3 point loss to a team that enters the polls this week, also undefeated, neutral floor, out of the SEC (though no conference games yet played), and we get hit with the biggest tumble of any team staying in the polls. Just our first loss too. Not like we just got it handed to us at home against a mid major school that most people couldn’t find on a map if you paid them. Further proof how fickle the AP voters are, in all sports. If someone can tell me why, please enlighten this gnome. Be sure to use little words if you do.

I only watched the first half of the game last night. Purdue looked fired up while Clemson, which was lacking James Mays due to a hip injury, looked jittery. The Tigers began the 2nd half with a 3-point deficit but, in the end, they were able to overcome that deficit and win by a final score of 61-58.

They also overcame more than the the 3-point deficit; they overcame their own abysmal free throw shooting. Combined the team shot just 10-26 or about 38%. So just as the world is back to normal because the football team beat South Carolina, so too is the world back in order because the basketball team can’t hit freebies.

Rivers: 5-9
Sykes: 0-2
Booker: 1-5
Hammonds: 2-6
Oglesby: 1-2
Grant: 1-2

According to ESPN, the team’s FT% is now a whopping 66%.

On the bright side, the basketball team put another check in the W column today. Old Dominion put up a fight and took a lead early in the 2nd half, but they didn’t have enough juice to overcome OP’s team.

The Tigers were 8-10 — a whopping 80% — from the line!

[Box score]

The good guys hung on tonight to win 84-82 in Starkville. The team made 13 of 17 free throws. That’s good for a 77% shooting percentage. It also means that if they had shot 60% or worse, they’d have lost.

Of course it also helps that MSU was just 12-21 from the line.

Clemson is now 2-0.

EDIT: Most of the above numbers are wrong. For whatever reason, ESPN only gave stats through part of the game (or I’m just an idiot). The team was actually 28-38 for 74%. If they had shot 66% or worse, they’d have lost. MSU was 19-31 from the line.

Freshman Demontez Stitt was 8-8 and hit 6 of those inside the last minute. Outstanding!

TigerNet has the full stats.

• The men’s basketball team came within 1 point of doubling up Furman. Unfortunately, in a stat that I hope to monitor closely this year, the team shot just just 57% from the free throw line.

  They also forced 37 turnovers.

• Ticket sales for the BC game have picked up, but the game isn’t sold out yet. So if you’re in the market, you can get gouged for the top-deck north seats, or just buy illegally from a scalper at a reasonable price.
• Finally, it has been announced that the Clemson-USCe game will be played under the lights of the dead cockroach. Game time is 7 PM and ESPN2 will have the coverage.

Regardless of the outcome of today’s game, I want to point out that I am truly getting excited about the start of basketball season.

I’ll have more to say on that later.

James Mays has opted to withdraw from the draft and stay at Clemson. And there will be much rejoicing.

“I have decided to return to Clemson for my senior year,” Mays said. “I am glad that I went through this process, but feel coming back will give me a chance to continue to develop as a player, and enhance my draft status for next year.

“It will also allow me to work towards getting a degree, which is important to me and my family. My focus now is to do everything possible to help Clemson win an ACC Championship.”

I’m a little bit more excited about basketball season than I was yesterday.

This news was mostly expected. Everyone figured he withdraw from the draft unless his grades were bad or he somehow became first-round material. Neither of those has happened.

“We’re still in comeback mode,” [his dad] said. “ We’re still planning on him coming back and having a great season unless he’s going to be a first- rounder. That hasn’t changed. We’re still hoping for the first round.” …

Mike DeCourcy, who covers college basketball for The Sport­ing News, wrote that Mays “played with great energy and produced as a scorer and rebounder” at the pre­draft camp. “ There’s a spot for him in the league, though he might have a better shot at the first round in the 2008 draft,” DeCourcy wrote.

Sources: Read the rest of this entry »

Bobo is the nickname of new Clemson basketball commit Catalin Baciu. Catalin is 7′1″, ambidextrous, from Romania, and the #56 player of the ‘08 recruiting class according to Scout. It’s a shame he can’t start this fall.

Scout’s got the article, a profile, and an audio interview with Catalin and his coach.