Monday February 19, 2007

Baseball; Hoops Woes; Clock Rules; TDP

Opening Weekend
There were times this weekend where the baseball team looked worthy of it rankings and times it looked like it was playing in a February baseball game. There were some positives and some negatives that came out of the series.

In Friday's 14-0 route Clemson pounded out 20 hits. Who would have thought that that would have been 12 more than they would have the rest of the weekend? I guess the old baseball idea was in place where you use all of your runs and hits up in one route. The Tigers' 17-game home winning streak dating back to 2006 was snapped with George Mason's win on Saturday.

I am a little concerned that over the course of the last few years left-handers seem to give the Tigers a little more trouble than righties.

I was encouraged by the gutsy comeback performance on Sunday but again disappointed to strand 11 runners on base.

The starting pitchers gave up one run in 15 innings of work but I am concerned the bullpen gave up 8 runs (7 earned runs) in nine innings pitched over the last two games of the series. But I am impressed Daniel Moskos picked up where he left off including a key one-out situation in the top of the eighth on Sunday.

The starting pitching looked very good as a whole but the defense showed some signs for concern.

Even the setting was an up and down affair. I could imagine a Clemson game without the Cheap Seats but almost 15,000 did take in the weekend series despite cold and windy conditions. I would say it is a safe bet the Tigers break the attendance record again this season.

The Tigers will play a midweek home game versus High Point before playing host to Pacific during the weekend for a three-game set. Clemson has never faced Pacific on the diamond. High Point has had a strange start to the season with a 2-4 record but three straight games were cancelled because of weather. Going into Sunday High Point had wins over UNC-Charlotte and Longwood. Pacific was 3-6 going into Sunday with two wins over Cal-State Northridge and one over Nevada.

Speaking of weather, forecasts call for much better weather for all four games this week. I know it is early to start talking about weather for the weekend but at least it looks good now.

Basketball Slump
Where did the energy go? Where did the momentum go? Where did the confidence go?

Clemson has lost seven of their last nine games with three or more coming against teams I marked down as underdogs coming into the game. The Tigers are now on the outside looking in on the NCAA field and trying to avoid a tremendous late season collapse.

My main concern continues to the identity. In parts of the second half of the Maryland contest Sunday the Tigers looked like they had regained the defensive intensity that they had during the 17-game winning streak. Clemson cut into the Maryland lead by pressuring the ball and extending their half-court defense. However, it was too many easy baskets in the end as the Terps pounded the ball inside.

I would say the difference in points in the pain have become another major factor in this skid. The Tigers have not pounded the ball inside on the offensive end but have been beaten badly on the defensive end by allowing so many points in the paint.

Another major concern that has shown its head in this skid is the fact that freshmen guards, especially point guards have outplayed Clemson's more experienced backcourt.

Perhaps my biggest hope is that this team can regain its moxie and resiliency. If the Tigers can regain the attitude and the toughness then they can regain the early season form. I think Sam Perry could be a big part of it on the defensive end. He seems to generate energy through his steals, blocked shots, rebounds and toughness. On the offensive end I would think the Tigers will continue to see a lot more zone. If that is the case I think Vernon Hamilton will have to do a better job of penetrating the zones. Clemson is not the kind of team that will have extended success shooting over the top of zones but there are other ways to beat that. They will have to become the force they once were on the offensive boards as well.

New Clock Rules
There was a "The Who" song years ago that said, "Make the new boss, same as the old boss." Well college football is close to having its new clock rules that were the same as the old clock rules.

Last season the clock rule changes were a joke and college football coaches complained enough to get them looked at. It appears we will get back to the old clock rules for 2007 which is great news. I did not like the idea of limiting play in order to speed up the game. The one thing that slows the game down the most now is the awful replay system. I like how the NFL handles their replay and think it would be a tremendous improvement from the current college replay. Was it just me or did it seem every position change last season was followed by a replay?

TDP to ARK?
With Frank Broyles retiring from Arkansas some have pondered the idea of Terry Don Phillips to Arkansas as their new AD. I do not know Phillips and have not talked to him on this subject but I would be surprised if he had interest in the move to Fayetteville. I am not sure of Arkansas' list of candidates or their timetable but I would be surprised if Phillips has serious interest.

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