It's March again

Every year during college basketball season, there are magical climbs and magical falls. No two teams seemed to epitomize the euphoria and the utter agony of the extremes of college basketball better than Clemson and Davidson.

Both teams started the year with airs of uncertainty as they returned limited starters, and only had one scholarship senior between them. Projections placed both Clemson and Davidson directly in the middle of their conference with the possibility of rising to the top and slipping to the very bottom.

By the beginning of January, Clemson and Davidson had a combined record of 30-4, and both teams were coming off of huge victories over conference rivals on the same night. Davidson had fended off pre-season top pick College of Charleston on their home court, while Clemson had beaten Georgia Tech on a layup with time expiring.

However, on the night of January 13th, the spirits of college basketball whisked Davidson into the driver's seat, while subsequently driving Clemson back into the dungeon of self-doubt and mediocrity that has long plagued the Tiger basketball program.

On that night, Davidson was battling for their lives on the road in Spartanburg, SC. The Wofford Terriers refused to relent, and the Wildcats were beginning to see that conference play would not be nearly as easy as they had made it look. With under a minute remaining, Wofford was only one possession away from pulling off the upset when Will Archambault hit one of the biggest threes of his young career as a Wildcat. Davidson would go on to win by five.

Up the road in College Park, MD, Clemson was feeling the pressure of its nation-longest streak, and they were being pushed to the wire by a tough Maryland squad. WIth opportunities to score down the stretch, Clemson continually missed the front ends of 1-in-1's and dropped the contest by the same margin: five.

As Davidson rolled through their conference season with their only blemish coming at home against Appalachian State, Clemson began feeling the pressure; their poor field goal shooting cost them the game against UNC while poor refereeing cost them a precious win at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Davidson's young team was finding their identity and imposing it on their opponents, while Clemson crumbled under the high intensity of the ACC conference schedule. The Tigers finished the season 7-9 in the conference and ended up with the eight seed in the conference tournament.

With the regular seasons wrapped up, the conference tournaments became microcosms of the balance of confidence, coaching and talented play that is in constant flux within the college basketball season. Davidson entered the tournament as the top seed, fully confident of their ability to advance to the NCAA tournament. Clemson entered with a requisite for immediate success in order to be considered for an NCAA at-large bid, this coming only months after Clemson was thought to be a contender for the league title.

One minute of one game within each respective tournament showed confidence and resiliency juxtaposed with doubt and fear as both teams neared the conclusion of games that would decide their postseason future.

The Wildcats were tied with the hometown Cougars with five minutes remaining in the SoCon championship game. With no shot at an at-large bid, both teams realized that their seasons came down to execution at the end of the game. Although decibel levels were reaching record highs, Davidson was able to force a turnover by all-conference player Dontaye Draper and convert it into an old-fashioned three-point play. Another forced turnover on the next possession caused a run-out and easy layup by Thomas Sander. The Wildcats had used their defense to create offense and put the game away. The Cougars would never get back to within two, and the Wildcats danced into the NCAA tournament.

With the game tied and one minute remaining against Florida State in the ACC's opening round of its tournament in Tampa, Clemson knew that they needed to pull out a victory in order to have any hope of dancing in the NCAAs. The Tiger defense muscled up for one final stand and rookie Trevor Booker made a tremendous block and recovery as the shot clock wound down. The Tigers would have the last shot of the game. But, as Vernon Hamilton dribbled the ball over half-court, his routine pass to Cliff Hammonds bounced off his knee and caused a backcourt violation. The Seminoles received a controversial foul call ("In no way was that a foul," Billy Packer), and won the game with a free throw in the final seconds. Clemson's spirit had driven them so far, and yet their propensity to make bone-headed mistakes and create their own bad luck did them in at the end.

Two teams started the season with talent, great coaching, and a ton of uncertainty. By the beginning of March, the bounces and rollercoasters of college basketball had taken their toll and separated the victims from the heroes. Some now go home, while others march on.

Moving On

You knew it was coming. You know that a die-hard Clemson fan like myself doesn't just let such a situation as the ".6 controversy" go by without a blog entry. Around the blogging world right now, there are talks of conspiracy, positing that Coach K is satan incarnate, and repeated jokes about Duke Lacrosse.

In the midst of everything that has gone down, especially the recent press release from the ACC stating that a mistake was made, I have some self-congratulatory thoughts about Oliver Purnell.

Back in the fall, there was a huge controversy in college football over an onside kick call in the Oklahoma-Oregon game. The Sooner faithful were convinced that they had been screwed and video evidence confirmed that they were right. Everyone in the entire state, from the fans to the coaches to the political leaders, were so outraged that they made public calls for justice, including an official reversal of the game's outcome.

Although the Duke-Clemson should have gone to overtime, Oliver Purnell has not said anything to anyone. The Clemson administration have shown their displeasure and vowed to move on. The Clemson players will show up on Sunday against Virginia and will play their game. All of this is because of a coach who truly understands the game. Purnell knows that there are always 13 players on the basketball court. While some of them are held to higher and more official standards of success, they are still players. Coach Purnell knows that you can't reverse a game's outcome because an opponent made an impossible play, or because a teammate missed an easy play. Why, then should a game be reversed because the officials messed up? They are part of the game, and that's what every player, coach and fan accepts when their team walks on the basketball court.

Coach Purnell demonstrated to the nation that he and his players were above whining and moaning over a mistake. They set an example for youth leagues, parents, and athletes everywhere. Whining isn't a virtue, and sporting outcomes shouldn't be the business of government officials and school presidents. They let it go, and by doing so, they have helped me to let it go. Thanks Coach.

Tiger Cagers Moving On Up

On a lukewarm day in Nashville just before New Year's, a remarkable thing occured. Clemson football fans started chanting "Let's play basketball!" as they were getting pummeled by the Kentucky Wildcats in the Music City Bowl. What is even more ironic is that the Clemson Tiger faithful were not being facetious by any stretch. They wanted to play basketball, and by most estimates, this 17th-ranked Clemson Tiger basketball team could probably beat the unranked Wildcats from Kentucky. With the exodus of several key players from a football team that finished the season 1-3, maybe it is time for a new sport in Clemson.

So what is going on in Tigertown? When did Clemson become a basketball school? Well the answer is that it didn't happen yesterday. This talented team has been coming together for several years as Head Coach Oliver Purnell has recruited to a system of trapping defenses and talented players that can run the floor and play many different positions. He has also instilled a confidence and an intelligence that winning programs seem to inherently possess. All of a sudden, the Tigers are 17-0 and are making national headlines.

For an example of the dynamic quality of this team, take the Tigers' second leading scorer James Mays. At 6'9," he's Clemson's leading rebounder with 124 boards, including 51 offensive. However, he also leads the team in steals with 37. Mays plays at the top of a full-court pressing defense that has caused all sorts of problems for the Tigers' opponents this year. As a result, the Tigers have an overall turnover margin of +80 on the season, and get many of their points on broken plays.

This Clemson team, although it has struggled at times with three-point and free throw shooting, has a knack for keeping itself in big games and causing havoc for its opponents. The Tigers already knocked off Florida State and Georgia Tech on last second layups and extended their ACC record to 3-0 with a win at N.C. State this week. This team, the only unbeaten team left in D-I basketball, has pride, and they are going to prove to be a force in ACC basketball this season. With a defense that can mess with offenses of the highest caliber, this Clemson team almost seems to will itself into games that past Tiger teams would have lost. They hang around and eventually wear out the opposition.

Of course, no good basketball story is ever complete without a Davidson reference. In this case, we need look no farther than our own Will Roberson. Roberson was a Davidson manager and Director of Basketball Operations before becoming a graduate assistant on Purnell's staff. Angelo Lento ranks Will as one of college basketball's 50 most eligible bachelors (we'll see what his fiance thinks about that). He now sits at the end of the Clemson bench taking stats and every once in a while you can see him celebrate on national television when the Tigers hit a game-winning shot.



The Tigers face off against the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday at 2 p.m. That game will be televised on ESPNU.