OP press conference tidbits
posted by LW, Friday, February 20, 2009
Some snippets:
-- Purnell said he hasn't been contacted by Alabama, and he said he and TDP have had some discussions recently. More on that on the West Zone Board.
-- OP said he gave the players a couple of days off to rest their legs after Tuesday's trouncing of Maryland and Sunday's loss at Virginia.
-- Georgia Tech is 1-11 in the ACC and has lost five straight since upsetting Wake Forest on Jan. 31. Yet Purnell thinks his team will confront the same dynamic Sunday in Atlanta that it did at Virginia, which had lost eight straight before bouncing the Tigers.
"It's only a matter of time," he said. "At some point in this league, everyone will struggle. And at some point in this league, everyone will play well."
-- Purnell strongly believes this team won't lose many games if it's playing its best. That's been proven against Duke and Maryland, and also in the second half against Virginia Tech and Boston College.
OP said the Tigers generally play as they've practiced, and he's trying to underscore the correlation to his players.
-- OP was asked about Tanner Smith, whose remarkable story was profiled here yesterday by ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil.
"It's good to see that something like that, with a young person, getting national attention," he said. "You see so many negative stories, not just in basketball and sports but in life. But to see a person at such a young age embrace a cause like that, it's just a neat thing. It makes you feel good.
"I'm old enough to understand that young kids are going to read that and go, 'Man, that's pretty cool. I might do something like that.' So it's going to affect a lot of people, not to mention the immediate effect on the kids that he touches.
"Having him as a part of our program, it makes us proud. You can just talk on and on about something like that. And the fact that he's a pretty good basketball player, that's neat too. I think he gives people at Clemson something to feel good about, that they have representing him young ambassadors like that.
"I think what happens in kids' lives usually finds its way on the court. If they're kind of scattered and have got a lot of things that are distracting, negative things, I think it shows up on the court -- even talented kids. And I think that's why you see so many kids that are coming into college highly ranked that don't do so well. There's a lot of other stuff going on.
"And you see kids that aren't so highly ranked do very well. Because they've kind of got their priorities in line. They don't sweat the small stuff. They kind of understand what's important first, and that kind of thing. I think it definitely helps his maturity on the court."
LW
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Just wrapped up Purnell's press conference previewing Sunday's game at Georgia Tech.
Some snippets:
-- Purnell said he hasn't been contacted by Alabama, and he said he and TDP have had some discussions recently. More on that on the West Zone Board.
-- OP said he gave the players a couple of days off to rest their legs after Tuesday's trouncing of Maryland and Sunday's loss at Virginia.
-- Georgia Tech is 1-11 in the ACC and has lost five straight since upsetting Wake Forest on Jan. 31. Yet Purnell thinks his team will confront the same dynamic Sunday in Atlanta that it did at Virginia, which had lost eight straight before bouncing the Tigers.
"It's only a matter of time," he said. "At some point in this league, everyone will struggle. And at some point in this league, everyone will play well."
-- Purnell strongly believes this team won't lose many games if it's playing its best. That's been proven against Duke and Maryland, and also in the second half against Virginia Tech and Boston College.
OP said the Tigers generally play as they've practiced, and he's trying to underscore the correlation to his players.
-- OP was asked about Tanner Smith, whose remarkable story was profiled here yesterday by ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil.
"It's good to see that something like that, with a young person, getting national attention," he said. "You see so many negative stories, not just in basketball and sports but in life. But to see a person at such a young age embrace a cause like that, it's just a neat thing. It makes you feel good.
"I'm old enough to understand that young kids are going to read that and go, 'Man, that's pretty cool. I might do something like that.' So it's going to affect a lot of people, not to mention the immediate effect on the kids that he touches.
"Having him as a part of our program, it makes us proud. You can just talk on and on about something like that. And the fact that he's a pretty good basketball player, that's neat too. I think he gives people at Clemson something to feel good about, that they have representing him young ambassadors like that.
"I think what happens in kids' lives usually finds its way on the court. If they're kind of scattered and have got a lot of things that are distracting, negative things, I think it shows up on the court -- even talented kids. And I think that's why you see so many kids that are coming into college highly ranked that don't do so well. There's a lot of other stuff going on.
"And you see kids that aren't so highly ranked do very well. Because they've kind of got their priorities in line. They don't sweat the small stuff. They kind of understand what's important first, and that kind of thing. I think it definitely helps his maturity on the court."
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.