VIRGINIA RECAP II

Clemson 72, Virginia 57

ClemBen outlined the ugly turn Clemson's chances for a first round bye took tonight. If I understand right (going off the 2007 rules here), if we end in a three way 10-6 tie, Clemson is the odd team out. The combined record of the ties teams against each other is compiled, leaving the following (assuming a Clemson win and a FSU win):

3) Wake Forest 2-1 (one win over Clemson, one over FSU-gives them the tiebreak for the #3 spot)
4) FSU 2-1 (two wins over Clemson, loss to FSU)
5) Clemson 1-3

Clemson has to beat WF and hope for a VT upset of FSU. Both of these seem pretty unlikely, so get ready for GT in the first round, FSU in the second. Yeah, FSU...there's the bad postseason matchup I was worried about.

Clemson had the game put away at the under 4:00 timeout, second half. Its good to get the win, but I honestly didn't see much that encouraged me. The first half was more of the same from Clemson, and a better shooting team would have been up by 12 at the break. Too sloppy with the ball, giving up open looks on defense, and unable to feed the post.

I did like how Purnell went man-to-man in the second-half, mixing things up a little. But I think the credit for tonight's victory has to go to the Cavaliers' meltdown, a few unforced turnovers resulting in some easy buckets for Clemson and they really unraveled.

One last chance for some serious adjustments as we go against WF on Sunday. Let's hope to see some focused play and some early different looks from Clemson's defense, or things could get ugly fast. One other thing to keep an eye on for the WF game: according to Tigernet, KC Rivers played the second half with an injured shoulder. Given his poor play in the last couple of games, I'm wondering if this hasn't been some festering issue for Rivers.