Clemson is very long and athletic. On offense they are a slashing team with 1 white guy who can shoot. They will try to play uptempo and from the duke game i believe they full court pressured duke to death.
They have nobody over 6'7 that contributes much. This bodes pretty well for us. They started out 16-0 this year...
they have a 7-2 guy and a 6-11 guy but niether of them get much PT or really score. the 7 footer is a Fr i believe. Their top scorer is a Sims kinda guy at F/C, and is listed at 6-7. I dony know how well we match up play stye wise but size wise I think we're pretty even.
Clemson is a pretty tough matchup. They subscribe to the 40 minutes of hell theory and press the whole game. When their press is working, they club teams by 20. However, if you can beat the press their half court defense is atrocious. If we do win, expect us to be totally worn out in the 2nd round. Whatever. I'm just happy that we're actually having this conversation.
If it ever gets to that point. Unless Griffen is injured, he'll literally eat us alive.
He must be really, really hungry to literally eat 13 Michigan basketball players. Also very strong to hold them all down while he's chomping.
they fall apart as the year goes on, so were getting them at the right time
I dispute the idea of Clemson being a slashing team. They do like to run the pace up, press, and get after it, but they're a 3-point shooting team - tops in the ACC. Not as many attempts as Michigan, but then we're third in the land at that. Nearly everyone on the team can hit 'em, including the center Trevor Booker and he takes about one per game. Oglesby isn't the only game-long outside threat - K.C. Rivers will shoot them too. And they'll bring David Potter off the bench for threes as well.
DeShawn Sims and Booker will be an interesting matchup. Booker was runner-up for ACC DPOY.
The thing about Clemson though is that for the past several years they've gotten off to hot starts and faded down the stretch. Conditioning, maybe. At any rate they've been very up-and-down over the past couple weeks and more down than up.
Very comprehensive scouting report from ACC country.
I actually think their style of play suits us. Michigan is strong in transition and we have a lot of good passers. The ballhandling is a question, though, but I'm sure Beilein will be able to prepare for that. This is the type of game where Beilein's coaching really becomes a plus.
I wonder if we're going to see more Grady and less Douglass b/c of the importance of ballhandling?
March 15th, 2009 at 10:22 PM ^
if we're going to see game shorts with pockets because of the importance of ball-handling.
ZING.
I don't think the 1-3-1 will work well against Clemson. As some people already mentioned, they like to shoot the 3 and have some players that are damn good at it. We need to man up to guard them more on the perimeter. I think they have like 1 guy that really likes to slash.
The press is annoying, but I think we can handle it. We're near the top of the league in terms of not turning the ball over and we have some athletic players (Novak might struggle though). It will be a challenge to deal with a shorter shot clock.
Clemson also likes to get a lot of fast break points, but we do ok in transition.
Tough, tough matchup, I think. They don't have a ton of size, which is good, but they are a pressure pressing team. As evidenced by the second half vs Illinois, we just don't do well when other teams press our guards. We handle trapping presses better than pressure presses, but not much.
This will be a tough one. Grady might actually see some PT, but I'm not even sure if that's a good thing at this point based on how little he's played recently. Must be some serious confidence issues there (either he in himself or Beilein in him; or both).
March 15th, 2009 at 10:40 PM ^
M will beat Clemson. I'm picking the upset in my brackets. Clemson is overrated, imo, and very beatable. They always flounder at the end of the year.... Got upset in the quarterfinals of the ACC tourney. M will beat them.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:49 PM ^
Clemson smashed our Devils by 30. I think UM can beat anyone, as evidenced by the UCONN, Duke, and UCLA games, but it's not likely they down Clemson. And on that note, I picked UM over Clemson in my bracket.
March 15th, 2009 at 11:16 PM ^
Fuck you.
March 15th, 2009 at 11:19 PM ^
When used in that context the proper nomenclature for the school is Klumpson, so as to emphasize the redneckitude and quasi-SECishness of the school.