Posted by Chili

Missouri 86, Clemson 78

Just fucking enough, Purnell. Yes, I’m happy we made it to the NCAA Tournament 3 years in a row, but I’m overwhelmingly pissed at another absolutely pathetic showing in the postseason. Admittedly this was another matchup where we faced a seed perhaps a bit better than advertised (Villanova being underranked two years ago comes to mind), but the Tigers looked completely inept at ballhandling throughout the game and rushed a bunch of shit shots to the basket in the latter end of the 2nd half. I’d just love to see Purnell get angry at the team, or accurately prepare them for postseason play, or draw up some effective offensive plays under pressure, or WIN A FUCKING POSTSEASON GAME. As for me, I don’t see what’s there to give a shit about next time Clemson basketball season rolls around, you know it’s just going to end in flailing ineptitude.

Posted by Chili

Happy Stalk the Fuck Out of Teen Boys Day. The best place to follow the minute-by-minute updates is probably one of the pay sites like Rivals or Scout, but Tigernet has a pretty decent update page of when kids sign on the line that is dotted.

We’ll be back with a wrapup this evening. STAY TUNED.

Posted by Willy Mac

Off season worries are starting to turn into real fears in Clemson as the basketball team starts to break into the ACC portion of their schedule. The walls of Littlejohn aren’t falling down, but something is definitely amiss on the Tiger hard court.

They’ve taken care of business with most teams on their OOC schedule thus far. They’ve also clumsily stumbled through a few victories as well as been embarrassed on several occasions. One major hang up that has been plaguing Clemson this season is the lack of intensity that the Tigers have carried with them in recent seasons past.

The torch bearer of intensity for Clemson the past few years has traditionally been Trevor Booker. His recent quietness in the paint could be seen as the reason for the down play of the rest of the team. In this, his final season, he’s seen his numbers drop in average over what’s supposed to be the easier part of the year. He’s playing with reservation and it’s affecting just about everybody around him. Now, the reason of this post isn’t to bash him or make a scape goatout of him, but rather it’s just to point out what many Clemson fans having been noticing lately: Booker is not playing with the passion and focus as he has in years past to this point of the 2009/2010 campaign.

It seems as if he’s trying to adopt a more NBA-like attitude in his approach to playing the game. Trevor still plays well on defense, but his aggression has disappeared. His fouls troubles have pretty much gone away as well as a result of his new adopted passive style of play. This isn’t necessarily good news for Clemson fans.

Booker has seen as many minutes per game (about 29) as he did last year (about 30) and has been in possession of the ball throughout the game more now – averaging 24.9% of the total team possession – than at any other point in his career. Booker’s rebounds per game (8.667), field goal percentages (52.4%), and blocked shots per game (1.2) have all dropped down from his numbers last year of 9.719 RPG, 57.1%, and 1.969 BPG respectively.

NCAA Basketball

There are some bright spots as Booker’s assists are up and his fouls are down, but these figures have seen almost negligible change from last year.

That’s not to say that Trevor Booker is slacking off, but rather that he hasn’t played up to the huge and demanding expectations after a standout performance in the 2008/2009 season. Booker is still putting up great numbers and showing great leadership on and off of the court. Despite not playing as well as he has in the past, the Union High School product has been named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 Watch List. He hasn’t involved himself with any off campus drama or mixed words with the media. He’s done what has been asked of him day in and day out. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to show more of his former self when the Tigers go up against Boston College tomorrow at 4pm. Facing off against the ACC’s smallest team will give Booker the much needed opportunity to remind ACC opponents of how dominant “Big Book” can be.

Posted by Willy Mac

Thanks to everyone who sent the following link about Clemson Men’s Soccer coach Trevor Adair.  As you may or may not know by now, he’s stepped down and left the university.  This could be a huge blow to the program as he had our team playing as good as they have since our last national title run back in the late 80′s.  Word around campus is that he was pretty much forced out politely.  Rather, he was politely asked to leave before he was fired.

Again, my stance on firing people is that people get canned way too often and way too early  these days.  My take is that yeah, he fucked up.  Who doesn’t?  People deserve second and sometimes third chances.  Adair could have quite possibly been one of the last good coaches that had that old school swagger to him. I know I’ve been using this phrase a little bit too much lately, but he really is a Clemson-first kind of guy.  He always had the best intentions for our university.  He really took care of his players and Clemson students in general.  He made his decisions with the best intentions in mind (disregarding that one that got him in trouble).

So why, why should we be like everyone else and just fire a guy because he’s in a little legal trouble? Or fire him because he has a problem with the sauce?  Wouldn’t it be more prudent to give the guy a second chance and… wait for it… actually help out somebody that really needs it?  The guy obviously has a problem with alcohol and rage issues. So instead of helping him get the help that he needs, we just unceremoniously dumped a good Clemson guy.  I mean, we dropped him at the worst possible time for both parties involved and it kind of looks a little ugly.  Maybe I’m affected because I really liked Adair (but really could haven given a shit less about soccer).  Maybe I feel this way because he always treated my friends and I well. I don’t know, I just don’t like the situation and how they dressed it up as “Adair seeks new opportunities” for the news outlets.  I just think that this is a really retroactive, forced, uncaring, self-preserving, knee jerk (am I leaving anything out?) decision that was made.

Maybe him being asked to leave is a rumor, but that’s what I’m getting from some people that I know.  Of course, he really could have just stepped down to reevaluate his life. In that case, we still need to help him out.  I seriously doubt that thisis true largely due to the fact that he really needs a paycheck right now. What do you think?  Take it to the comments…

Posted by Willy Mac

It pains me to say this, but at this point in his career Barry Humphries has done more damage than he has good for our team.  I say this because he recently got his second DUI, as you probably already know by now.  On a moped, no less.  A vehicle that Clemson offensive linemen have had trouble navigating in the past. One can only wonder if alcohol played a factor in Hairston’s wreck as well…

I don’t enjoy writing this as I’ve hung out with Barry a few times and we kind of know each other.  I don’t mean that in a Clemson superfan, Tigernettish bragging sense nor do I mean it as if I’ve only been near him at a party and want to stretch the truth for storytelling’s sake.  He’s a good guy with a great personality.  I also have some good friends that grew up and went to high school with him.  He’s a good Clemson guy.  But you have to look at the facts at this point in time:

• Humphries has seen limited playing time and hasn’t garnered any real consideration as a leader on our front five.
• Barry already had a knee injury last year via the Bama/Tech games, so riding around on a moped drunk with only one year of eligibility left wasn’t the best choice of action.
• This is his second DUI.  He’s from Belton so he gets a pass on the first one, but two??? You didn’t learn your lesson the first time via legal fees, community service, etc?

I’m by no means saying we should cut our losses. There really needs to be a concerted effort in-house to not only take care of this issue, but make sure he gets the long term help he needs.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve driven around Clemson drunk before too. Most of us have a time or two.  I’m in no way supporting drunk driving, but you get in the car (or on the moped in this case) and figure, “Eh, I’m not that bad.  Plus, it’s Clemson.  We’re so far out in the country, there’s nothing to hit.”  Heck, I know some people who just have it in their skill set to be excellent drunk drivers. Another interesting fact is I used to be one of those annoying people on mopeds that cruised around campus and I learned pretty quickly that even though you’re paying attention, other people aren’t. I wound up halfway pinned underneath some dumb, blonde ADPi’s car in the Barre/Lehotsky parking lot a few years ago.  I never said this to her but in retrospect I should have at the time so I’ll do so now:  “Fuck you, dummy.  Pay attention to where you’re going and get off your fucking cell phone next time, you fucking pig.” Mopeds aren’t toys, despite what other people think.  The things can get you killed or hurt real easily… that sounded like a responsible adult thing to say and I just got douche chills typing it.

I guess this is the point where Barry finds out that Clemson players aren’t invincible and that they aren’t in a protective bubble in matters concerning drunk driving.

Chalk it up to being young and making a few stupid decisions, I guess. Unfortunately with South Carolina’s push on the drunk driving issue and this being his second, more likely than not the courts are going to make an example out of him.