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All-In [49612]
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Sunday sermon: Dance cards and dreams
Mar 9, 2014, 9:06 AM
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This one hurt: more, I'd say, than any loss we've had in the past 3 years.
It wasn't just because the refs didn't have the stones to make the right call. Lord knows we're used to that. It wasn't because, when free throws would have worth a bucket of bitcoins, we missed. Been there, done that, got the Rol-Aids.
It wasn't even the uncharacteristic sloppy play early that kept Clemson from running Pitt out of the building early.
Nope, what hurt the most was knowing ... just KNOWING ... how close the guys were to turning that fabled corner. To everything that could have been, the ultimate reward for an amazing improvement in skill and mindset.
Had this been the last game, last year, do you think it would have hurt? Naw, it would have been a shrug and a "Same old Clemson ... plays hard but just doesn't have it."
But along with the deep disappointment at yesterday's outcome, it needs to be remembered: the Pitt loss didn't cost us ultimately.
The Pitt game would have gotten us back to the door, but it wasn't the game that's keeping us out. Losing in OT to a Top 50 team doesn't cost you.
Nor was losing by a few points to now No. 5 Virginia.
We cast ourselves out with losses that never should have happened to a team with NCAA aspirations. And, perhaps, that was the problem ... perhaps the guys didn't know, or didn't believe, that they truly had it in them when they bumbled and stumbled around at Auburn. Or at Notre Dame.
The team that played yesterday would have destroyed either of those foes. They would have mauled UMass and would have upended Virginia.
But that team wasn't on hand for those losses. Heck, it wasn't around for the first few minutes of yesterday's game, giving up a handful of cheap steals on lazy passes vs. Pitt.
I fully believe we should have gotten the call on that after-the-light bucket. But I also fully believe it never should have come to that.
Still, there is no question that, even without a single senior on the team, CLemson is light years ahead of where we were at this point last year ... which, to me, is why yesterday's loss was so painful. When you are THIS CLOSE to the Dance, rather than seeing it as some far-off, wavering mirage it hurts to be turned away.
Unless we cut down the nets in the ACC tourney (and since it has never happened before, I'm placing that firmly in the "dream" category) this team is heading for the NIT, likely as a decent seed. That is absolutely acceptable. It isn't where we could have been, but it's not where we were.
I'm not going to write up a post-mortem on the guys yet. I've certainly seen stranger outcomes at the tourney. Remember NC State getting to the finals under Sidney Lowe? How about under Jim Valvano? Weird dreams can become reality up there.
And, since nothing ever seems to come easy to Clemson basketball, perhaps this is the way it has to be.
I hated the outcome yesterday, but I love this team. And I'm standing with them wherever the road goes from here.
As always, you know what you can do. And you know what you must do.
You just have to do it.
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Orange Blooded [2583]
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Re: Sunday sermon: Dance cards and dreams
Mar 9, 2014, 9:16 AM
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Missed # 3 yesterday and just one more FREE throw. HURTS REALLY BAD ! It would have been better if we just got blown out instead of losing a game that we led most of the game !
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All-In [49612]
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It would have hurt a lot less, but meant a lot less as well.
Mar 9, 2014, 9:29 AM
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After I got finished kicking the furniture and frightening the neighbors yesterday, I realized that the loss hurt because it meant something ... something far more than any basketball loss in the past few years.
In a perverse way, the pain reflect progress. Had we lost to Pitt last year or the year before in such a fashion, the reaction would have been "Awww, crap!" and have another beer.
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All-In [30593]
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Exactly.... great point***
Mar 9, 2014, 9:31 AM
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All-In [30593]
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ANYONE in this board would have taken 10-8 in ACC play
Mar 9, 2014, 9:28 AM
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back in Nov. Success and opportunity sometimes cloud judgement.
I'm in the camp of:
1. I like this draw better than the 5 seed draw
2. I feel like we are in the best position ACCT wise since the run to the championship game under OP.
3. Lets get to Sunday, and win or lose, see where the chips fall.
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All-In [49612]
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Agreed: And remember at the start we said .500 or better ...
Mar 9, 2014, 9:35 AM
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...would be possible.
A number of folks were rather derisive.
I would have preferred the 5 spot because I think we'd have had something to prove vs. Virginia. But you're right ... if we're going to get to the finals, we're going to get there regardless.
I'm dang proud of what the guys have done, and knowing that a tourney loss won't be the end of the season may take a bit of the pressure off.
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Orange Blooded [2507]
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So it's the winner of BC/GT and then Duke right?
Mar 9, 2014, 9:38 AM
[ in reply to ANYONE in this board would have taken 10-8 in ACC play ] |
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If so then it's possible that this is a better draw for us. Fact remains though that we shot lights out to beat Duke and they are better then when we last ran across them. though to be fair they lost to Wake only a couple of days ago.
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All-In [49612]
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Correct: Duke took 3rd over UNC last night.***
Mar 9, 2014, 10:49 AM
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Heisman Winner [134835]
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Amen
Mar 9, 2014, 10:10 AM
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And
AMEN!
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CU Guru [1512]
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Re: Sunday sermon: Dance cards and dreams
Mar 9, 2014, 10:41 AM
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This loss is just what you state---tough to take! I was there and it is very clear we had no play to throw the ball long which was the correct way to take the odds in our favor. It's a very basic situational play and at some point BB will get to that but not now. The play simply calls for KJ on the foul line with a player just outside the 3 point line behind him. Once the ball is deemed in play, the man behind KJ runs towards the inbounder . KJ starts to do that and then abruptly turns around and goes towards our basket. Meanwhile the inbounder has thrown a rainbow pass down court which KJ either touches or indeed catches. Game over. This play works and always will work because it defies the natural tendencies of a defense. My disappoint is that they do not or did not have more inbound plays for given situations.
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CU Guru [1134]
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That one will stick for a while.
Mar 9, 2014, 11:37 AM
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However, if we would have ended up playing UNC on the second day in Greensboro, I would not have liked our chances of winning there to make the NCAA's. We might be better off as a 6 or 7 seed, playing anyone else in order to advance.... If we think we don't get fair calls at home, we all know the odds on Tobacco Road.
On a bright note, did you see that Wando came thru to win State?!
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