It's not some magic dust of "momentum/confidence" the b'ball

Jan 17, 2016, 5:15 PM

team has found. If that were the case, it would have been found more often in twenty-five years.
It's called: "pretty good players who are experienced and playing hard team D and with good chemistry". Also, a better shooting team overall, which is of course the essence of this game.

I was courtside and able to see it live for the first time myself.

First, Brad must have been reading my comments the last few years

about the Wooden-esque philosophy of finding five good players who can play like five fingers of a hand working together and just keeping them in there with limited substitutions. The Chinese firedrill philosophy of a sub every two minutes may have been more necessary with Purnells' full court teams but not this style. Now he has the best conditioned "Fab Five" on the planet, and they even finished this game strong while Miami began to flag. The "run" we went on at the end was because of this, not magic potions and the sudden appearance of mystical virtues.

More likely than Brad reading my posts, however, is simply that he doesn't have a lot of skill past the seventh man (I"m not sure if he has a hurt player or what). Or he might have figured this chemistry thing out on his own. But I was pleasantly surprised to see him go with his guys and only bring in two subs the ENTIRE night (Djitte and Devoe). This will continue to work great, but he and all of us need to hit our knees each night and pray that none of the "Seven" get injured. I love it, though.

More specifics:

Blossomgame played lights out, overall game. He is the only FORWARD that creates well off the dribble.If I had a session or two with him I would work with him (and other players) on USING THE GLASS on the shots at angles. He seems to NOT do this and the ball caroms off the "in-between" zone. (This also happened on the last second shot play that was designed for him). Grantham, I can see, is making efforts to, but is limited in his ability to do it. At guard, Roper, does some creating, but moves almost exclusively to his left when doing it. They pick and roll a lot with him going to his left; however, he NEVER bounce passes it off the roll to the screener, who is usually a big who probably can't handle the ball anyway. Neither Djitte or Noko has near the hands to be "Malone" to Jordan's "Stockton. I suggest he do the pick and rolls with Blossomgame instead (try to forge this to happen).

I can see the five seconds-less time clock is requiring more urgency to create more off the dribble. No more of this "pass the potato around for half a minute."

I picked my program up when I walked in and was disappointed to see the rebounding avgs, and could see why during the game. We just don't get many offensive rebounds (usually it's Blossomg. getting 'em if we do) and the D rebouding is just so-so. Even loose balls. Our strength seemed to be, again, team chemistry, defense and shooting (FT's not even included here - anomaly night of 15 for 15).

Djitte's defense pretty good in the team concept, but he has the hands of a soccer player. Too many muffed balls.

To summarize: the team chemistry and toughness and upper leadership are going to carry this team.

Holmes is solid running the show and a needed stalwart defender on the perimeter though not much of a shooter. Everyone plays their role really well, which is huge in basketball.

Defensive rotations outstanding when we had to switch off and got caught in a mismatch. Brownell really knows his stuff here.

Yet another positive sign is: low turnovers for the Tigers. I didn't see many. I would bet we had 10 or less for the entire game. This is big, very big, when a team takes care of the ball well like this. Each turnover is like throwing a fifty-dollar bill on the ground and just giving money away so someone who doesn't need it. This is another big sign of team chemistry.

Here's another nuance that few will point out: the rims. Those rims and backboards at the Well are very TIGHT, they don't wiggle at all. This basically makes it slightly harder to score. Only basketball players will notice this. I could see in the pre-game dunks in the warm-ups that they don't move. This actually sets us up to shoot better on the road, because no rims out there could be this tight, so we'll be used to a tougher basket, plus the Well is sort of like an away game for us since they practice in Clemson. So I look forward to seeing how we play AND SHOOT on the road.

Signed: Silavocati, former college basketball player

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perhaps you're confused and read someone else and thought I was them. My advice for you is don't read my stuff if you don't want a different more in-depth basketball analysis from court side - things you just won't find in the usual generic and hokey headline articles. As observed by a former player and coach. So do yourself a favor there. I won't put together many of these because of two very sick parents, but when I can find an opportunity I try to get down there and really see what is going on with this team. I like Brownell - he's had some weaknessess, but he's overcoming them. This is all about Clemson Tigers and not about me, that us for sure. Just make sure you don't make things about yourself. Just try to read and gain something. Or don't read my stuff. That is all.

It's not some magic dust of "momentum/confidence" the b'ball

Re: It's not some magic dust of "momentum/confidence" the b'ball

not sure what you are referring to

He's right. Your post comes off kind of pompous. You pat yourself on the

He make a lot of good observations, pretty much agree***

kewl with you if they pack the magic dust versus

Re: It's not some magic dust of "momentum/confidence" the b'ball

exactly, it's about execution not some mysterious...

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