Big Time Basketball
By: Roy Philpott
While the bowl game is still fresh on the minds of most Clemson fans, another enormous game sits directly on the horizon. And no I'm not talking about a match up with Alabama next year in the Georgia Dome to open to the 2008 football season nor the upcoming spring game.
I'm talking about basketball. Big time basketball.
Sunday night at Littlejohn Coliseum, the No. 1-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels will invade Littlejohn Coliseum to take on No. 19 Clemson at 7:30 for a nationally televised contest that will serve as a measuring stick for how far this program has come in Purnell's five years as the Tigers' head coach.
It's a chance for Clemson to return to it's basketball roots, so to speak.
Bare with me for a moment while I explain what I mean.
One of the running jokes I have with members of the media is that when I was in school at Clemson in the mid-1990's, Clemson was actually a basketball school. Of course I always get a couple of strange looks when I say that because if Clemson is known for anything the last 25 years- it's football much more than basketball.
Believe me, I understand that better than anyone.
However, from 1995 through 1997, the pinnacle of my academic career in Tigertown, Clemson was much better on the hardwood than the gridiron.
Rick Barnes arrived on the scene in 1994 and molded a team which was picked last in the league by the media and would later be deemed the "slab-five" into an NIT team in his very first season.
The following season, the Tigers' sported a roster that was full of freshmen and sophomores with no seniors. None the less, the team matured quickly enough to win 17 regular-season games. Greg Buckner then slammed away the North Carolina Tar Heels with a game-winning dunk in the first round of the ACC Tournament with 0.6 seconds remaining to help secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
From one of the worst teams in the ACC to one of the best in a matter of 18 months, Barnes put Clemson basketball on the map in a very big way.
The following year Clemson opened the season with a monumental win over defending National Champion and No. 3 ranked Kentucky in the Hoosier Dome. The largest crowd (32,400) to ever see the Tigers play basketball witnessed a thrilling overtime win that placed Clemson basketball on the national scene for the next two seasons.
Two months later, the 16-1 Tigers, now ranked No. 2 in the nation by the Associated Press, were set to take on No. 4 Wake Forest, who was led by the future No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft Tim Duncan.
On a chilly January night before a national television audience, a capacity crowd of 11,020 packed Littlejohn to provide one of the most electric atmospheres I've ever seen.
While Littlejohn Coliseum is an eighth the size of Death Valley, it was the loudest I've ever heard any sporting event at Clemson- or anywhere for that matter.
The Tigers would go on to lose the game by three points, that night was concrete proof that the students, alumni and fans of Clemson University will get behind the basketball program with just as much passion as it does football.
It was big time basketball.
After the loss to Wake, the Tigers would advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Minnesota in double overtime in one of the greatest college basketball games I've ever seen. Sure, the end of the year was somewhat disappointing, especially to lose a game that was there for the taking, but the journey to get there was unforgetaable, and the Wake Forest game in particular still reminds me of how Clemson fans can feel about their basketball program.
The same type of atmosphere should be expected Sunday night against the No. 1 Tar Heels.
No, the Tigers are not ranked as high as they were 12 years ago, but a No. 19 Clemson team playing the No. 1 team in the country on national television deserves the same sort of treatment from the fans as that 1997 tilt against Wake Forest.
Especially this team.
Remember, this isn't a squad that has eaten up non-conference cream puffs on the way to an over-inflated 12-1 record. This team has actually been tested by respectable competition- including at Alabama, at Mississippi State, Old Dominion, Purdue and DePaul.
This isn't the same team that took the floor last season against No. 4 North Carolina in Littlejohn. That team shot 34 percent from the field, including 4-of-19 from 3-point range and 5-of-19 from the free throw line. This is a team that makes better decisions, shoots better from the floor and the line and can also defend you the full length of the court with every player that sees significant playing time.
This is a team that has as good a chance to get to the Sweet 16 as that 1997 team did.
And now comes the ultimate test against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
"Certainly the fact that North Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the country provides added significance but this will provide a measuring stick of where we are," head coach Oliver Purnell. "We will certainly go into the game feeling like we can win and feeling like we are playing well."
Note to Clemson fans: Purnell isn't joking.
While the Tigers will be underdogs to the No. 1 ranked team in the country, even at home, this is a winnable game and it certainly has the possibility of becoming a statement game should the Tigers beat UNC. And the good news is Clemson appears to be playing its best basketball of the season coming off a 26-point road win at Alabama, the largest win by an opposing team on the Crimson Tide's home floor in over seven years.
"We are playing well right now," Purnell said. "Maybe as well as we've been playing all year."
North Carolina is still North Carolina.
But Clemson is no longer the Clemson of old.
Yes indeed this is big time basketball. And it starts Sunday night against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
Are you ready?
While the bowl game is still fresh on the minds of most Clemson fans, another enormous game sits directly on the horizon. And no I'm not talking about a match up with Alabama next year in the Georgia Dome to open to the 2008 football season nor the upcoming spring game.
I'm talking about basketball. Big time basketball.
Sunday night at Littlejohn Coliseum, the No. 1-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels will invade Littlejohn Coliseum to take on No. 19 Clemson at 7:30 for a nationally televised contest that will serve as a measuring stick for how far this program has come in Purnell's five years as the Tigers' head coach.
It's a chance for Clemson to return to it's basketball roots, so to speak.
Bare with me for a moment while I explain what I mean.
One of the running jokes I have with members of the media is that when I was in school at Clemson in the mid-1990's, Clemson was actually a basketball school. Of course I always get a couple of strange looks when I say that because if Clemson is known for anything the last 25 years- it's football much more than basketball.
Believe me, I understand that better than anyone.
However, from 1995 through 1997, the pinnacle of my academic career in Tigertown, Clemson was much better on the hardwood than the gridiron.
Rick Barnes arrived on the scene in 1994 and molded a team which was picked last in the league by the media and would later be deemed the "slab-five" into an NIT team in his very first season.
The following season, the Tigers' sported a roster that was full of freshmen and sophomores with no seniors. None the less, the team matured quickly enough to win 17 regular-season games. Greg Buckner then slammed away the North Carolina Tar Heels with a game-winning dunk in the first round of the ACC Tournament with 0.6 seconds remaining to help secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
From one of the worst teams in the ACC to one of the best in a matter of 18 months, Barnes put Clemson basketball on the map in a very big way.
The following year Clemson opened the season with a monumental win over defending National Champion and No. 3 ranked Kentucky in the Hoosier Dome. The largest crowd (32,400) to ever see the Tigers play basketball witnessed a thrilling overtime win that placed Clemson basketball on the national scene for the next two seasons.
Two months later, the 16-1 Tigers, now ranked No. 2 in the nation by the Associated Press, were set to take on No. 4 Wake Forest, who was led by the future No. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft Tim Duncan.
On a chilly January night before a national television audience, a capacity crowd of 11,020 packed Littlejohn to provide one of the most electric atmospheres I've ever seen.
While Littlejohn Coliseum is an eighth the size of Death Valley, it was the loudest I've ever heard any sporting event at Clemson- or anywhere for that matter.
The Tigers would go on to lose the game by three points, that night was concrete proof that the students, alumni and fans of Clemson University will get behind the basketball program with just as much passion as it does football.
It was big time basketball.
After the loss to Wake, the Tigers would advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Minnesota in double overtime in one of the greatest college basketball games I've ever seen. Sure, the end of the year was somewhat disappointing, especially to lose a game that was there for the taking, but the journey to get there was unforgetaable, and the Wake Forest game in particular still reminds me of how Clemson fans can feel about their basketball program.
The same type of atmosphere should be expected Sunday night against the No. 1 Tar Heels.
No, the Tigers are not ranked as high as they were 12 years ago, but a No. 19 Clemson team playing the No. 1 team in the country on national television deserves the same sort of treatment from the fans as that 1997 tilt against Wake Forest.
Especially this team.
Remember, this isn't a squad that has eaten up non-conference cream puffs on the way to an over-inflated 12-1 record. This team has actually been tested by respectable competition- including at Alabama, at Mississippi State, Old Dominion, Purdue and DePaul.
This isn't the same team that took the floor last season against No. 4 North Carolina in Littlejohn. That team shot 34 percent from the field, including 4-of-19 from 3-point range and 5-of-19 from the free throw line. This is a team that makes better decisions, shoots better from the floor and the line and can also defend you the full length of the court with every player that sees significant playing time.
This is a team that has as good a chance to get to the Sweet 16 as that 1997 team did.
And now comes the ultimate test against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
"Certainly the fact that North Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the country provides added significance but this will provide a measuring stick of where we are," head coach Oliver Purnell. "We will certainly go into the game feeling like we can win and feeling like we are playing well."
Note to Clemson fans: Purnell isn't joking.
While the Tigers will be underdogs to the No. 1 ranked team in the country, even at home, this is a winnable game and it certainly has the possibility of becoming a statement game should the Tigers beat UNC. And the good news is Clemson appears to be playing its best basketball of the season coming off a 26-point road win at Alabama, the largest win by an opposing team on the Crimson Tide's home floor in over seven years.
"We are playing well right now," Purnell said. "Maybe as well as we've been playing all year."
North Carolina is still North Carolina.
But Clemson is no longer the Clemson of old.
Yes indeed this is big time basketball. And it starts Sunday night against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
Are you ready?
posted by Roy Philpott @ 1:43 PM
3 Comments
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3 Comments:
I lost 5 POUNDS of sweat cheering my Tigers on for that wake game. Thanks for the walk down memory lane! great read and GO TIGERS!
Agree 1000% with your take on that Wake game. Littlejohn was deafening that night from the opening tip to the bullsh*t charge called on Jerkunus. Loudest sporting event I've ever been to.
I AM READY!!! time to run thru a wall and crush the HOLES
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