(Cool chart from Statsheet. I think I like win probability charts a little more, but I haven't been able to find them for NCAA basketball games and this is pretty close. I assume they are using Bill James' formula to calculate safe leads, but I might be wrong.)
Clemson 87, Boston College 77
After a rocky first few minutes, I thought Clemson settled in and pretty much had there way on offense. Boston College was getting good pressure on the perimeter early and denying the pass inside, but then something happened I haven't seen in a while from Clemson--good second and third passes inside the arc. This helped them find open people around the basket and eventually opened up the outside shot. The guard play was tremendous today, both Stitt and Oglesby took care of the ball and moved it around very well. I mentioned in the preview that Boston College's defense isn't great, but the stats indicate this isn't necessarily true around the perimeter, so that shouldn't take anything away from Oglesby and Stitt's performances.
The defense looked great, too--forcing turnovers against a team that handles the ball well. Sure, they gave up a lot on the glass, but that's going to happen to a team that presses like Clemson. I thought in the first half BC was pushing Clemson around underneath and grabbing a few too many boards in Clemson's halfcourt defense. But Clemson righted the ship pretty well in the second half and got a lot more active on the boards on both sides of the court. As an aside, I don't think we should be too bothered by Clemson's negative rebounding deficit. Even in the halfcourt set, I think Purnell gets his guys to focus on pressuring the shooter, with rebounding being more secondary. Its not uncommon to see two sets of hands in a shooters face when the ball gets down in the blocks. My guess is Purnell feels the value gained from forcing a bad shot compensates for giving up the occasional offensive rebound.
I think there was a lot of (understandable) handwringing in the blogosphere and from the media after the Florida State loss. But I gotta say, i think its best to keep in mind that we now have a reasonable sample size of 23 games and the computers, sportswriters, and coaches all agree that this is easily a top fifteen team, translating to a top four seed in the tourney. Now, its true that certain teams present matchup problems for the Tigers (specifically: tall teams), but despite my earlier warning, with a favorable draw there's no reason to think this team can't make a deep run in the tourney. I'm just saying its an exciting time to be a Clemson basketball fan...
A few ClemBen notes...
- Is TO trying to steal the label of most hated white guy in college bball away from Greg Paulsen. That dunk when the game was over is just asking for it. But hey, I give him credit--I certainly didnt think he could get that high up with such ease.
- Sykes definitely stepped up big. Grant is having the kind of season off the bench that has anchored the team on the interior at times this season--something I dont think many foresaw happening, but with four fouls this was perhaps Sykes standout performance of the year. Turns out he is a pretty nice guy too.
- I got pretty nervous when Rice went NBA isolation on us for something like eight straight points near the end. I questioned keeping the press on when BC got into the double bonus especially with Rice getting fouled and shooting a lights out percentage in ACC conference play. Turns out it was the right decision and forced some turnovers but I think we should pay attention to the physical stamina of the team down the homestretch--particulary with Booker at the top of the press. If some key players hit the proverbial wall then our transition game will suffer, its at least something to look out for as the season progresses and we position ourselves for tourney time.
No comments:
Post a Comment