Thursday February 26, 2009

The Day After; What Now?; Too Bad; Baseball

The Day After
I am sure many of you feel differently about last night’s game than I do. I don’t have a whole lot to complain about.

Don’t get me wrong, the loss really hurt. I guess you can point to some missed shots in the paint from Demontez Stitt and Trevor Booker. I guess the Tigers turned it over too many times in the first half. I guess they lost the three-point shooters too often early in the second half.

But I can’t fault this team because they played hard.

Wednesday’s game reminded me of Nebraska football where their fans applaud their team after a loss if they feel the Huskers gave it 100%. Interestingly enough, I heard some cheers from fans last night as the team walked off of the court.

I don’t think I have ever complained about missed shots. The nature of the game is that shots fall sometimes and others they don’t. I complain about lack of effort. I complain when I see my team not play hard on the defensive end. I get upset when I see my favorite team make a bunch of mental mistakes. But missed shots will not get my blood pressure up.

One thing that is difficult to do is give the opponent credit but that is exactly what needed to happen here. Virginia Tech came into Clemson in a hostile environment with their backs to the wall. This was a must win for the Hokies and they showcased mental toughness in winning a huge game on the road.

Wake Forest was just better than Clemson earlier when they won in Littlejohn and I could live with that. North Carolina is better than the Tigers and really played well the night they beat Clemson in Chapel Hill and I could live with that. However, I was furious after the Florida State loss because there is no excuse for losing a huge lead like that. The Virginia game had me steaming because of the lack of intensity.

No one hates losing more than me but sometimes you just have to shake the other guys hand and congratulate them on a terrific effort. Congrats to the Hokies.

What Now?
Now the Tigers face two of their last three games as underdogs on the road. Clemson has to take a book out of Virginia Tech’s page and show some mental toughness in trips to Tallahassee and Winston-Salem.

I think it is imperative for Clemson to upset either the Seminoles Saturday or the Demon Deacons next Sunday.

I know it has been said many times throughout this long season but there is still a bunch of basketball to be played. This team needs to find a way to get to 10-6 in the ACC.

There is a lot of basketball left and it will be interesting to watch the final ten days of the regular season with Duke, Florida State, Clemson, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Boston College all fighting for a bye in the ACC tournament. Six teams are fighting for the final three spots. That means three very good teams will have to play in the first round of the tournament.

Too Bad
The officiating was not the difference in the game last night. However, it is a shame that the level of play on this conference is as good as any in America but night in and night out the officiating just gets worse. Both coaches had legit arguments last night. I knew it was going to be a long night when Karl Hess was the best official. Mike Eades and Tim Nestor are just incompetent. The league deserves better than their consistent bad calls.

My good friend Hook Bruner sent me a text message during the game last night that read, “The officiating has been both fair and consistent…Unfortunately the fair parts are not consistent and the consistent parts are not fair.

Big Baseball Series
Since tomorrow’s blog is our E-Mail Bag feature, I wanted to mention the Clemson-South Carolina baseball series coming up this weekend.

Clemson was 4-0 last season when they met the Gamecocks and I think they lost confidence after the first two games last year. There were other key losses last year like the Boston College series but early setbacks to USC hurt this team last season.

Therefore, I think this is a big series for this team. The Tigers need to regain their status in this rivalry and reassert themselves.

Also it would be nice to play well in Columbia on Sunday when they get into the new venue.

The Gamecocks have won four in a row in the series and seven of the last eight. This is not like the series has been in the past when both teams were ranked in the top ten but this series is still important. USC has not had a rebuilding year in a while and this seems like a good opportunity to jump back on them.

Don’t get me wrong, Clemson is still young and still has a bunch of issues. It just seems to me that this weekend would be a good chance to change the culture back in the rivalry. It is an opportunity for a lot of young players on both sides to stake their claim in the rivalry.

I also think playing well this weekend would give the Tigers some confidence heading to Chapel Hill next weekend. Remember the Tigers lost 11 in a row last season as confidence fell when the competition improved. Five of those 11 losses were against North Carolina and South Carolina.

Clemson’s schedule starts off difficult this season as 18 of the first 45 games are against South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Miami Georgia Tech and Florida State. Clemson will not have a week where they do not play a team currently ranked in the Baseball America Top 25 until May after this weekend.

One other quick scheduling note…Larry Williams of TigerIllustrated.com is reporting that the deal to bring the Clemson-South Carolina baseball series to Greenville is close to being finalized. Larry says is could happen as soon as 2010. The two teams would play a three-game weekend series with one game in Columbia, one in Clemson and one in Greenville at Fluor Field. I had heard talk of this but did not know it would be done for the 2010 season.

I wrote a blog last year about the two schools playing in Greenville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Rock Hill.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Sandy Wright, Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, Ronnie Queen, Edward Putman, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Anna Rawl, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey.

"Kaitlyn L. - 4 y/o who is having surgery on her brain today to remove what it believed to be a benign mass."