Primary Sidebar
Next Game
Missouri Tigers
@
Clemson Tigers
Friday, Mar 19, 2010, 2:45 PM EDT
NCAA Tournament - East Region - First Round - HSBC Arena - Buffalo, NY
Clemson in as a 7 seed against Mizzou
Missouri plays pressure defense, which itself is good for Clemson since we can't execute in the half-court sets. OP already calls these two teams "mirrors of each other"
Clemson missed WV in the 76 Classic earlier this year because of our loss to Texas A&M.
about 8 hours ago
DrB
3 comments
0 recs
Tiger Baseball Is Pretty Good Folks, Clemson Sweeps NC State
by DrB on Mar 14, 2010 5:30 PM EDT
in Clemson Baseball
1 comment
I think we're going to be alright.
After the last two weekends I'm starting to feel like we have a very good baseball team. They hit well, the starting pitching has been good and a few guys in the bullpen seem to be pretty dependable. For the last two years, although its a recurring theme with Leggett's teams, I thought we played ball really tight. They'd make a crucial mistake in the field and pitchers didn't have much to fear from a lineup that was pressing themselves so hard that they really could never get anything going to help the Top-5 pitching staff. Tension is a hitter's worst enemy, and then it would make them try to swing harder, which is what you dont want to do.
Last year I believe the youth of the squad was a big factor with that tightness, although I know many people believe it is because of Leggett's small ball philosophies. This year he is certainly letting them swing away more often, and its paid off so far. While we aren't tearing up the league in batting average like NC State and FSU were coming into this weekend, we are hitting more home runs and not having serious difficulties at the plate at any position besides Catcher John Nester (.107) and 3B Jason Stolz (.226), though both contributed this weekend.
Even Wilson Boyd, who had had a few struggles coming into this weekend which I remarked last week, seems to have turned it around. Turns out he made a change to his stance, lowering back into his crouch and giving him back some power. He used it against NCSU to win the 2nd game of the doubleheader Saturday. He raised his BA to .271 over the weekend.
Still though, I worry about our weak defense on the left side of the infield. Brad Miller wasn't a problem this weekend, but Stolz made 3 errors at 3B. He doesnt charge the ball and it eats him up. 6 runs allowed this weekend were unearned due to various errors.
Another puzzler to me is the lack of innings by the starting pitchers. Usually when you go out there the first two times, youre on pitch counts in the 75-85 range, and then it steps upwards. I'm not an advocate of a Ray Tanner 130-pitch philosophy, but Leggett takes them out at 5-6IP...even Harman....without letting them work through a rough inning later when you tend to go to your 2nd and 3rd pitches more often. They aren't getting to 100 pitches, and our control hasn't been an issue. I don't think a pitcher can grow unless he works through more adversity, and we aren't letting them get that experience.
Pulling Weismann after 6 today I agree with however.
Now to the Series results:
1 comment | 0 recs |
ACC Television--An Absolute Joke
by FIGUREFOUR on Mar 14, 2010 3:44 PM EDT
4 comments
Let's go ahead and give a nice shout-out to the ACC for officially pissing me off once again. I live in the great state of South Carolina and cannot watch the ACC Tournament. Un-freaking-believable. The premier basketball conference in America, and I am blacked out on ESPN (as is the rest of the state) and the Raycom sports network does not have an affiliate in this area. Nice job Swoffy and the rest of the ACC for really screwing this one up. Keep reading to understand how significant this is in the grand scheme of things and why you should be concerned about my viewing capabilities.
4 comments | 0 recs |
2009 Position & Coach Analyses
by DrB on Mar 14, 2010 8:00 AM EDT
in FUTBAW
0 comments
Here are all the position analyses we completed this offseason, and each includes an estimated depth-chart. We chose not to do one for Tight Ends specifically because their overwhelming improvement statistically is pretty obvious, and since we have such a short depth chart coming back at the position. Pearman and Napier both deserve credit for teaching/emphasizing the position in the offense and we'd guess nearly every Clemson fan would agree with that.
Defensive Line-Brooks/Rumph - Nearly everyone agrees that they have done a good job.
Offensive Line- Scott/Pearman - 76% of our readers agree that Brad Scott should be let go.
Running Back/ST - Andre Powell - 68% disapprove of Powell's job performance as RB/ST Coach.
Linebacker/Defense - Kevin Steele - I chose not to do a poll for Steele because I felt too many opinions would be colored by the GT losses and wouldn't look at the whole package.
Defensive Back - Charlie Harbison - Only 3% voted him 'acceptable' as a coach, 57% said he may be the best coach on the staff. A single soul voted that they disapprove of him.
QB/Offense - Billy Napier 94% approval rating for our first-year OC.
Wide Reciever - Jeff Scott - 59% approval rating for the new WR coach/Rec. Coordinator.
As for the polls on each of them, its clear that FF and I are not alone in our POV that some of our coaches are outstanding, while some are weak and a couple should be fired. You could interpret that the skewed raises for the entire staff are an indication of how Swinney believes their performance should be rated.
0 comments | 0 recs |
The 4-out 1-in Motion Offense
by DrB on Mar 13, 2010 9:00 AM EST
in Clemson Basketball
0 comments
We decided to look at one component of Clemson's motion offense and explain it so that folks could understand just what the Tigers are trying to do out there when they look totally lost on offense. I'm not going to go into that many set plays of the 4-out/1-in set, but will try to give a few to get a flavor of whats going on. Those that know a lot about basketball probably won't get much out of this, and I'm not going so far in-depth that we lose the forest for the trees.
Basically the term 4-out means that there are 4 players playing around the perimeter, with one post player inside. It works much better for teams without great size or those that don't have 2 guys with post ability, or a team with alot of guys that can play the 2G or 3. Think Duke, not Georgia Tech or FSU. It works better if the PF, who will be playing outside, can pass and hit an occasional shot. With Booker's ability to make an occasional shot outside and his athleticism, the 4-out offense can work quite well. I'm surprised Clemson doesn't run this set as much as they could, but it is in our repertoire. What we run more of is the 3-out/2-in (32), with 2 guys posting, but the point I want to make is that we don't have enough variety in our offensive scheme to beat good teams.
0 comments | 0 recs |
Leggett's Tigers seek Revenge against the best offense in the ACC.
by DrB on Mar 12, 2010 3:00 PM EST
in Clemson Baseball
1 comment
NC State Woofers (11-1) @ #12 Clemson Tigers (10-1)
Yeah its early and NC State has mostly played easy competition, but they are killing people. Their best opponent, #8 Coastal Carolina, beat them in a 6-3 contest at Myrtle Beach in a weekend tournament for their sole loss. They defeated UC-Irvine at that tournament 7-4 in 10 innings. The 3 game set against Clemson begins a 9-game road trip.
The Tigers lead the overall series 104-68-1, and have beaten NC State more times than any other opponents aside from North Carolina and Duke.
1 comment | 0 recs |
A few spring-time odds and ends
by FIGUREFOUR on Mar 12, 2010 10:30 AM EST
3 comments
Alas, Spring is here. With the warmer temperatures and longer days come two other great things--baseball and spring football. We have discussed the positions at length over the past few weeks, and will get the opportunity to speculate much more about a variety of items as the next month progresses. Today I will expand some of my opinions (you know what they say about those things), some hopes, and some concerns as we move into the second quarter of the year 2010.
3 comments | 0 recs |
With Increased Performance Comes More Expectations, Oliver
by DrB on Mar 12, 2010 2:57 AM EST
in Clemson Basketball
14 comments
How do I not blame Purnell for losses like this?And yet another 1st round ACC Tourney loss to a lesser team.
I'm fully cognizant of what OP has done for Clemson since he's been here. He took the garbage Larry Shyatt left him to play with and took us to a level we've never consistently been at before. We have more talent on the team today than we've had since at least the late 80s. We've won more games the last 4 years than we ever have before. I'm not calling for OP to be fired, and even those who do want him gone realize that he's not going anywhere.
But the man can't coach an offense. He hasn't gotten through to Trevor Booker, who still takes days off and actually seems to have regressed. He hasn't recruited any shooters to take pressure off the interior game. His teams don't play defense on the road and generally look AWFUL away from Littlejohn.
14 comments | 0 recs |
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
Most Commented
ACC Tourney Begins: NC State Game Thread
by DrB 3 days ago
87 comments | 0 recs
With Increased Performance Comes More Expectations, Oliver
by DrB 2 days ago
14 comments | 0 recs
Early Spring Practice Observations
by DrB 5 days ago
14 comments | 0 recs
For all of you ACC haters out there
by sedge94 6 days ago
8 comments | 0 recs
Position Analysis: Defensive Line with Chris Rumph and Dan Brooks
by DrB 4 days ago
6 comments | 0 recs