Costly loss

posted by LW, Monday, March 08, 2010

You might say the signs were not in Clemson's favor heading into last night's game in Winston-Salem.

The Demon Deacons, losers of four straight, are fighting like mad for an NCAA Tournament bid. And it's Senior Night.

They have a players-only meeting three days before the game.

And Karl Hess is officiating.

Were I a gambling man, and if I had a farm, I'd have considered betting the farm.


But seriously, costly loss for the Tigers.

A win would've meant so much, and it goes beyond the No. 3 seed and first-round bye in this week's ACC Tournament.

It would've been their sixth win in seven games, and no Clemson team has closed its ACC slate on that kind of run since 1966-67.

It would've given them a 10-6 ACC record, one win more than last year's 9-7 mark. How many people thought before the season that this bunch, minus Rivers and Oglesby and Sykes, would be better than last year's -- and do it facing one of the toughest schedules in the conference?

All that said, the real opportunity for this program to show it's progressed yet again is to make some noise in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

Had the Tigers finished 10-6 and suffered yet another first-round ouster in the NCAA Tournament, it'd be sorta the same old story. If they make a run in the ACC Tournament and manage to advance past the first round of the NCAAs, not many people are going to be talking about last night's loss at Wake Forest.

And I tend to think Oliver Purnell really likes this team because of its ability to play defense. You just wonder why he didn't back off the press a little more last night and force the Deacons into the plodding, halfcourt game that's been their kryptonite the last two seasons.

Bart Wright attended last night's game and doesn't appear convinced this is an NCAA Tournament team.

Instead, this was a most deserving defeat, a loss that confirmed Clemson didn’t belong in third place, which is a little odd in that the Tigers are virtually assured of an invitation to the NCAATournament with a sixth-place conference tournament seed while Wake Forest’s 70-65 victory gave it a fifth place seed, yet the Deacons still have their fingers crossed regarding the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t know,” said Wake Forest Coach Dino Gaudio when asked if he felt his 19-9 (9-7 in the ACC) team had done enough to warrant an NCAA bid, “I like to think so, but I don’t know.”

Clemson Coach Oliver Purnell has voiced no such concerns, although, at 21-9 and 9-7, a first round loss to 11-seed North Carolina State Thursday night might make the selection committee wonder how good the Tigers really are.

If they saw this game, the committee might have come away with the thought that this was a team that didn’t look ready for the postseason.

Here's the game story from the Greenville News' Scott Keepfer, and also from Greg Wallace of the Independent-Mail.

Here's what Purnell had to say about his team's transition defense:

“It was another thing we talked about,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “With (quick Wake Forest guard) Ish Smith, I didn’t think we got back and ID’d people, and they got easy layups and got a working margin. The transition really hurt us coming out of the gate in the second half.”

Again, seemed like Clemson made life more difficult for itself by trying to press the fastest point guard in the league.

Here's the view from Wake Forest's side, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Aminu said he, for one, was happy to see the Tigers' willingness to run.

"That's the game I like," Aminu said. "When I saw the first one go through the hoop, it felt good. It had been awhile since I scored. After that I was playing normal again.

"I just became frustrated and stuff. I think the losing got to me and things like that. (Yesterday) I just came out with a clear mind. It was Senior Night and I just wanted to play so hard for them. I didn't worry about myself. Once I made my first bucket, everything just came naturally."

Here's what Chas McFarland had to say about his 15-round bout with Trevor Booker:

"I told Chas after the game, I thought he was excellent," Gaudio said. "Trevor is not a good player, he's a great player. And (McFarland) plays him pretty well when he plays him."

McFarland's plan was to use his 7-0 height to alter the shots of the 6-7 Booker.

"He's really skilled," McFarland said of Booker. "He just has trouble scoring over the top of people sometimes.

"Coach told me to stay between him and the basket. He missed some easy ones that he usually makes, so I you could say I got lucky on a couple of them."

Those put-backs by McFarland in the second half hurt almost as much as McFarland's elbow that opened up the gash above Booker's left eye.

“I thought it was physical,” Purnell said. “I would have liked see a few more fouls called in there, particularly when they split his head open…. It was a hard, tough game. Book didn’t finish a lot in there.”


Did last night cost Booker a spot on the All-ACC first team? Should be interesting to see, because you figure it's between him and Aminu for the fifth spot.

Jim Young of the ACC Sports Journal still puts Booker on his first team because Booker does more for his team, and I would agree. Though it's hard to completely ignore someone who averages a double-double.

Also agree with Young's player of the year (Vasquez) and coach of the year (Gary Williams).

Don't agree with not putting Jerai Grant on the all-defensive team.

Excellent job by the baseball team yesterday in Columbia. Gotta admit I didn't see the Tigers winning the series after the Gamecocks' comeback in Greenville on Saturday.

Here's The Post and Courier's story from yesterday's beatdown.

The largest crowd in Carolina Stadium history showed up Sunday. It looked like a pedestrian midweek game, though, after a couple of hours and a few innings.

It's not exactly breaking news that South Carolina fans don't like to stick around to watch Clemson handle the Gamecocks -- in any sport, baseball included.

And that's just what the No. 13 Tigers did in the series' deciding game, using a six-run second inning -- and leadoff hitter Chris Epps' grand slam -- to vault to a 19-6 victory against No. 15 USC in front of 8,214 fans.

"We kind of hit on all cylinders today," Tigers coach Jack Leggett said. "It was one of those games when it was tough to stop us."

Kudos to both schools for pulling off the Clemson-Greenville-Columbia concept. Absolutely fantastic.

Gene Sapakoff gives his take on it and says they should work to include Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Fort Mill to the middle-game concept.

Could you imagine these teams hopping into a bus late Friday night and spending four or five hours getting to Myrtle Beach or Charleston?

Sorry, but I don't see it happening. The current framework is perfect.

Bart Wright gives his approval to the Clemson-Greenville-Columbia thing.

Caulton Tudor gives his disapproval to North Carolina's effort Saturday night at Duke.

In its 100th year of competition, the school has unveiled a couple of commemorative uniforms for what quickly turned into a disappointing celebration of excellence. The 1957 replicas of an undefeated team were used a time or two, and there was a mostly silver outfit to mark Michael Jordan's 25th year of affiliation with Nike.

But the jersey that might suit this team best would be one that has "AAU-NC" embroidered on the front. That's what these Carolina players have most resembled - a random collection of AAU summer campers.

Here's an update on N.C. State, which actually hasn't been playing all that poorly lately.

Congrats to Daniel and DeAndre Hopkins for winning the state title.

And fans are welcome to today's 3:30 p.m. spring practice at Clemson.

A week or two ago, Paul Hewitt stressed that Georgia Tech was on the verge of something big.

Yellow Jackets fans are still waiting.


LW

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