VIRGINIA TECH RECAP

Virginia Tech 80, Clemson 77

Uggh, that was miserable. Of the four must-win games I listed last week, the order of concern I felt about each game was approximately as follows:

1) @Georgia Tech
2) Maryland
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        big gap
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3) Virginia Tech
4) Virginia

I really thought we were on our way to 10 wins after beating GT. Now we have to steal one against FSU or WF on the road, and I really think that's a tall order. We're probably looking at a 9-7 conference record and a 5 or 6 seed in the ACC tourney. I still hold out some hope Clemson can prove me wrong at FSU, but yeah...

So how did they lose the game? I think there were two factors at play. First and foremost, Clemson played a lax game--sloppy ball handling, lazy passes. If you give a bad defensive/good offensive team a bunch of unforced turnovers, its going to make their chances of victory exponentially better (okay not exponentially better, but you get the picture). They also looked tired--I was left wondering if they had hit a wall tonight, they just weren't getting back quickly or running the floor the way like they have at earlier points in the season.

The second factor was the officiating. To be clear, its not the calls going one way or the other, I thought the refs were pretty consistent throughout the game. It was the style of officiating. The refs seemed to call any contact a foul almost the entire night. This of course is a massive disadvantage for Clemson, body contact and slaps at the ball are essential to an effective press, and the refs were having none of it last night. It had the effect of rendered the full-court press pretty much useless. That being said, Clemson has to recognize this and adjust their game plan. I think they stuck to the full-court press way too long, even if they were running a few variants. The halfcourt traps late in the game I thought were fairly effective, it would have been nice to see them earlier.

I've been kind to Clemson during their losses this season, even defending the Virginia loss to some extent. But for last night's performance, they really have no one to blame but themselves. And it could prove extremely costly.

Oh, and Hubert Davis: worst commentary of the year.