With Clemson’s basketball season being over it’s time to evaluate how the team performed. I’ll look at the high points and low points, individual player performances, whether or not the team met expectations, and what expectations should be for next season. We'd like to hear your thoughts on the season.
I did not expect too much out of this team at the beginning of the season. We lost our best player (Trevor Booker) to the NBA and were breaking in a new head coach. The roster didn’t appear to be stocked full of talent either. The heralded 2009 recruiting class did nothing during their freshman campaigns to instill confidence in the fanbase. After watching the rest of the ACC lay eggs in their early out of conference contests, I held out hope of a top 6 finish in the ACC. We lost Donte Hill before the season began. Then Noel Johnson (and his father) decided that Clemson’s offense didn’t fit Johnson’s talents just a few games into the season. Playing shorthanded and learning a new style of basketball, Clemson lost to ODU, Michigan, and Sakerlina. Most folks gave up on any Tourney appearance. Some thought we made a bad hire. Even so, I felt we were better than a handful of ACC teams and were only going to get better as the team adjusted to Coach Brownell’s new style. You could see the improvement in fundamentals.
After a close loss at FSU in which Clemson let the game slip away down the stretch, Clemson was able to pick up their best out of conference win of the season at College of Charleston After watching the FSU and CofC games, I was no longer hopeful that we could finish in the top 6. I expected it.
ACC play had its ups and downs. Clemson was 2-3 after dropping a close road contest at Maryland. In the following game against NC State, Clemson came out flat and looked as if they were going to be blown out of the gym. All the sudden something clicked. Clemson turned it on and over the next 3 halves (2nd half of NC State and the entire FSU game) and we completely dominated our opponents. Excitement and expectations were on the rise, so naturally Clemson followed with a stinker at UVA Things went as expected after that, with the possible exception of the loss at NC State, and we were faced with a must-win matchup against Virginia Tech. Clemson played well enough to halt a determined VT squad and placed themselves on the right side of the bubble.
After blowing out BC in the 1st round of the ACC tournament, Clemson lost a heartbreaker in the 2nd round against UNC. Clemson had this game firmly in their grasp and coughed it up. Should Brownell have called the timeout on the final play? Still, with UNC being a top 10 team, morale stayed high after proving we could play with one of the best teams in the country on a "neutral" court.
After receiving the shaft by the NCAA selection committee, Clemson headed to Dayton for a "play-in" game. Clemson started extremely hot and blew the doors off of the UAB Blazers. UAB was able to get as close as 8 at one point, but the lead was quickly extended and they never posed much of a threat. There was no time for celebrating Clemson’s first NCAA tournament victory since 1997 because of some God-awful scheduling by the NCAA. Instead, Clemson took an overnight flight to Tampa, got a little sleep, participated in media sessions, had a short walkthrough to actually prep for WVU, and then headed to bed in order to be ready for the 1st game of the day on Thursday. All the while, WVU was able to travel to Tampa on their own terms, conduct normal practices and film sessions, prepare for the winner of Clemson/UAB, and get a good night’s sleep. If that doesn’t sound fair it’s because it isn’t. Sometimes you have to play the cards you are dealt, but I’d be shocked if the NCAA doesn’t change their scheduling next year.
Here is DrB’s recap for that game. Clemson started out fast and looked to be in control. But a terrible stretch to close out the 1st half set the tone, and, unfortunately it carried over to the 2nd half, where Clemson wasn’t able to fully recover. Clemson cut the lead down to 3 with just over a minute left, but a blown call by the official gave WVU two points at the free throw line. Down 5, Clemson was baffled by WVU’s 1-3-1 defense and committed nearly identical turnovers on 3 straight possessions. That was the nail in the coffin.
It was a disappointing way to end the season. But if someone told me at the beginning of the season that Clemson would pick up an NCAA tournament victory I’d have told them they were crazy. I was impressed with Coach Brownell’s ability to get the most out of the talent he was given. Now I’m looking for him to improve the talent level. In order to compete at the highest level you need to recruit top tier talent. If he can do that, while continuing to develop his players and getting guys to play for each other rather than for themselves, than he can really do some good things here at Clemson.
