.

I believe there is reason to think this team can get better next year. But Brownell will have to get these guys playing hard for each other and doing all the little things needed to win because the talent still isn't here. Why else should we expect improvement? Experience. Experience matters. Look across the landscape of college basketball and the NCAA Tournament and by and large the successful teams are playing upperclassmen. It's always possible for a team like Kentucky to sign five 5* players and compete right away. But that's the exception, not the rule. Clemson has 7 freshmen and sophomores returning that earned valuable experience this past year. They have 2 other guys coming off redshirts that were able to study Brownell's system for an extra year.

With that being said, I'm not expecting a drastic turnaround. The roster still has too much dead weight and can't match the talent of most other teams in the conference. But we can't keep waiting for Brownell to get it. It's time for him to prove that we are heading in the right direction.

Rod Hall – Failed to show significant improvement in his offensive game. 5.7 ppg and 3.5 assists/game isn’t going to get it done from a starting PG getting 30 minutes/game. Defenses don’t respect his shot and are able to play off him in help position. By all accounts he’s a good teammate and works hard in practice. But he’s limited in his skill set. He could be a solid backup going forward because of his experience and his above average defensive skills, but the offense will continue to have difficulties if he is running the show next season.

Adonis Filer – Rocky first season for the freshman PG. He showed flashes of potential, especially early against some weaker competition, but only scored in double figures in 3 out of 19 ACC contests. He has a knack for getting to the rim, but could certainly do a better job finishing once he gets there. He has a scorer’s mindset, but needs to learn how to lead a team, get others involved, and how to direct an offense. There is potential here, but Filer will need to mature, both on and off the court, in order for his talents to shine through. If he buys in to the team concept, he should be able to take the reigns as the starting PG.

Damarcus Harrison – There’s no nice way to say it, Harrison struggled mightily with his shot. Forced in to a starting role due to Coleman’s injury, Harrison shot just 22% from 3-point range and 36% overall. That hurts coming from your shooting guard. He was able to keep himself embedded in the lineup because he worked hard on the defensive end and his length was an asset on that end of the court, but his defensive effort wasn’t enough to overcome his inability to put the ball in the basket. It’s still unknown whether or not he’ll be back next season or on his mission trip, but he should shoot 500 jumpers a day, minimum, throughout the offseason.

Jordan Roper – Came on really strong at the end of the year. He was/is the most skilled offensive player Clemson put on the floor. He’s a shot maker, whether it be off the catch or off the dribble. He does have difficulty getting his shot off at times due to his diminutive stature. He needs to learn to use head fakes and draw fouls when defenders are aggressively chasing him off screens. He also does a very nice job of getting in passing lanes and picking up steals defensively. My only issue with him defensively is that his size doesn’t provide much hindrance for 2-guards to shoot over. At this point I’ll pencil him in for the starting 2-guard position next year, but he’ll be in a healthy competition with Devin Coleman. I just don’t see him as a PG. He doesn’t have a PG’s mindset and it’s not a transition that’s easy to make.

K.J. McDaniels – Increased his scoring 7 ppg from his freshman to sophomore year. He’s still somewhat raw and I anticipate him taking big leaps each year he has left if he continues to put in the work. Because of his off the charts jumping ability he’s a terrific shot blocker, both on the ball and from the help side. Defensively I’d like to see him give 100%effort on every possession. He has the ability to be a lock down defender but can get swallowed up in screens and lose track of his man occasionally. Offensively, he needs to continue working on shot. 33% from 3-point range is pretty good, but it’d be nice if he were more consistent. He desperately needs to improve his ball handling. He has a loose handle and it keeps him from being able to take guys off the dribble. When defenders close out on him on the perimeter he becomes very passive, probably due to a lack of confidence in his ball handling. It’d be really beneficial if he could develop a midrange game. He was called for a good amount of charges this year because when he recklessly attacks the rim. A couple dribbles and a pull up jumper would be unstoppable with his vertical. He’ll obviously maintain his starting spot at SF, but his development this offseason into the first banana will be a big part in how success of this team can be next season.

Milton Jennings – Finished up a tumultuous career with his best season yet. He had quite a few games where he got hot from deep, but also had plenty where he couldn’t get anything to fall. I learned to accept him for what he was, a 6’9 spot up shooter. He couldn’t do anything off the dribble or in the post, so if his shot wasn’t falling he was a non-factor. He did develop into a pretty good defensive rebounder. But he failed to develop defensively, especially against more physical PF’s. We’ve talked ad nauseum about Jennings over the past 4 years because of the acclaim he had coming into Clemson, but after reading his story on his upbringing and his insecurities due to said upbringing, I find it difficult to pile on him for any more for failing to reach the expectations that were put on his shoulders due to his overrated recruiting ranking. I wish him the best of luck going forward in life. From a basketball stand point Clemson should be able to replace his contributions, probably by using Blossomgame at the 4.

Devin Booker - Turned it around this year and had his best season as a Tiger. Was the best player on the team at finishing around the basket. He even developed his low post game to be a consistent threat with his back to the basket. He would sometimes get frustrated and drift away from the basket for midrange jumpers when he wasn't receiving the ball in the post. He played with a better motor this year than in years past, although I still would've like to see him play with more passion. He could have a decent overseas career if that's what he decides to pursue. His inside presence will be sorely missed next year.

Josh Smith – I saw enough of him this season to know he wasn’t ready to play at an ACC level, but not quite enough to make a determination on whether I think he can contribute in the future. He is undersized, needs to change his body composition, is a below average athlete, and in his short stints on the court didn’t do anything to show that he has any ball skills. However, he did play hard and get after it defensively. I'll give him a to be determined.

Landry Nnoko - Very, very raw offensively. He doesn't have good ball skills and his teammates don't have confidence in him at this point. But he has ideal length to be a presence both offensively and defensively. He moves his feet well and defense and is able to hedge and recover against pick-and-rolls. He needs to work really hard this offseason on his offensive game. I don't expect him to be able to score with his back to the basket next season, but we desperately need him to be able to finish around the rim.

Incoming recruits

Clemson continues to pursue a JUCO or transfer big man for next season. It is an absolute must that we get one because Smith and Nnoko need more seasoning before being given the majority of minutes of an ACC schedule. We are in the lead group for some, but none have signed as of yet, and we are in the signing period.

Ibrahim Djambo, PF/C 6'10 205lbs - JUCO player from Three Rivers CC in Missouri. Had offers from St Louis, Southern Miss, and Loyola. Recruited primarily by Brownell and Earl Grant, who plan to play him at the 4. He's a smooth player for his size, and has a nice high (though slow) release for what is a solid 3 point shot. Average-Above average on the offensive boards and an average passer for a big guy though his ball security in that area needs work. Djambo's biggest weakness is defensive, he doesn't have enough meat on him to bang it out inside right now, and should be better for his height than he is. He doesn't get in there between the ball and the basket on the dribble drives. He also doesn't fight enough for the defensive rebounds.

Its likely that Djambo will be a bench/depth guy next season and could come into his own the following year.

Austin Ajukwa, SG - 3* prospect with double digit offers, the most notable coming from Boston College, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. He doesn't seem overly athletic in his film, but he is long and smooth for the SG position. He plays the game under control and makes good decisions. He isn't known as a sharpshooter, but shoots it fairly well and has good form on his shot where you can expect him to continue to improve with repetition. He has quick hands, and with his length will be an asset defensively.

Sophomore Highlights:

Patrick Rooks, SG - 3* prospect that was a Clemson lock from the get-go. His mother is a Clemson graduate and he grew up in Anderson, SC. He's a great shooter. He can knock it down off the catch or off the bounce. He's not too tall (6'3) or long, and is just an average athlete, but he's the type of guy that can walk off the bus and knock down outside jumpers like he's shooting layups. Because he doesn't have great athleticism, he will have difficulty creating his own shot. For that reason, his upside probably isn't as high as Ajukwa's. But he is ready to contribute next year in a Jordan Roper type role, coming off the bench to provide instant offense.

Junior Highlights:

Outlook

With that being said, I'm not expecting a drastic turnaround. The roster still has too much dead weight and can't match the talent of most other teams in the conference. But we can't keep waiting for Brownell to figure it out Tt's time for him to prove that we are heading in the right direction.

I think this is the lineup you'll see next year.

PG - Filer. I'm not sold on his maturity, basketball IQ, or ability to run a team, so maybe this is a reach. But he has playmaking ability and I think he's more of a PG than Roper.

SG - Roper. Roper and Coleman will be an interesting battle. Perhaps Roper proves me wrong and moves to PG, but I think that takes away from his greatest strength, which is putting the ball in the basket. Both guys should see a lot of minutes though.

SF - McDaniels. If he continues his upwards trajectory he could be an all-conference performer.

PF - Blossomgame. He's too talented to keep off the court. He'll provide a very nice sidekick with McDaniels. The athleticism of these two should help compensate for Blossomgame's lack of size for the position.

C - Nnoko. This is by default. He's got the frame and decent feet, but he's not very close to ready offensively.

Bench - Coleman, Djitte, Hall. This is an intriguing group coming off the bench. Coleman provides scoring punch. Djitte provides length and skill at the 4/5. Hall provides veteran experience at PG.

Doc's Thoughts on next Season

Clemson needs a couple things to specifically happen next season for it to be any improvement over this dismal campaign. By position, this is how I see what needs to take place.

PG: Someone has to break the defense down off the bounce, while being able to distribute and score himself. Jordan Roper shows the promise of doing that, Hall is not a starter at this level, but Jordan is not a great passer yet and must work on this. Brownell must get Roper to elevate his game or this offense will be as stagnant as ever.

I haven't seen anything that convinces me that Filer knows how to run an offense, and he's inconsistent as a defender. I'm more convinced that Filer is a 2 now and am disappointed that he has not picked up this offense better before now. The ball IQ seems rather low.

SG: It needs to be Coleman taking this position, commandingly. He shows some very nice things towards the end of the season in terms of scoring mentality and if he works on his shot I think he does well here at the 2 next season. If Coleman doesn't, Rooks better be able to because I don't see Filer being more than a minutes guy until at least halfway through '13-'14 season.

SF/3: KJ and all KJ. He just needs consistency. I think it would be a good idea to work on his dribble drive so he gives defenses a problem off the bounce.

The question is who will back him up? Ajukwa may be it by default. Blossomgame could slide over from the 4 in situations, as could Rooks in spurts.

PF/4: Blossomgame should be addition by default over Jennings. He's a good all-around basketball player, not lazy like the Bookers, and tries to do everything his coaches tell him. I just worry that a new starter will have teething issues.

Again I'm not sure who can back him up unless we go small and 4-out 1-in. Maybe Smith if we go 3-2.

C/5: Trouble. Nnoko may be the man by default and he's a long ways away. Smith isn't ready. Clemson badly needs the JUCO additions here to have any hope of improving our ACC slate. We'll just get raped inside. Thankfully Weinecki is a good big-man coach on fundamentals, probably the best real coach on Brownell's staff.

Thats not to say Nnoko doesn't have a good upside. He's got a good frame, he just doesn't know how to score. He has to spend every free minute with Weinecki this offseason to become a good player.

The offense is going to be different next year. We're obviously going to be more perimeter oriented with 4-1 sets and more motion, which Brownell admitted he didn't run this year enough. We aren't going to be feeding the ball inside much at all and need the Guards to score points off the bounce. Hopefully Smith and Nnoko will give us something with their backs to the basket to keep the pressure off.

As our experience leaves the team, and two players who don't put forth full effort, I'm hoping we see a team that plays more tenacious defense for more of the game. I hope we see a team that is willing to play Brownell's style of ball with higher energy. I believe Nnoko's motor runs higher than Booker's, but he has to find some consistency or he'll get run over. Hall will be a fine defensive alternate at the point, but I'm worried about Roper here - he's got the ability but I question the "want-to" on defense. Overall I'd think we should be better on perimeter defense but we'll get killed on the boards if these guys aren't going to bring it.

Faciltiies

Radakovich made it clear once he stepped on board that he's going to be more aggressive about financing and developing facilities improvements. Obviously we support that. Radakovich stated two avenues for our basketball development: either build a replacement for Littlejohn, or continue with the Annex renovation and addition as was planned. He wants to put his own stamp on the renovation and addition, and is exploring the return on investment for adding luxury boxes, changing the seating structure, or just giving Littlejohn completely to Brownell. Its currently split between Student Affairs and McFadden control.

We are split on whether to build and finance a brand new arena, which is expected to cost $75 million according to early estimates. On the one hand, we want Clemson to have the best of everything, and we know Brownell needs the help recruiting, or he won't make it here much longer. If he succeeds and leaves, or if he's fired, a new arena will help the next coach. The only downside in my eyes is the debt we'll take on for a program that really only generates a few million in profit each year (tops out at about 5M in a great year for us). If the ACC Network returns enough cash to fund this and help Clemson pay it off within a reasonable amount of time, we need to do it, no questions asked.

If a new arena is built, it is unknown whether Littlejohn will be torn down and the new one constructed in its place, or where we would put a 2nd arena. The AD likely covets the agricultural fields beyond the football practice fields along Perimeter Rd. Personally I could deal with playing a year in Anderson or the BiLo Center while LJ is razed and built again.

I would hope that any replacement arena is smaller than LJ by 1000 seats or so, and that they put students around the court behind the benches the way we used to be so that a more hostile environment is created.

Brownell's Future

A lot of you want Brownell out. We can sympathize with our focus on results here, but a coach deserves 4 years. Brownell brought in a new type of basketball that can work just fine, and we knew when he started out that the major problem he would face is the same one every other Clemson coach faces: recruiting to a rural area. He hasn't overcome the problem, and the play of our seniors this year was disappointing to put it mildly.

Rick Ray was his best recruiter, and top assistant, and wanted to play the game with the AAU coaches. Brownell didn't want to do that, and Ray got a good offer. We question whether Earl Grant is an asset in recruiting and Smith is too new on the job to make an evaluation. Mike Wineicki is a good coach but isn't a recruiter either, although he has been out on the trail much more lately.

We do like Brownell and want him to succeed because if he can get good players in here then we know he'll win with them. People who know basketball would like him and can see he can coach. However, Clemson people are focused on results though they don't even particularly care about basketball, as best I can tell. If you care, support the facilities plans in place and help him, or the next coach, recruit to Clemson. Don't call for his head without putting some funds towards the new arena or whatever LJ becomes. Basketball is the only other sport here that generates a profit beyond expenses. Baseball does not.

But we do believe, wholeheartedly, that Brownell needs to show improvement in Year 4. This team needs to be in a postseason tournament in 2013-14. If this team gets worse next season, we'll call for his job too. Results still matter. Thats as fair as we can be.

Ibrahim Djambo Commits

ggggmen08 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:01:15 -0000

If you've read the bad news thread about Jeb Blazevich, you've probably seen by now that 6'10 PF Ibrahim Djambo has committed to the Clemson Tigers. He's a JUCO player that averaged 17 ppg, 9 rpg, and 2 bpg this past year. He shot over 75% from the free throw line and 36% from the 3.

He's very skilled for his size. Besides shooting the ball well, he can also has a good handle. You don't necessarily want a 6'10 guy roaming around the perimeter too much, but he'll be comfortable with the ball in his hands out there. He also has very good footwork, which is often the product of African players growing up playing soccer. As you'll see in his video below (which admittedly isn't against the best competition) he glides effortlessly into his moves. There isn't a ton to see there, but I can see enough to realize that he's worked hard on both his face up and post up game.

There are two things that could hold him back. First, is he physical enough to guard opposing PF's and C's? Weighing in at only 205 lbs, he'll need to add some weight in the next 6 months and use his length and good positioning to make up for his lack of girth. Secondly, how quick can he pick up Brownell's schemes, both offensively and defensively. We've already seen that if you don't buy in defensively, or have trouble picking up the offense, that Brownell won't hesitate to bury you on the bench. Due to our lack of numbers and talent on the interior it'll be near impossible to bury Djambo on the bench, but he's definitely going to have to fight for a starting spot.

Clemson beat out the likes of Kansas State, Southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Southern Miss for his services. He'll have 3 years to play 2.

Bernard Sullivan Transferring

ggggmen08 — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:11:10 -0000

An already thin 2013-2014 frontcourt just got even thinner with the announcement that Bernard Sullivan will be transferring. Sullivan averaged just 8 minutes per game while contributing 1.8 ppg.

I've always questioned Sullivan's role on this team. He is too undersized to be a back to the basket low post player, but has lacked the shooting accuracy to be a viable option as a face up 4. It's hard to say exactly what his role would've been for the 2013-2014 season. My best guess is that he would've been used around 15 minutes/game playing a similar utility-type role that he played this year.

While his stats are very underwhelming, beggars can't be choosers. Clemson is already low in numbers when it comes to scholarship frontcourt players. Clemson now returns Landry Nnoko and Josh Smith as their only true post players. Neither of these young guys did anything this year to inspire confidence that they'll be ready to provide significant contributions in 2013-2014.

This is a big blow to Clemson's depth and is difficult to replace on the 2013 recruting trail with such little time left in the recruiting period. I expect Clemson to go with a 4 guard/forward lineup that will utilize Blossomgame as a face up 4-man. Sullivan would've been a decent option coming off the bench to fill the same role. Brownell needs to spend the next 2 months getting after it on the recruiting trail because we need a couple of big men to come and play right away.

Tigers End Season with a Thud

ggggmen08 — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:47:27 -0000

This one, like so many others, started off promising. Clemson grabbed the lead early behind hot outside shooting and the ability to capitalize off FSU's turnovers. The lead would eventually stretch to 34-24 with a just a couple minutes left in the first half. It could've easily been more, but Rod Hall and Jordan Roper both missed uncontested dunks/layups. With the lead 34-24, K.J. McDaniels sat down with his 2nd foul and FSU able to close the half on a 6-1 run.

In a half that Clemson dominated it seemed they should be up by double figures. The fact that FSU was able to cut the gap to 5 was very disappointing. FSU came out in the 2nd half, cut down on the turnovres, and locked Clemson down defensively. 10 minutes into the 2nd half Clemson had scored a whopping 6 points, allowing FSU to grab the lead. It was a lead that FSU would extend to 13 with just over 2 minutes remaining.

I would like to say Clemson mounted a furious rally, but for much of the time the rally came 1 point at a time. As was the story of this season, Clemson missed 6 foul shots in the last 4 minutes and numerous open 3-point looks. I said in the gamethread that this one would probably come down to a FT shooting contest because the referees were extremely quick on the whistle. As Clemson fans, we've become accustomed to losing that contest far too often. But the reality is Clemson should've never put themselves in that position. They should've put FSU behind the 8-ball in the 1st half when they were clearly outplaying them.

K.J. McDaniels was the star for Clemson in this one. He had at least 4 plays that are SportsCenter Top 10 worthy, including 3 dunks and a block of FSU's 7'2 center. He finished out the night with 16 points on a very efficient 6/9 shooting before fouling out with around 4 minutes to go. McDaniels took steps forward this year. He may have hit a wall midway through the season, but he has the potential to be an All-ACC caliber player. He needs to learn to bring his full energy every night. Sometimes it seems like that energy level only shows itself when he's able to get a highlight reel dunk or blocked shot. But if he can bring it every night, along with improving his ball handling and develop his mid-range game, he's got the makings of a good one. With his improved outside shot, excellent defense, and off the charts atheleticim, he's the guy you want to start building your team around.

Just because Clemson's season is done doesn't mean we're done with basketball here at STS. We'll continue to provide coverage throughout the NCAAT. We'll follow that up with our season recap and start looking ahead to next year.

ACC Tourney Gamethread

ggggmen08 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:47:51 -0000

ACC Tourney Gamethread.

BC went on a 82-47 run to close out GT in Game 1.

NC State took care of business as expected in Game 2.

Use this thread for your comments during the night session.

ACC Tourney Gamethread.

BC went on a 82-47 run to close out GT in Game 1.

NC State took care of business as expected in Game 2.

Use this thread for your comments during the night session.

ACC Tournament Preview

ggggmen08 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:31:16 -0000

March is supposed to be a glorious time. Warm weather, birds chirping, and March Madness. But with the ACC Tournament just a daya away, the excitement seems to be missing. With Clemson being losers of 9 of their last 10, this tournament has a dreary I-just-want-this-season-to-be-over feeling to it. Obviously it'd be nice if Clemson could spring an upset or two and provide some excitement to a fanbase that could really use a charge, but this team hasn't shown signs of being capable of such heroics. For that reason, we'll preview the ACC Tournament as a whole, rather than just from a Clemson perspective.

Game 1, 12PM - (8) Georgia Tech vs (9) Boston College

This is a rematch of the regular season finale for both teams. Both teams are young and have been playing much better in the last month of the season. Georgia Tech finished 2-2 in their last 4, with victories over UMD and on the road at Miami. Boston College has won 3 straight, with victories over UVA, Clemson, and GT. I don't hate GT basketball with the same venom that I hate GT football, but there is still enough dislike to go around. I'll pull for BC in this one and believe they'll get the victory.

Game 2, 2PM - (12) Virginia Tech vs (5) NC State

NC State blew a chance at the #4 seed and a 1st round bye in losing to FSU in their finale. NC State is still on the right side of the bubble, but they might want to go ahead an win this one so that things don't get interesting on Selection Sunday. I'll be pulling for NC State because an NC State/Virginia matchup in the quarterfinals is a lot sexier than VT/UVA III.

Game 3, 7PM - (10) Wake Forest vs (7) Maryland

It'll be interesting to see the psyche of Maryland after blowing a huge lead on Sunday at UVA. This has been a disappointing season for UMD and their fans. On the flip side, Wake was much more competitive this season than I expected. I anticipate they'll have more motivation in this game. However, I think talent wins out in the end and UMD has more of it.

Game 4, 9PM - (11) Clemson vs (6) FSU

Clemson played FSU very close both games this year. They should've won the 2nd meeting in Tallahassee, but blew a double digit lead and failed to execute down the stretch. However, FSU comes into this matchup fresh off of back-to-back wins over UVA and NC State. Their confidence is rising while Clemson's is at an all time low. Advantage FSU.

If these games play out the way I'm expecting, the quarterfinal matchups get intriguing.

Game 5, Noon - (1) Miami vs (9) BC

This is the most blah matchup of the bunch. BC played Miami close earlier, but I expect Miami to roll here

Game 6, 2PM - (4) UVA vs (5) NC State

This game has tournament implications for UVA. Right now Lunardi has them as a 12 seed and in a play-in game. Losing to NC State will put them in serious danger of missing the NCAAT. Beating NC State for the 2nd time this season can help Hoos' fans breathe a little easier on Selection Sunday. UVA barely beat NC State at home earlier this year, and that was with Lorenzo Brown leaving the game in the first half with an injury. I think the Hoos will be sweating on Sunday.

Game 7, 7PM - (2) Duke vs (7) Maryland

Duke seems to be the game that Maryland circles on their calendar each year. They hate each other. I don't think Maryland can beat Duke on a neutral court, but Maryland will compete their tails off in this one.

Game 8, 9PM - (3) UNC vs (6) FSU

UNC blew out FSU in both of their regular season matchups. Logic would suggest that their is no reason to expect anything different, but the ACCT always has an upset. I'm not willing to pick it here, but I'll just say that UNC is on upset alert.

If the first two round play out like I suggest, the weekend will be very exciting.

Game 9, Saturday 1PM (1) Miami vs (5) NC State

NC State has the talent to knock off Miami, but they haven't played consistent enough defensively to get stops when they need them. Miami has been very consistent because they are one of the best defensive teams in the country.

Game 10, Saturday 3PM (2) Duke vs (3) UNC

I expected a lot more out of UNC last Saturday night. Duke hit them with a haymaker to start and they never got their legs back under them. Duke has too much offensive versatility and too many weapons for UNC to keep up with.

Game 11, Sunday 1PM (1) Miami vs (2) Duke

We'd should only be so lucky if we get to see this rematch. Miami dominated Duke in their first matchup, but Duke battled back to win a great game in their 2nd contest behind Ryan Kelly's heroics. It's tough to pick against Duke in the ACCT. But Miami is a tough matchup for Duke because they have quick, strong guards that are tough to keep out of the lane. Duke loves applying ball pressure, but Cook can't stay in front of Larkin and Curry can't stay in front of Durand Scott. I think Miami cuts down the nets.

No Senior Night Magic for these Tigers

ggggmen08 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:46:28 -0000

This game was a microcosm of Clemson's season. Missed free throws in crunch time? Check. Missed layups? Check. Defensive breakdowns? Check. Bad fouls? Check. Lack of aggressiveness? Check.

Does that about sum it up? I'm sure I'm missing something.

I'll also add that Donahue coached circles around Brownell in the 2nd half. Devin Booker had started to dominate, so Donahue switched BC to a zone to take away Booker's touches. Clemson looked completely lost offensively and went from up 5 to down 9 over a 6 minute span. I'm not sure why Clemson didn't stick Jennings at the foul line and go high-low with Jennings and Booker. Jennings was shooting the ball with confidence and he'd be able to draw a big man to him which would leave Booker 1-on-1 down low. Instead we just passed the ball around the perimeter and chuck up contested shots for 6 minutes.

And another thing that really bothered me - I know Brownell isn't the type of guy that gets fired up, but in the first minute of the game BC clearly threw the ball out of bounds and the refs blew the call. Brownell just stared down the official and didn't say a word. In the 2nd half, Olivier Hanlan was getting every call in the 2nd half. I'd love to see Brownell speak up, just once, and see if he can get Clemson a makeup call on the other end or get the officials to stop calling touch fouls every time Hanlan exaggerates contact. Every other coach does it. If you want to start getting calls you need to hound officials.

I think the most humbling thing about this game is that Clemson played very well for the first 30 minutes and still couldn't get separation from BC. When Donahue's zone sent Clemson into a dry spell, BC easily took control of the game. BC is a team that Clemson should be able to beat at home on an off night, with or without K.J. McDaniels.

Devin Booker and Milton Jennings both played well on their senior night and it's a shame they weren't rewarded with a win. Clemson has two more games left this season and then Brownell will have 7 months to figure out how the hell he's going to get better results out of this roster next year. He will get K.J. McDaniels, Jaron Blossomegame, and Devin Coleman back from injury. Is that enough? At this point, I don't think so.

Tigers drop another, this time to last place VT

ggggmen08 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 03:16:02 -0000

Another day, another loss. Playing their 2nd straight game without K.J. McDaniels, Clemson dropped their 4th straight Saturday night to last place Virginia Tech by the score of 69-61. They've now lost 7 of 8 overall. At this point I could think of a lot of things that I'd rather do than write another recap after a Clemson loss. A root canal comes to mind. It's bad enough that I spent my Saturday night watching that crapfest, but I think it is compounded by the fact that I have to relive it through these words.

I find it difficult to come up with words to describe what we're seeing without sounding like a broken record. I guess I'll start by stating the obvious: This is not a good basketball team. I watched a lot of basketball today, and a lot of it was well played. This game was not one of those. When I watch other games I constantly find myself thinking things like "we don't have anyone on our team that could do that" or "these guys are so much better than us". And this is where I get repetitive. Our team is severely deprived of talented basketball players.

It all comes back to point guard play for me. I believe it's the most important position on the court. At this point, Clemson is playing short-handed on the offensive end when Rod Hall is on the court. I like Rod Hall. I think he gives 100% effort every night, so I don't want this to come across as an anti Rod Hall article. But I don't believe he is talented enough to dig Clemson out of the ACC cellar. If you aren't a threat to shoot the basketball, and you can't finish around the rim, then you are handicapping your basketball squad on the offensive end. Hall can work on his shooting as much as he wants, but he's never going to be a great shooter. If he were a stellar ball handler and passer he could perhaps make up for his other deficiencies, but that's not the case. He's not a great ball handler and he doesn't have great vision. 5 ppg and 3 assists/game just isn't enough production from the PG position.

Milton Jennings may have been a bit harsh when criticizing the guards after Thursday nights game, but his comment about our guards not taking guys off the dribble when they are being pressured was 100% true. You've gotta be able to beat your man 1-on-1 and make something happen when he's trying to check you 40 feet from the basket.

The good news is that Filer had a very good game tonight. I think if Clemson is going to do anything next year he needs to overtake Hall in the starting lineup. He's far from a finished product, but he can at least keep the defense honest because he's a threat offensively. He has better mechanics on his shot, so I see potential for improvements. Be he also does a good job of taking his man 1-on-1 if he's pressured. Once he's able to grasp the mental side of the position, including making smart decisions and finding open teammates, I hope to see him take the reigns.

And it's not just Rod Hall that hinders this offense. It's no wonder that Clemson has difficulty scoring the basketball when at times they trot out a 3-guard lineup of Hall, Filer, and Harrison. None of those guys can shoot the basketball. It's usually 50/50 whether or not Harrison will even catch iron. It's been said enough already, but Clemson needs to recruit better shooters. Roper is the only quality shooter Clemson has on the roster. Rooks projects as very good shooter as well (I think he can be a 40% shooter from 3), so I look forward to seeing him provide some support in this area.

As Clemson's season wraps up here in the next 2 weeks I'll start to put together a few basketball recruiting articles. I'll start by focusing on our remaining targets with my evaluations of each target. The general thought when things go bad is to look to the future, so we'll do that and see if help could be on the way. In the season recap article I'll provide my thoughts on Patrick Rooks and Austin Ajukwa and how I believe they'll fit into Clemson's plans next year. Lastly, when the class is finalized in May we'll have another article detailing all our recruits, much the same way DrB does for our football classes.

Gamethread: Clemson Takes on UNC

ggggmen08 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:29:23 -0000

Clemson Basketball: UNC Preview

ggggmen08 — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:58:23 -0000

UNC heads to Clemson for a 7PM showdown on ESPN. Clemson has lost 4 straight in the series and have won just 20 times in 146 tries all-time against the Heels. However, Clemson does boast 13 wins in 40 tries at Littlejohn, which considering their all-time record, isn't too bad.

UNC has had a down year by their standards. It's not just their 19-8 record that is uncharacteristic, but it's the fact that they been blown out in so many of their losses. UNC wasn't competitive against Butler, Indiana, Texas, NC State, and Miami. Unfortunately for Clemson, they come to town playing their best basketball of the season. Roy Williams, who is usually as stubborn as a mule when it comes to lineup changes, made a change to a 4 guard lineup a few weeks back when the Heels visited Duke. The move seems to have paid off. Roy was getting absolutely nothing out of Joel James and Desmond Hubert at the 5, so he moved James Michael McAdoo to the 5 and inserted SG/SF P.J. Hairston into the starting lineup (where he should've been all year). Since the loss at Duke, which was a close game, they've reeled off 3 straight, including wins over UVA and NC State.

P.J. Hairston was averaging around 12 ppg before being inserted into the starting lineup. Since entering the starting lineup he's averaging 18 ppg. 60% of his field goal attempts come from 3-point range, where he makes 38% of them. Because of the physical nature of both he and Reggie Bullock, they are able to get away with a smaller lineup. Both guys are big for shooting guards anyway, but they also rebound really well for their size.

Speaking of Reggie Bullock, he's been UNC's most consistent player all year. He averages 14 ppg and shoots 44% from 3-point range. It's tough to chase him off the 3-point line because he has a quick release and uses his height to shoot over smaller defenders. Clemson needs to go over all screens and do their best to force him and Hairston to put the ball on the floor.

James Michael McAdoo is UNC's leading scorer and rebounder, but I find his stats to be deceiving. He's not a bad player by any means, but he isn't the player many thought he'd be this year. While he does rebound it well, he struggles at times on the offensive end of the court. The game hasn't slowed down for him yet. His mind and his body are not moving at the same speed. He rushes his shots, has shoddy footwork, and turns the ball over a ton. I do believe that Booker's combination of strength and athleticism can frustrate JMM.

Outlook

Matchups are going to be big in this one. UNC could be in a bit of trouble playing against a bigger team that has post up threats at both their 4 and 5 positions. Since the paint seems to be Jennings' kyptonite, this matchup appears to set up well for UNC. On the other end of the court, Jennings will have his hands full chasing the quicker, stronger Hairston all over the court through multiple screens.

Tempo is also going to be big. UNC is one of the fastest paced teams in the country, while Clemson is one of the slowest. Clemson would love to ugly-up this game as much as possible, just as they did against Miami. UNC wants to get out and run. Freshman PG Marcus Paige is much better in transition than he is running a halfcourt offense at this point. JMM is also at his best in the open floor and Bullock and Hairston both do a good job of running to the 3-point line in transition. A halfcourt game with fewer possessions is advantageous for the less talented Tigers.

This isn' close to the most talented UNC team Clemson has faced over the years. I really like Hairston and Bullock, but other than that I'm not overly impressed. Paige can be a liability at times for UNC and I think that Rod Hall is the type of defender that can give him a long night. Dexter Strickland is a SG that can't shoot. I've already discussed McAdoo's inconsistencies. The fact is that Clemson's 3 home ACC losses have come by a combined 8 points. With this being a home game in front of a sellout crowd on national television, I think Clemson give UNC all they can handle. In the end I think UNC will find a way to win this game, but it'll come down to the wire once again. I wouldn't be at all shocked to see Clemson pull off the upset here.

Maryland 72, Clemson 59

ggggmen08 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 19:17:38 -0000

In order to pick up a road victory in the ACC you need to play your best basketball. Clemson didn't do that this afternoon and they were defeated by Maryland with relative ease. It didn't help that Maryland played pretty well. They didn't turnover it over much, they rebounded well, and they shot well (except at the foul line). Nick Faust hasn't been able to hit the broad side of a barn all year, yet he becomes another in a long list of guys that have breakout games from beyond the arc against Clemson.

Clemson actually started the game well, jumping out to an early 6 point lead. But Maryland changed up their defense and went to a 1-2-2 full court press to speed up Clemson's pace. We looked like a team that had never faced a press before. We continued to inbound the ball into the corners, allowing Maryland to trap right where they wanted. When facing a 1-2-2 trap, you want to keep the ball out of the corner if at all possible. If you must inbound to the corner, you need to be ready to make a pass as soon as you receive the ball. What you don't want to do is hold the ball and let the trap come to you. Clemson never seemed to figure that out. Clemson finished the game with 11 turnovers, which isn't all that bad, but it seemed like most of their turnovers resulted in easy points for Maryland. Rod Hall played his worst game of the season, accounting for 7 of those turnovers.

Clemson's biggest issue, though, was rebounding. They had difficulty clearing the defensive glass and didn't pull down enough offensive rebounds. They gave up way too many second chance points. Maryland's offensive rebound rate was 42%. A good rebounding team expects to clear at least 75% of their defensive rebound opportunities. Clemson clearly fell short in this area. On the other side of the ball, Clemson was only able to rebound 18% of their misses. It was clear that Maryland was out physicalling us and that stats back it up.

Jordan Roper's shot was off today and he wasn't in the same form as Sunday against Miami. However, I'm still encouraged by his ability to score the basketball. He can spot up, shoot off the dribble, and has the ability to get to the rim. Alternatively, I'm discouraged by K.J. McDaniels development in the 2nd half of the season. He is just floating around the perimeter looking for open 3-point looks. He's not aggressive, he's stopped attacking the rim, and has been invisible on the offensive glass. Right now he isn't a consistent 3-point shooter. I believe his game should center around getting into the paint and shooting pull-up jump shots and attacking the offensive backboard. I want to see him use his 3-point shot as a secondary or tertiary option rather than letting it define his game.

Next up: UNC. This season has been a bit of a train wreck, but beating UNC can somewhat salvage this season for me.

Miami Steals One Late, 45-43

ggggmen08 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:12:49 -0000

That was it. That was our chance for a signature victory. It was ours for the taking and we didn't take it. Clemson should've won, but yet somehow let another game slip through their fingertips. 5 out of our 8 ACC losses have come by 5 points or less. I have to give a ton of credit to Jordan Roper for showing up and playing a fantastic ball game. He dropped in 19 on 8-11 shooting, scoring 44% of Clemson's points and doing everything in his power to help Clemson pull out the victory. He just didn't get any help.

The close losses keep piling up and they don't get any easier to accept. It's really quite miraculous that Clemson was even in this game until the end with the poor performances turned in by K.J. McDaniels, Milton Jennings, and Devin Booker. McDaniels was 1-11, Jennings 2-12, and Booker 4-13. That's a combined 7-36 from Clemson's starting front court. Add to the fact that McDaniels and Booker were 4-11 from the foul line, including two misses on the front end of 1-and-1's, and it sounds crazy to sit here and say that Clemson should've won that basketball game. But there we were in the final minutes controlling the game and clinging to a two possession lead. And then it fell apart. Lets break it down.

With 4:23 left and the score tied at 38, Booker went to the line for a 1-and-1 and clanged the free throw, costing Clemson an opportunity for what should be an easy 2 points.
With 1:12 left and Clemson up 42-38, McDaniels was inexplicably fouled with 4 seconds left on the shot clock. He went to the line for a 1-and-1 and clanged the first one. Again, a missed opportunity for 2 points.
On the ensuing possession Rion Brown drove the basket, caught McDaniels with an elbow to the chin, made the shot and got McDaniels whistled for fouling with his face. Impressive. Brown made the free throw and cut the lead to 42-41.
Clemson takes possession with 1:01 left. Miami is full court pressing down 1. The inbound comes to Jennings around mid-court and he attempts to lead a 2-on-1 break with K.J. McDaniels. It was a bad decision. He can't handle the ball and is notorious for making poor decisions. Luckily this one got bailed out by a great catch by McDaniels and a bad foul call by the officials. McDaniels went to the line and only made 1 of 2. 43-41 Clemson.
With 0:56 left, Miami runs a high pick and roll with Shane Larkin and Kenny Kadji, a known 3-point shooting threat. Jennings hedges to cut off Larkin, but when the play breaks down Jennings gets caught free lancing and never gets back to his man. Jay Williams incorrectly stated that Jennings was helping on Durand Scott's drive. Jennings was only there to stop the drive because he was wondering around in the paint rather than guarding his man. I've rewatched that play 10 times. Jennings had the opportunity and plenty of time to get back to his man. He got caught ball watching. Kadji sunk the 3 to put Miami up 44-43 with 39 seconds left.
Clemson ran the clock down, and with 13 seconds left Hall attacked the basket and was whistled for a charge. It was a terrible call. It was easy to see initially, and even easier to see with replays, that McKinney-Jones was still sliding to his spot when Hall left his feet. It should've been 2 shots for Hall, but instead Miami was awarded the ball underneath.
Miami inbounded the ball to the corner and Clemson got a good trap. I have no issue with Clemson letting it play for a minute because they had the ball right where they wanted it. The pass out of the corner traveled across court, just as you'd want from a defensive perspective, but Clemson's guys were to slow to react to the pick the pass off. Clemson let the ball get into the hands of Miami's best free throw shooter, Trey McKinney-Jones. Fortunately, he was only able to make 1 of 2 at the line.
WIth 8 seconds to play, Booker rebounded the miss and handed off to Hall. Hall took too much time coming up the court in my opinion. You want to give yourself enough time for a pass or two, or to have an outlet if the play breaks down. But Hall used his strength to drive hard to the right and because McDaniels was posting up his man, he was able to seal him off and create an open lane for Hall. He missed what should've been a relatively routine layup and then McDaniels missed a tip in at the buzzer that should've been just as easy.

There isn't one instance in that sequence that I can point to and say that Brownell should've done something different. At some point players need to step up and make plays. 1-8 from the foul line during that stretch (including missed opportunities for the back end of 1-and-1's) is unacceptable. We could've iced the game. Leaving your man and wandering around in the paint while only up by 2 points is unacceptable. Missing two chances within 3 feet of the basket in the final seconds is unacceptable.

One final note: While I gave credit earlier to Roper, deservedly so, I feel like I should also acknowledge the fact that Hall played a hell of a game, sans that final layup. He had the tall task of guarding Miami's best player, Shane Larkin, the entire game. Larkin is one of the best point guards in the country and has been torching everyone lately. He's the engine that makes Miami's offense go, and Hall completely neutralized him. Larkin finished with 7 points on 2-8 shooting, but 3 of those points came on a 3-pointer in transition when Hall did his job by stopping the ball. He also only had 3 assists to go along with 3 turnovers. Roper completely carried us offensively and Hall kept us in it defensively. The rest of the team never showed up to the gym.

Thoughts on Clemson Basketball and Brad Brownell

ggggmen08 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:55:54 -0000

I wanted to post an article clarifying my stance on the current state of Clemson’s basketball program. There has been a lot said in the comment sections recently. Some people think Brownell should be given more time while some are calling for his head. Those calling for his head think STS is being too soft on the basketball programs. I thought it would be easier if I put my comprehensive thoughts into one article rather than scattered over multiple threads. I’m going to run through a list of criticisms and conversations we’ve had during the course of this basketball season and give my thoughts on those subjects. Take them for what they’re worth. I’m by no means an expert on building a basketball program and I don’t pretend to be. I do, however, enjoy the game and follow it very closely. I’m just like any other blogger out on the net and my opinions are just that, opinions. But I also try to come to conclusions based on facts.

1. Why is STS so tough on our football program but so soft when it comes to our basketball program?

Clemson has a storied football history, invests heavily into their program with well paid coaches and support staff, and they have top notch facilities. The game day atmosphere for Clemson football is a phenomenal experience with 80,000 screaming fans. It can give recruits goosebumps on their goosebumps. The same can’t be said about Clemson’s basketball program. There is little storied history with Clemson basketball, facilities are way behind those of top notch programs, and Clemson has proven that it isn’t going to spend top money to field a staff. Clemson has only finished .500 or better in the ACC in 16 out of their 60 seasons. The game day atmosphere is severely lacking year in and year out for all games that aren’t against UNC or Duke. I believe Clemson has the best game day atmosphere in the ACC for football as well one of the best in country. The atmosphere for basketball games falls into the bottom half of the conference. This is important because it has a large influence on selling the school to potential recruits.

2. Why does STS keep using youth as an excuse? Kentucky wins with freshmen every year.

I feel like this question doesn't even need to be answered. We’re not Kentucky and we’ll never be Kentucky. Kentucky is the winningest program in college basketball history and hand picks 5 of the best recruits in the country every year. They churn out #1 overall picks and 1^st round picks like nobody else. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel – all of these guys would’ve gone straight to the pros if there wasn’t a rule in place to prevent it. Kentucky is the exception to the rule.

Check out the ACC standings for proof that experience matters:

Miami – 5 of their top 6 scorers are seniors. Four of those seniors are 5^th year seniors. They are the oldest team in the country.

Duke – Top 3 scorers are seniors.

Virginia – Top 2 scorers are juniors and they have a senior PG in Jontel Evans. When Evans was injured during non-conference play and UVA was forced to play freshman Teven Jones, they lost to George Mason, Delaware, and ODU (who only has 3 wins on the year).

NC State – NC State starts 2 seniors, 2 juniors, and a freshman. When junior PG Lorenzo Brown went down with an ankle injury and they were forced to play freshman PG Tyler Lewis, they lost 3 straight conference games.

UNC – What would seemingly be a decent year for most teams is a very down year in Chapel Hill. The reason? Experience. UNC starts 1 senior, 1 junior, 2 sophomores, and a freshman PG.

I could go through the top 25 or all the other conferences, but I think you get the point. Experience matters. Clemson, Wake Forest, and BC are the only teams in the ACC with only 2 upperclassmen or less on their roster. Not surprisingly, they sit at 8^th, 9^th, and 11^th in the ACC standings. Clemson isn’t just one of the youngest teams in the ACC, they are one of the youngest teams in the country.

3. How come Tony Bennett is able to be successful at UVA while Clemson is struggling with Brownell?

For starters, Tony Bennett is in his 4^th season at UVA and Brad Brownell is only in his 3^rd season. Tony Bennett’s ACC finishes in his first 3 years? T-9^th, T-7^th, and T-4^th with one NCAA appearance. His team has really taken off in his 4^th year when his first full recruiting class has reached upperclassmen status. His two best players are Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, both juniors. Why not give Brownell the same benefit of the doubt and let his recruits become upperclassmen?

Additionally, UVA has shown a willingness to really invest in their basketball program. Tony Bennett makes $1.7M annually. Brad Brownell was hired at $900k and received a $300k bump after his successful first season to get him to $1.2M, which is 42% less than Bennett.

UVA also invested $131M to build John Paul Jones Arena, which is one of the nicest venues in the country. As a result of having such nice facilities, the NBA Top 100 Camp for the top 100 high school recruits is held on UVA’s campus at JPJ Arena. If you think Clemson’s football camps and cookouts are a good recruiting tool, imagine if Clemson were able to host a Rivals100 event on their campus where all the top football recruits came in to compete for a week. How big of an advantage would that be? UVA is taking advantage of the situation, inking 3 consensus top 100 players in the 2012 class and 1 more in the 2013 class.

UVA is a on the right side of the bubble right now, but don’t let their conference record fool you because they have some very bad losses that really hurt their resume. Their conference slate gets more difficult from here as well and they’ll be fighting the bubble battle the rest of the way. The reason I bring this up is because I think in year 4 under Brownell that Clemson will be in a similar situation. I’m not sure whether or not Clemson will be a tournament team next year or not, but I honestly believe on February 16th 2014 we’ll at least be in the bubble discussion. And that’s what Bennett has done for UVA in his 4^th year. Lets give Brownell the benefit of the doubt and let him prove himself in year 4 much the same way Bennett has done this year.

4. Brownell was only able to win with Purnell’s players

You could make that statement about any new coach winning ball games in their first season because they are always going to be the other coach’s players. But the fact of the matter is that Clemson improved between OP’s last season and Brownell’s first season, despite losing their best player and 1^st team All-ACC performer Trevor Booker. They finished 6^th place in the ACC the year before Brownell arrived and finished 4^th place in his first season, despite losing their best player.

Look, I don’t believe OP was a bad coach by any means (although his record at DePaul disagrees), but I think he was butting his head up against his proverbial ceiling of what he was going to accomplish at Clemson. OP’s last season culminated in an ACC tournament loss to 11^th seeded NC State and a 1^st Round tournament loss to 10^th seeded Michigan. This was fitting of OP’s teams, starting fast and finishing with a whimper. In BB’s first season he led Clemson into the semifinals of the ACC tournament before losing a heartbreaker in OT against #1 seed UNC. They also won one of the new play-in games in the NCAA tournament. Before you poopoo the fact that it was a play-in game, remember that Clemson beat a fellow 12 seed by 20 points. This wasn’t 1-16 matchup. And just a few years prior OP lost to 12 seeded Villanova when Clemson was a 5 seed (blowing a 20 point 1^st half lead). Overall he was 0-3 in the NCAA tournament while at Clemson, and each time Clemson was the lower seed.

5. Why do you blame OP for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 teams?

I’m not soley blaming OP. I think it’s a combination of OP and the collateral damage that comes with a coaching change. OP did some good things while he was at Clemson, but leaving behind a talented freshman class was not one of them. Brownell came into a situation where OP’s last recruiting class consisted of Jennings, Booker, Donte Hill, and Noel Johnson. I’m sure you are aware of the limitations of Jennings and Booker.

Donte Hill transferred to be closer to home and averages 8 ppg for a 3-22 ODU squad. Not exactly an ACC caliber player.

Noel Johnson transferred to Auburn and averages 5.7 ppg for a 9-15 team. Not exactly an ACC caliber player.

What’s the problem here? All these guys were OP’s recruits and none of them are any good! These are supposed to our senior leaders this year and not one of them has turned into anything resembling an All-ACC type player, much less a leader.

Brownell’s first recruiting class was in 2010. Due to the fact that he was hired on April 13^th 2010 and class of 2010 recruits can start signing letters of intent in the fall of 2009, he was put behind the 8-ball. Everyone else had already finalized their recruiting classes and their was nothing left to pick from. Brownell was able to bring in one recruit, Cory Stanton, who was allowed out of his LOI at Wright State due to Brownell’s departure. He was not an ACC caliber recruit and left after his freshman year. That’s back-to-back recruiting classes that were largely out of Brownell’s control that only produced Devin Booker and Milton Jennings. That’s the collateral damage that comes with coaching changes.

Summary

Clemson basketball hasn't been great the past two years, but they also haven't been horrible. They finished 8-8 in the ACC last year and are 5-7 so far this season. I think mediocre is a more fair assessment. Expectations heading into this season were very low, too. They are currently in 8th place in the ACC, 1 spot ahead of where they were picked in the preseason polls. I believed when Brownell got here that he should get at least 4 years to operate as Clemson's head man and I'm not about to change that position in his 3rd season when he's playing with 11 freshmen and sophomores (2 of which are out for the year with injuries). Discussing the firing of a coach is usually a complicated issue and this situation is no different. But I think calls for Brownell's head are way too premature at this point.

Tigers Survive Trip to Atlanta

ggggmen08 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:07:58 -0000

Just the way you drew it up, right coach? Yeah.

Clemson was able to snap a 3 game losing skid by notching their first ACC road win of the season against GT, holding on by a score of 56-53. Road wins are difficult to come in conference play no matter who you are, so you won't hear any complaints about the victory. But you also won't hear me praise the aesthetic beauty of that game I just witnessed. It wasn't and ugly game due to turnovers, as Clemson and GT only turned the ball over 7 and 10 times, respectively. It was ugly because these teams struggled to execute their offenses, make open shots, and knock down free throws. Clemson used a 4+ minute stretch of good basketball to go on a 17-5 run in the second half to build up a double digit lead, which proved to be just enough cushion.

We talked in the preview about the offensive struggles that define these two teams. Those struggles were most prevalent in the first half. Clemson shot just 28% in the first half, but maintained a 20-15 leading heading to the break due to GT's middle school girl-esque 17% 1st half shooting. K.J. McDaniels didn't get the start in this one due to missing practices this week because of his grandmother's illness and an ankle injury, but it didn't impact his minutes.

The second half started completely different than the first half, with each team shooting the ball much better. Clemson then used the aforementioned 17-5 run to take a 12 point lead. They held a comfortable lead for much of the second half, until missed free throws and poor decisions allowed GT back in the game. At this point, I started getting an eery feeling, one that I've had in several other close game this year. McDaniels started it by going 2-4 at the line. Devin Booker tried an ill-adivsed NBA dunk contest-like cradled-windmill dunk from the 3-point line. Milton Jennings got moved under the basket on a defensive rebound off a free throw that wound up with Rod Hall carrying the ball out of bounds. All of that and we were left with an almost identical situation to Sunday, Milton Jennings heading to the foul line for a 1-and-1 with under 10 seconds to go and Clemson up by 2.

Jennings knocked down the first before missing the second. Mfon Udofia rushed the ball down the court, pulled up at the 3-point line, and his head fake got Jennings to commit a cardinal sin of leaving his feet. But instead of Udofia seeking out contact, he went straight up with the shot. Jennings redeemed himself by blocking Udofia's shot on his way down.

This was an extremely important win for the psyche of this team. If they had blown this game you'd wonder if they had anything left in the tank. They've blown a couple of games this year they should've won and have lost two games on 3-pointers at the buzzer. Losing another game in which they led the entire way and extending their losing streak to 4 games may have been too much for this young team to handle. But instead, they keep proving that they have fight in them and that they haven't quit on the season just because they've had a few bad breaks.

Lets hope that fight carries over to Sunday, where they have a very tall task on their hands trying to give Miami their first conference loss of the season. The game will tip at 6 PM at Littlejohn and be broadcast on ESPNU as part of ACC's Sunday Night Basketball coverage.

NC State loss: Where do we go from here?

ggggmen08 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:53:58 -0000

Sorry for missing a recap following the heartbreaking NC State loss. I was out of town for the weekend and didn’t get to see the game. I did, however, see Scott Wood’s game winner. I’m usually looking for someone to point a finger at when things go wrong, but in this instance it isn’t that cut and dry. Wood is tremendous at coming off screens and he shoots with such a quick release that you have to stay in his hip pocket or he’ll make you pay. Brownell said that they knew the ball was going to Wood and stuck Rod Hall on him. Hall was able to stay with him through Howell’s first screen, but that screen was just a decoy to let Hall think Wood was going to come off a double screen. When Wood cut back to come back off Howell’s second screen, Hall was juked out of his shoes. At that point you had Jennings and Harrison on that side of the court with Wood, Howell, and Lorenzo Brown to guard. In hindsight it would’ve been smart for Jennings to switch off Howell and jump out on Wood. In that scenario, Wood most likely finds a wide open Howell underneath and we’d be heading to OT. But the play developed so fast that I can’t fault Jennings here. It was just a really well designed and executed play by NC State.

Clemson missed out on getting a signature win. The win wouldn’t have done anything for tournament hopes, but it surely would’ve done something for the guys’ confidence. With their best win this year being @ South Carolina, notching a win against preseason ACC favorite NC State with their best player (Brown) back in the lineup would’ve been huge. Instead, they’re left trying to figure out how they blew games to @FSU and NC State that they should’ve won.

The doubts that Jennings admitted had crept into their heads at the end of games will escalate until their confidence is restored. Guys need to stop thinking so much at the end of games and play without a conscious. Do you think Scott Wood thought twice about shooting that 3? No. He’s so confident in his shot that it’s like shooting a layup for him.

Obviously this season isn’t going the way that many people had hoped. But this team was picked to finish 9th in the ACC. They weren’t expected to be good. And they currently sit in 8th place, so essentially right where people expected. If you were expecting to make the NCAA tournament this year than your expectations were unrealistically high. At this point, I watch the games as much to evaluate progress in our young guys as I do for the outcome.

I watch to see if McDaniels will improve his ballhandling so that his offensive repertoire expands beyond 3’s and dunks, to see if he can become our go-to guy. I watch to see Roper continue to improve defensively and as a primary ballhandler, because I already know he can score the basketball. I watch Adonis Filer’s decision making hoping I’ll see him make strides. We know that he can attack the basket, but he needs to understand when and where to pick his spots to attack. He needs to do a better job of setting up his teammates for easy looks. I watch to see if Rod Hall can provide enough offensive firepower to be the answer at PG, or if he should be used as a defensive stopper/heady backup PG. And lastly, I watch to see if I can get a glimmer hope that we’ll be okay in the frontcourt next year with Nnoko, Sullivan, and Smith.

I know that might sound sacrilegious because we all want to see W’s. But because the team is so young, and because they are struggling to win games right now, it enhances my viewing pleasure to watch the game this way. Victories, at this point, are just an icing on the cake.

Gamethread: Clemson @ UVA

ggggmen08 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:07:23 -0000

Leave your comments here. If we get 1/4 the comments in a basketball gamethread as we got in the NSD open thread then I'll consider it a success.

UVA Basketball Preview

ggggmen08 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:26:08 -0000

After all the signing day hoopla it's time for me to transition back to a basketball mindset. It seems like it's been a solid 2 weeks since the Tigers lost to BC.

At the halfway point of the ACC season the Tigers sit at 4-5. They did, however, beat UVA in their first meeting. We gave an in-depth preview of UVA the first go around. To summarize, UVA is led by senior SG Joe Harris. Harris averages 15 ppg and shoots 46% from 3. If you drop your hands, he'll make you pay. UVA's 2nd leading scorer is Akil Mitchell at just over 12 ppg. Mitchell is also one of the better rebounders in the conference.

Other than those two, they rely heavily on contributions from their freshmen. Mike Tobey is a big, talented center that has been an efficient scorer in limited minutes. I believe that Booker can give him fits by muscling him around. Tobey is a skilled big man, but he's not physically strong in his lower half at this point. Evan Nolte is a lanky SF that has tremendous range (41% from 3). You'll see Milton Jennings get some time on him. He's not really a threat to drive the ball, so Jennings needs to stay home on him. Lastly, Justin Anderson is an uber-athletic and strong SF. His offensive game has been progressing and his outside shot is becoming more reliable. He's a good defender too because of his strength and athleticism. McDaniels had a tough time last outing against UVA, mainly due to Anderson.

UVA has been a really tough team at home this year and less impressive on the road, where Clemson beat them. That could be said about most teams, though, including Clemson. UVA's home wins include victories over Tennessee, UNC, FSU, and NC State. That's a stark contrast to their losses on the road, which include Clemson, Wake Forest, and GT.

Considering Clemson's best road win this year was @ South Carolina and they've yet to pick up a road win in the ACC, this game figures to be a tall task.

The game airs on ESPN2 @ 7PM.

BC Holds on, Sinks Tigers

ggggmen08 — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:45:38 -0000

There's been a lot of talk recently about the state of Clemson's basketball program. Some believe that Brad Brownell is setting the foundation this year to get the team back to the NCAA tournament next year. Others believe we are regressing from the days of OP. There are valid arguments to be made both ways. However, I think both sides can agree that losing to BC, whether on the road or at home, shows that this program isn't where it needs to be at this point in time. I tend to believe that we are headed in right direction, although I think Brownell needs to play the recruiting game better. But losses like this one are very concerning.

I said before that I was worried about this game. BC was 9-11 and 1-6 in the ACC, but they had been playing much better ball since ACC play started. They had been playing everyone tight and were struggling to make key plays down the stretch to win (sound familiar?). That's not to say that BC is a good team, because they're far from it. But I believed that they were a capable team. Especially against a team like Clemson who isn't immune to laying eggs.

So what happened in this one? Clemson came out extremely flat for the first 33 minutes. They dug themselves a 20 point deficit, mainly through atrocious defense. BC shot 58% from the field and 55% from 3 and seemed to do whatever they wanted. They were getting layups or wide open 3's at will. Clemson's biggest issue was the lack of communication. Our defenders weren't talking. Two Tigers defenders would go with one BC player and leave the other man wide open.

With around 10 minutes left Brownell again went to full court pressure to get back into the game, and again it worked. After a flurry of 3's and a few steals, Clemson closed a 20 point gap down to 1 on Adonis Filer's 3-pointer with just over a minute to play. But Clemson's defensive breakdowns continued on the next possession when they miscommunicated on a screen down low and left BC's best player Ryan Anderson wide open for an easy lay-in. Clemson still had a shot to tie it, but Milton Jennings' 3-point attempt came up short. BC knocked down a few free throws and put the nail in Clemson's coffin.

I'm not sure if Brad Brownell is having trouble motivating these guys or not, but Clemson has a terrible habit of starting games slow. If that is the case, maybe some lineup changes will help motivate these guys. They need something or someone to give them a kick in the butt because the 2nd half of the ACC schedule has Clemson facing UVA, NC State, UNC, and Miami (2x).

After another disappointing loss, questions will surely remain about the direction of the program. And those questions will linger until Clemson starts taking care of business against bottom feeders. When they're able to consistently do that we'll know that they've turned a corner.

Tigers Breakthrough, Pull Out a Close One Against VT

ggggmen08 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:42:09 -0000

Not exactly confidence inspiring words, but it does seem to explain why this team has struggled so much down the stretch in close games. It was obvious for us fans to see that this team tightens up in close ball games, but when a player admits that they are doubting themselves it validates that theory. Did the FSU game serve as a learning experience that helped Clemson prevail in this one? That's tough to say. But one thing is certain, if some players had doubts they sure didn't show it down the stretch.

Lets start with Damarcus Harrison. The transfer from BYU was supposed to come in and more than adequately fill in for the injured Devin Coleman. Instead, his shot has been off and his confidence has been low. But in this game he got an easy lay-in early, knocked down a couple jump shots, and he started carrying himself with a level of confidence that was expected when he arrived on campus. With Clemson up 1 with under 3 minutes to go, Harrison calmly knocked down a three over the top of VT's zone defense to give Clemson some breathing room. This coming from a guy that came into the game shooting just 18% from behind the arc. It was exactly that type of cold-blooded shot making this team has been searching for in close game. Harrison was fantastic throughout the game, finishing with 19 points (6-10 fgs, 3-7 from three).

The next example of a player stepping up and making big plays in tight situations comes to you courtesy of Milton Jennings. After Devin Booker missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with a 5:30 left and a chance to give Clemson a 6 point lead, I thought this article would write itself. I'd harp on our inability to make foul shots down the stretch and how it would continue to be a detriment to us in close games. So when Milton Jennings went to the line for a 1-and-1 with 3:45 left and Clemson down by a point, I was naturally expecting a miss. Instead, Jennings made both and went 12-14 from the line in the last 3:45. It was stellar shooting from Jennings and the type of shooting you need to close out games like this. Jennings final line: 28 points and 14 rebounds. This was the best game of his career.

K.J. McDaniels also had a fantastic game and was the only other Tiger to score in double figures. He had his usual highlight reel dunk, when he follow-dunked Devin Booker's miss. VT's coach wanted McDaniels to get a technical for doing a chin up on the rim, but replays confirmed his chin was already well above the rim at the time of his dunk. Spectacular stuff. He also didn't let his 2 month long 3-point shooting slump effect his shot today. He scored 17 points on an extremely efficient 6-9 shooting (5-7 from three). I normally would have a problem with K.J. settling for 3's and not attacking the basket, and while I think there were some opportunities for that, VT was packing in their zone defense, and the opportunities were there for open 3-point looks.

Overall, it's good to see the team bounce back after a heartbreaking loss and pull out the W in such a close contest their next time out. It's even more impressive that they were able to do it with Devin Booker still far from 100% due to his illness. There isn't much time for celebrating this victory, however. Clemson hits the court again Tuesday night at home against GT with an opportunity to get back to .500 in conference play.

Clemson Downed by Snaer's 3 at the Buzzer

ggggmen08 — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:28:07 -0000

It seemed as though the cards were going to be stacked against Clemson before this game even got under way. Devin Booker, who has been playing tremendously the last 5 games, came down with the flu prior to the game. Playing through a fever, Booker did about as well as anyone could've expected. He looked lethargic out there compared to the effort we've seen recently, but he gutted out 15 points and 4 rebounds despite playing only 28 minutes due to foul trouble.

But somehow, even with Booker clearly not himself, Clemson held a double digit lead with 12 minutes left in the second half. FSU slowly closed the gap, thanks largely to Kiel Turpin and 18-20 shooting from the foul line. I could talk about how Clemson tightened up and started settling for jumpers (missing 11 straight 3's) again instead of attacking the basket, or the fact that Jennings had more turnovers (5) than points (4), but I think everyone is most upset about the end of the game, so lets break down the last minute.

Coming out of a timeout with just under a minute to play and 7 seconds on the shot clock, Clemson ran an inbounds play to get Jordan Roper an open look. They used Jennings and McDaniels as decoys, and Booker set a back pick on Roper's man to free him up in the corner. He calmly head-faked his defender and knocked down an open 15 footer to give Clemson a 3 point lead. And then it fell apart.

On Florida State's ensuing possession, Michael Snaer got the ball just as everyone in the gym expected. As he drove across the foul line, Adonis Filer made a big mistake. Instead of letting Hall continue to guard Snaer straight up, Filer collapsed off of his man to help Hall on a fairly harmless drive by Snaer. Snaer read the defense and kicked it Filer's man, Devin Bookert, who calmly knocked down the open 3 with 43 seconds left. In this situation you play tough hard-nosed defense, but your main priority is to protect the 3-point line when up 3 with under a minute left. Filer got caught here and paid a big price.

Clemson took the inbounds pass, and after frantically dribbling it around for 20 seconds, called a timeout with 15 on the shot clock and 23 on the game clock. Out of the timeout, it appears Brownell wanted to run a pick and roll with Hall and Booker and get something going to the basket one way or another with those two guys. After the inbounds came in at the top of the key to McDaniels, he handed the ball off to Hall. Booker came up to set a screen for Hall, who was on the wing at this point. The problem is that Booker set the screen on the baseline side, essentially forcing Hall to take the ball towards the corner. When FSU's big man stepped out he forced Hall further to the corner. Hall used McDaniels to help him out. McDaniels and Hall played hot potato back and forth a couple times before McDaniels ended up with the ball 25 feet from the basket with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. Air ball, wasted possession. People are upset with this play, and rightfully so. But I can guarantee you that the play wasn't drawn up for McDaniels to shoot a 25 footer with the clock winding down. If Booker sets the screen on the high side then Hall has the entire court to work with. But when Booker sets it on the low side, Hall and Booker are trying to play a 2-man game in about 1/4 the amount of space.

FSU's next possession is pretty simple. Michael Snaer brings the ball up, shoots a 25 footer with 1 second left, and his shot is just off enough to the right and long that it luckily banks in at the buzzer. Dagger.

Clemson had every opportunity to win this game and let it slip away. Hopefully it's a learning experience because these close losses are getting harder and harder to stomach.

Gamethread: Clemson @ NC State

ggggmen08 — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:41:03 -0000

We've previewed it. We've Q&A'ed it. Now it's time to get it on. Take a break or two from the NFC/AFC championship games to see if Clemson can pull off the upset in Raleigh.

Leave your comments here.

Game Preview: Tigers Head to Raleigh

ggggmen08 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:22:12 -0000

Clemson has strung together back to back wins against UVA and Wake Forest to get back to 2-2 in the conference. But in order to get over the .500 mark they'll need to pull off a stunner against the conference's preseason favorite NC State, in primetime on Sunday night and on the road. And while the last two wins have shown progress, they were against middle to bottom of the pack teams at home. I don't want to diminish any victory, because we'll take what we can get at this point, but a win on the road against NC State would be a big step up. It's the signature win this young team and the fans have been searching for. It definitely won't be easy.

NC State is the #14 ranked team in the country. After losing two games earlier in the season against Oklahoma State and Michigan, people started getting down on this team and wondering if they had overinflated their ranking based on a surprising run to the Sweet 16 last year. After losing to Michigan they ran off 10 straight wins, most notably against UConn in Madison Square Garden and Duke at home last weekend. However, they followed up the Duke win with a last second loss at Maryland on Wednesday when they allowed Alex Len to tip in an air ball with 0.9 seconds left.

What is it that NC State does well? Score the basketball. NC State is one of the highest scoring teams in the country at 79 points per game (11th nationally). They are second in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.5%. They shoot 40% from 3, with 3-point specialist Scott Wood doing most of the damage at 43%. Five guys average in double figures and a sixth (Rodney Purivis) averages 9.4 ppg. They have a human pogo stick (C.J. Leslie) and a bull in a China shop (Richard Howell) attacking the offensive glass down low.

That's not to say they don't have their issues. While they are extremely talented, that talent is limited to the top 6 players at this point. They really lack quality depth after the top 6 guys. Behind Leslie and Howell in the frontcourt, they either have the option of going smaller and using freshman SF T.J. Warren at the PF spot or going big by using Jordan Vandenberg, who is a big stiff with no game. And that lack of depth is important because of the foul trouble Richard Howell consistently finds himself in. He's fouled out of 4 games this year and averages 3 fouls per game. Clemson would be very wise to go to Devin Booker early and often to try to get Howell on the bench in foul trouble.

NC State can also be turnover prone. At times Lorenzon Brown can be one of the better PG's in the country, but he also turns the ball over 3.4 times per game. He'll over dribble or try to make a fancy pass where the simple play would suffice. C.J. Leslie turns it over 2.7 time per game, usually trying to drive the ball to the basket. That number would be significantly higher if the officials called him for all the walks that he gets away with.

Here's what Clemson needs to do to win this game. First, they need to control the tempo. NC State wants to get up and down the floor and use their athleticism to get easy looks. Clemson needs to slow the game down and make it a halfcourt game. That doesn't mean they shouldn't run at all, but they should selectively run.

Secondly, Clemson needs to clear the glass defensively. Howell is the best rebounder in the conference and does a lot of his work on the offensive glass. He's not going to out-jump someone, but instead uses his strength to get position. Booker needs to be physical and keep Howell out of the paint. Booker has been doing an excellent job rebounding, but this will be his toughest test. Jennings is also going to have to find Leslie when a shot goes up and get a body on him. Jennings can get caught daydreaming and give up easy offensive rebounds. If he does that on Sunday he'll end up on a highlight reel like K.J. did to Wake Forest's center earlier this week.

Lastly, we need to find a delicate balance between not settling for jumpers while not being afraid to shoot open jumpers. Clemson will not hold NC State below 50 points on their homecourt. It just isn't happening. We're going to have to score the basketball. So what I'm trying to say is that Clemson's first option should be to dump the ball in to Booker or attempt to drive the ball to the basket. If Booker gets double teamed or someone steps up to cut off the drive, we should have open shooters (hopefully Roper) that need to be ready and confident to knock down the shots. On the road at Duke our guys played scared and if that happens again we'll be run out of the gym.

Tigers' D Stymies Wake Forest Offense

ggggmen08 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 02:59:38 -0000

Clemson notched their second consecutive victory in ACC play, by downing Wake Forest 60-44. The Tigers were in command throughout, as Wake Forest never cut the deficit to single digits in the 2nd half. That's back-to-back games allowing just 44 points.

The defensive statistics are really quite incredible. Wake's 44 points were 16 points below their previous season low of 60 points. Those 44 points came on 60 possessions, for an offensive efficiency of 0.73. Wake shot just 24.6% from the floor and 20% from behind the arc. Clemson had an astounding 11 blocked shots, 7 of which came courtesy of K.J. McDaniels. You won't find another team in the country that has a 6'6 G/F that intimidates people at the rim the same way McDaniels does. He also added another Sportscenter Top 10 when he follow dunked over Wake Forest's freshman Center. His final line was 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 blocks.

It wasn't just McDaniels on the defensive end though. The entire team got after it tonight. Devin Booker had another high energy performance, finishing with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 monster alley-oop. The defensive energy was contagious. When Rod Hall got in on the block party you could see the enthusiasm oozing from the bench.

And speaking of the bench, the two freshmen spark plugs, Filer and Roper, both had quality offensive showings. Filer scored 13 points on a very efficient 6 shots. He did what he does best, got into the lane and attacked the basket. Roper also did what he did best, and that's knock down open looks from behind the arc. He finished with 9 points, knocking down 3-4 from deep.

This team may not be the most aesthetically pleasing on offense, but with the way this defense has been playing they've been able to get away with it the last two games. I never would've thought I'd be saying this, but the offense seems to run best when they're going through Devin Booker. He has really stepped up his game in ACC play and is fighting hard for position and demanding the ball. He's had laziness issues in the past, but I can't say that I've seen signs of it in the past 4 games. He is exactly what this team needs when the young guards get the deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces. Just dump it in to the big fella and let him operate.

And while we're on that subject, I still haven't figured out why a right-handed post player's go to move is a lefty jump hook. Is it from watching his brother shoot left-handed jump hooks? It's not the worst move in the world. It goes in sometimes, but I'd think he'd be able to score at a much higher rate inside if he was using his dominant hand. Or at least using both hands. But he goes primarily to the lefty baby hook. If someone has the answer I'd love to hear it.

After a very rocky start to ACC play, Clemson heads to NC State this Sunday for a prime time (6PM) contest against the conference front runner. NC State is playing really good basketball right now after knocking off Duke this past weekend. It'll take a tremendous effort to escape Raleigh with a W. But I give our guys a fighting chance now, something I wouldn't have done a week ago.

Q&A with Streaking the Lawn

ggggmen08 — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 02:40:15 -0000

STS: UVA has been playing some very good basketball, with the exception of any game against a CAA opponent. How do you explain UVA's 0-3 record against the CAA and undefeated record against everyone else?

Streaking the Lawn: I would love to hear someone provide a reasonable explanation for this. We are 1-0 in the ACC, 1-0 against the SEC, 1-0 against the Big Ten, 0-3 against the CAA and 8-0 against everyone else. Seriously?

The first two losses, to George Mason and Delaware in the first and third games of the season were forgivable. We were in a situation where we didn't know who was going to be our point guard. Presumptive starter, senior Jontel Evans, was out with a foot injury and sophomore Malcolm Brogdon, a reliable PG backup was redshirting because of an injury. That left us with true freshmen Teven Jones and Taylor Barnette and senior walk-on Doug Browman. And that's without even mentioning the fact that no one knew for sure where the scoring was coming from with Mike Scott gone. So it came as no surprise that we struggled a bit at the beginning of the season.

But the loss to Old Dominion is baffling. Maybe the eight game winning streak (including windows over Wisconsin and Tennessee) got into their heads. Or maybe the Monarchs were just tired of losing. I don't know. But that loss was about as unacceptable as they get. I'm just glad it was a "neutral" court game and not at home. Have to find a silver lining for Selection Sunday, right?

STS: Joe Harris seems to be carrying this team much the same way Mike Scott carried them last year. Can you describe what he means to this team? Clemson has done a good job this year taking away #1 scoring options. Would that be detrimental to UVA's chances?

Streaking the Lawn: Joe Harris is the steady hand on the team. He rarely does anything all that flashy (unless you consider shooting 47% from three to be flashy, which I suppose would be legitimate). But he's steady. His 15.3 points per game leads the team, but what I think is more impressive is that he has had only two games this season where he didn't reach double-digits: Seattle (7) and Mississippi Valley State (3). Both of those games were blowouts (40 and 28 point wins, respectively) where he played significantly less than the average number of minutes. He had 22 points in a win against Wisconsin and you certainly can't blame him for the losses to GMU (19 points), Delaware (20 points) and ODU (18 points). Steady. Reliable.

Oh, and I think about half of the UVA bloggers/reporters have a man-crush on him.

STS: Justin Anderson was the headliner in UVA's 2012 recruiting class. How is he coming along? What about the other guys in that class?

Streaking the Lawn: Anderson has certainly struggled adjusting to the college game or to Coach Bennett's pack-line defense or maybe both. He's averaging 5.4 points per game while getting about 20 minutes per game. His talent is very obvious at times on the court, even when he doesn't quite finish (he's had a few monster dunks that he... er... bricked) and then other times he seems to disappear from the game altogether. He's had four or fewer points in six of the fourteen games. Sometimes that's due to the minutes he's getting (or rather not getting), other times its because he was just ineffective when he was on the court.

Like I said, his talent is very obvious and he's possibly the most emotional player on the floor, consistently trying to rile up the crowd. While his output may not have been what I was hoping for as of yet, I've still got high hopes for the rest of his time in Charlottesville.

STS: I know this game is at Littlejohn, but I want to know how the fans are taking to this UVA team. With one of the nicer basketball arenas in the country, it has seemed as though the atmosphere at JPJ Arena lacks the same energy as U-Hall. After reaching the NCAA tournament last year, are fans starting to bring the energy to JPJ?

Streaking the Lawn: You're not wrong about the atmosphere. University Hall could get loud even if the crowd wasn't very big. JPJ on the other hand can be kind of... cavernous... when there aren't enough people there (as has been the case for most games this season). But when it is full and there's a big game, it can be deafening. Anyone who was in there when Singletary beat Duke with that last minute falling backwards shot in 2007 can attest to how deafening it can be. As with most situations in college sports, winning some more games will make it better. The atmosphere for the UNC game was pretty good and I have to think that with that win under our belt, the next few home games will be similar.

STS: In a battle of two teams that prefer to play at a snail's pace, do you think the first to 50 pulls the W?

Streaking the Lawn: That's a fair guess. Both teams are holding opponents to under 50 points when they win (49 ppg allowed by Clemson in wins, 47 ppg allowed by Virginia in wins). In losses, both teams are scoring less than 60 points (55 ppg by Clemson in losses, 58 ppg by Virginia in losses).

I'm going to guess this will be a bit of a slugfest early on with the first team to 50 winning by an eventual score of 66-55. And being the homer that I am, I have to predict that it'll be Virginia that comes out on top.

Clemson's Offensive Ineptness Leads to Blowout Loss at Duke, 68-40

ggggmen08 — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:42:44 -0000

The first half was one of the ugliest in Clemson history. 10 points on 12% shooting. Duke was forcing Clemson into some tough shots, but our guys are on scholarship just like the Dukies. It's time they start playing like it. I wasn't all Duke's defense. Clemson was also missing open looks and chippies around the basket.

I didn't see any sort of motion offense, which is supposed to be a Brad Brownell staple. Our offensive sets were simply high ball screens with the hopes that our guards would make a play. Without playmaking guards, this strategy backfired.

I wish there were one or two things that I could put my finger on that this team needs to do to turn around this season. But there are so many issues: lack of talent, lack of competitive spirit, lack of leadership, laziness, ball security, lack of shooters. There are so many issues to point to and not many of them can be corrected in the next 3 days before the team heads to UVA. Our guys may have games where they shoot better (it'd be difficult to shoot worse), but they aren't going to all of the sudden become knock down shooters. Jennings and Booker aren't the leaders that the young guys need. I generally like for the PG to step up and become the leader since they are the QB of the team, but that doesn't seem to be in Rod Hall's personality and Adonis Filer is just a freshman. The laziness that is exhibited on the defensive glass, taking charges, and getting after loose balls is correctable, but needs to be enforced by benchings for those players that aren't getting after it. Lastly, I think some guys on this team lack the competitiveness that is needed to win at this level. There's no fire from these guys. They get punched in the mouth game after game and don't retaliate with a counter punch. For everything that Tanner Smith lacked in talent, he at least busted his tail each game and showed a competitiveness that these guys are lacking.

All that being said, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the effort that Devin Booker displayed tonight in a blowout loss. While the rest of the team was simply going through the motions, Booker busted his tail as hard as I've seen him all season. He battled for every rebound, fought inside for positioning, and did a hell of a job on POY candidate Mason Plumlee (3-9 for 8 points). Booker's final stat line was 12 points (5-13) and 15 rebounds. It's not just the number of rebounds, but it's how hard he worked for each and every one of them. If the rest of the guys had given this type of effort the game wouldn't have been over after the first 20 minutes.

So where do we go from here?

After falling behind big early, Brownell turned to a full court press in the 2nd half that seemed to energize the team for a few minutes. It's not the first time he's done this, and in each game he has thrown the press out there it has seemed to spark the team. It may behoove the coach to employ this press earlier in the game before the game is completely out of hand.

Brownell went to a smaller lineup during stretches in the 2nd half when running the full court press. McDaniels was playing the 4, with Hall, Filer, Harrison/Roper, and Booker out there with him. This lineup provides the best offensive punch. And while it is susceptible defensively because of the size disadvantage, that disadvantage can be masked while running a zone press. And it's not like Jennings was providing much defensive resistance anyway. I'm hoping to see more of this going forward.

We'll see if the Tigers can bounce back at home on Saturday against a UVA squad that is undefeated against all teams outside of the CAA. These are two of the slowest paced teams in all of college basketball, so first to 40 may be declared the winner.

Gamethread: FSU Visits Clemson

ggggmen08 — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:36:45 -0000

After waxing the Noles last year to open ACC play, the Tigers are hoping to do the same again today. Clemson matches up well with FSU, and if they bring energy and play their game, they have a good shot of starting of conference play 1-0. I think they'll be up for this one since it's at home and it kicks off the conference season.

Leave your comments here.

Basketball Q&A with Tomahawk Nation

ggggmen08 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:38:49 -0000

This week I got in touch with Michael Rogner over at Tomahawk Nation. He heads up FSU's basketball coverage, which is very thoroughly covered over there.

STS: FSU has had very inconsistent results so far this year with losses to South Alabama, Mercer, and Auburn, and impressive wins against BYU, Saint Joe's, and Charlotte. Which team should Clemson expect to see on Saturday?

TN: Until the Auburn game FSU had played their best basketball away from Tallahassee. But now they've proven that they can be maddeningly inconsistent away from home as well. Clemson isn't a good matchup for FSU, so I'd expect a relatively ugly showing from the Noles.

STS: Many people expected Michael Snaer to take his game to another level this year after a very good junior campaign. Has his play met your expectations so far this year?

TN: Yes and no. Defensively, he's on another level. He's developed into a very good rebounder from the guard position. And he's overcome his biggest flaw from last year which was his failure to be consistently aggressive on offense. But with the increased workload there's been a downward trend in his efficiency. His 3-point shot is as good as it's ever been, but he's really struggled getting to the rim, which has been a strength in the past.

He also spends half the game with his "WTF" face on wondering why his teammates weren't where he expected them to be on defense.

STS: FSU had an intimidating front line last year with the size and strength of Xavier Gibson, Bernard James, and Jon Kreft. How has FSU replaced those guys in the middle?

TN: They haven't. It wasn't just the size and athleticism those guys brought, but more importantly it was work ethic and understanding of the defensive schemes. The new guys have size - Kiel Turpin (who starts but doesn't play starter minutes) is 7-0, Boris Bojanovsky is 7-3 but has legs the size of his arms, and Michael Ojo is 7-1 and an absolute freak of nature - Luke Loucks said he's the biggest human he's ever stood next to with the exception of Shaq - but he doesn't know how to play basketball. Entering this year he had played in 17 organized games in his life. What the new guys lack is an understanding of where they need to be on defense. They're consistently missing rotations, and with as much as Ham's defense rotates within sets, five guys not on the same page results in awful lot of layups.

STS: FSU is known for being a defensive juggernaut, but Kenpom currently has FSU's offense ranked 77th and their defense ranked 95th. Is FSU really better offensively than defensively?

TN: Yes! FSU fans have been clamoring for this for years, which is a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for.' Ever since FSU went to a 3-guard lineup (just before last year's Clemson game) they've added the ability to score in bunches. They really like to get out in transition, and NC State is the only ACC teams which makes more of their 3s. They were also the ACCs best free throw shooting team before their debacle against Auburn. They live off of turnovers, and they've been very aggressive about getting to the rim.

STS: Clemson is one of the slowest paced teams in the country (321st) while FSU is surprisingly one of the faster paced teams in the country (45th). Do you think tempo helps dictate the winner of the game? Or is FSU content playing either style?

TN: Whoever controls the tempo wins this game. FSU absolutely has to score in transition, and to do that they'll need to force live ball turnovers and control the defensive glass. They've been great at the former, and terrible at the latter. FSU is 7-2 when the game has at least 67 possessions (the NCAA average), and 1-3 when the game has fewer. Clemson has only played one game all year that has had more than 65.

STS: Clemson shocked FSU last year at Littlejohn. Who do you like this year?

TN: Clemson is a terrible matchup for FSU. They take care of the ball, they force turnovers, and they force teams to execute half court sets. Unless the Tigers have a total derp-fest of turnovers or FSU is unconscious from the arc, I just don't see how the Noles win this one.

Clemson Wins Comfortably Against SC State

ggggmen08 — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 23:05:26 -0000

So while it's nice to get back on the winning side of things, this victory didn't mask Clemson's deficiencies, as hard as SC State tried to do just that. I implore you to watch Devin Booker and Milton Jennings play defense. Don't watch the ball, just watch these guys on a few possessions. I watched them the entire 1st half, and I can say with certainty that ACC big men are salivating over how lackadaisical and soft those guys approach their defensive responsibilities. They don't body up their man, they don't deny post entry, and they allow themselves to get pushed under the rim on defensive rebounds. It looks like they are sleepwalking out there. SC State was able to pull down offensive rebounds on 35% of their misses. That's absolutely inexcusable, and our two senior big men are to blame.

I'm also a bit puzzled by the number of 3-point attempts we've been throwing up the last fews games. After going 4-21 against Coastal Carolina, you'd think the initiative would be to drive the ball to the basket. Instead, we came out and shot 8-25 (32%) this afternoon. We only attempt 61 FGs total, so 41% of them were threes. I have a big problem with our most athletic player, K.J. McDaniels, attempting 6 of his 8 FG attempts from behind the arc. That's not the smartest way to utilize your athleticism, and I hope he doesn't keep settling for 3s as we move forward. We are not a 3-point shooting team, so this type of ratio will get us into big trouble against teams that are able to get a hand up in our shooters' faces.

Despite those issues, Clemson still was able to win by 36, so obviously there were some bright spots. I thought the best move the day was when Brownell, after seeing Clemson sleepwalk through the first 10 minutes and trailing 13-11, decided to press full court. It's a good move for two reasons. First, it wakes up a sleeping team and forces them to get after it. Secondly, it increases the number of possessions. And whenever you are clearly the more superior team, more possessions allows more opportunities to prove that. Very much like a underdog football team trying to control the clock in order to limit the number of possessions against a superior team.

I think this team is well-suited to run and we saw that today. Even on misses we were pushing the tempo. We know that's not Brownell's style so I'm not sure that we can expect to see it moving forward. But with Adonis Filer's aggressiveness, K.J. and Booker's athleticism, Harrison and Roper spotting up for 3, it would behoove Coach Brownell to at least experiment with it some more against the Citadel. In this contest it allowed Clemson to close the half on a 25-5 run.

It was elementary after halftime, as Brownell emptied the bench very early. All 11 players that dressed scored in this one. Damarcus Harrison and Jennings led the way with 15, while Booker and McDaniels chipped in with 11 and 10, respectively.

Next up is the Citadel on January 1st. While you are watching glorious college football, tune your laptop into ESPN3 and check out the Tigers in their last tuneup before FSU comes to Littlejohn.

Gamethread: Clemson vs. South Carolina State

ggggmen08 — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:08:37 -0000

Apparently these games aren't gimmies like I thought they were. I'll be streaming it on ESPN3 while watching NFL. Leave your thoughts here.

Clemson Rolls Florida A&M

ggggmen08 — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 02:50:40 -0000

I'll start with the positives. I think the most positive sign was the play of Jordan Roper. He got the starting nod over Damarcus Harrison, as Brownell continues to tinker with his rotations. The scouting report on Roper out of high school was that he was a very dynamic scorer, but he was slight in size and didn't possess natural point guard attributes. Well, if he keeps throwing the ball in the basket like he was tonight it won't matter that he's a 6' SG. He was lights out from the field, going 4-5 from three and 6-8 overall for 16 points. For a team that is severely lacking in quality outside shooters, Roper is a welcome revelation. He has a very pure looking shooting stroke and a lightning quick release that allows him to get his shot off despite his small stature.

K.J. McDaniels continued with his highlight-reel-ways. He threw down two dunks that could surely be on SportCenters Top 10 plays, and probably would be if he played from Duke, UNC, Kentucky, or Kansas. The first was an alley-oop thrown by Rod Hall. Hall did a nice job of getting the ball to the middle of the floor on the break and threw it up for McDaniels. McDaniels leapt over a defender who tried to obstruct his path, threw it down on top of him, and drew the foul in the process. His second dunk was an NBA All-Star style dunk, where Rod Hall threw it off the backboard to a trailing McDaniels on a 2-on-0 fast break. This guy is one of the top athletes in all of college basketball and is really starting to come into his own as a player. Clemson fans are lucky as hell that they get the opportunity to see him play in Orange.

Point guard play, which was thought to be a weakness heading into the season, continued to be a strength. Rod Hall finished the game with a career high 10 assists in just 22 minutes of playing time. He's been making very good decisions with the ball and really knows and understands his role on this team. Adonis Filer also seems to know his role. When he steps foot on the floor he is in constant attack mode. That's a big asset to have on a team that struggles to find scoring at times. He scored 14 points in just 23 minutes by getting to the charity stripe 10 times (7 for 10). He can get a little out of control at times, and doesn't always finish off drives within the trees, but I think that's a fair tradeoff for the amount of times he does finish or draw a foul. He's still only 9 games into his collegiate career and he will continue to get better and more confident (if that's possible) as the games go by.

Brownell emptied his bench early and often in this one, allowing 11 guys to play at least 8 minutes. For that reason, the quality of play was a little worse than you'd expect at times. Clemson turned the ball over 17 times, with a majority of those turnovers coming from the 2nd unit. And this may be nitpicking, but I was a bit discouraged seeing another player light up Clemson from deep. Reggie Lewis, who came into the game shooting 31% from 3 and averaging 9 PPG, finished this game with 26 points on 6-8 3-point shooting. He made a few difficult shots, but the majority of the time he was left open without a hand in his face. He singlehandedly kept Florida A&M in the game in the first half. The Tigers did a much better job in the 2nd half of limiting his looks, and as a result Clemson quickly pulled away. But that's twice now that Clemson has let a relatively benign shooter light them up.

Clemson has three more non-conference games before facing FSU on January 5th. These three games should simply serve as glorified scrimmages. It's a good opportunity for Brownell to find the right rotations before the meat of the schedule and for the young guys to build their confidence. Next up is the Coastal Carolina on Wednesday (12/19), which should be a slight step up in competition.