Clemson vs Boston College Preview

Clemson 10-6 (2-3) vs Boston College 6-8 (1-3)

When: January 15, 2022, 6 PM EST

Where: God’s Country, South Carolina

What Channel: RSN (Good Luck)

Clemson

Y’all, I need to vent....

Wow, just...I don’t know man...wow. That was some inept basketball on display by the Tigers against Notre Dame. Clemson looked like a team that watched a couple YouTube videos on how to play basketball and thought they would give it a try. It was one of the worst displays of organized basketball that I’ve attempted to sit through (and I’m a product of the Larry Shyatt era). There was not enough beer in the house to make it watchable (my *alleged* grainy feed from Tajikistan kept glitching out, which was a blessing, shout out to the ACC for putting their games on a channel no one in the South gets).

If Clemson’s guards don’t show up, Clemson is not only going to lose, but lose by a significant margin. On second thought, if the starting guards didn’t physically show up for the Notre Dame, the result may have been better. Al-Amir Dawes had an all-time clunker that featured a 2-10 performance from deep. Luckily for Dawes, another starting guard was somehow worse. Nick Honor continued his inexplicable regression with a horrific 0-6 showing from 3 for a total of 0.0 points in 22 minutes of action. David Collins didn’t cover himself in...honor...but at least he didn’t shoot the team out of the game like Honor and Dawes.

Hunter Tyson and P.J. Hall were fine, putting in 12 and 14 respectively. You have to wonder what happens if they get a chunk of the shots Honor and Dawes tossed aimlessly towards the general vicinity of the basket, but I suppose we’ll never know.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Clemson looked like they had never seen a zone defense in their life. Great work Brad. As soon as Clemson went to the “pass the ball aimlessly around the perimeter until a contested 3 is the only option” offense, it was all over. That offense started about 5 minutes into the game. Life is too short to waste a moment on trash college basketball. I want a time refund.

Ok...consider me somewhat vented.

Boston College

The good news for the Tigers is Boston College is bad at basketball. Of course, the last time I typed that in a preview, Clemson went out and lost to Rutgers, but I’m going to give it another try.

They’re on a 5 game losing streak, including losses to college basketball blue bloods Albany and Saint Louis. Their last victory came against (gulp) Notre Dame, 73-57. So, who knows? KenPom has them ranked 146th for a reason (the aforementioned bad at basketball thing) but when Clemson is involved, you can throw being bad at basketball out the door because they can “bad at basketball” with any team in the nation.

Anyway, Clemson should win this game, and win it by a comfortable margin, and probably will, but again, I thought the same thing about Rutgers.

Key Matchup

Clemson’s Back Court vs The Game of Basketball

Basketball is a simple game. The goal is to put the ball through the hoop. When you do that, within the confines of the rules, you receive points. When time expires and you have accumulated more points than your opponent, you are considered the winner. Clemson’s backcourt went off script last game and attempted to win a basketball game, while at the same time, not putting the ball through the hoop, and while I applaud their outside of the box thinking, it did not result in a victory.

Dawes and Honor need to be average. Not good, merely average, to win this game. If they decide to stop taking the shots the opponent is begging them to take, and instead CREATE good shots by driving the ball and either finishing at the rim (which is still a legal way to score the basketball) or kicking out to shooters after the defense gets into rotation, they’ll be fine. That won’t be enough against most teams, but it’ll be enough against Boston College.

Clemson Wins If....

They don’t play like complete butt.

B.C. has no answer for P.J. Hall in the post. Clemson should find a way to keep him involved in the post. Once he gets that going, I don’t begrudge him an occasional hoist from 3, but let’s get the inside stuff working first. If he stays out of foul trouble, this game should be a comfortable win.

If they lose this game, Brad should be fired in the parking lot of Little John, and Clemson should go ahead and cancel the rest of the season.

B.C. Wins If....

Clemson carries them to victory. Makai Ashton-Langford and DeMarr Langford are decent players and Jaeden Zackery can get hot from deep. They shouldn’t be able to scrape together enough points to beat Clemson, but they can if Clemson helps them.

B.C. needs the Tigers to take bad shots. They need them to turn the ball over and they need them to get in foul trouble. Clemson isn’t good, but the Golden Eagles still need them to play their C/D game to have a chance in this one. Expect them to deploy a zone defense in this endeavor. I would make Clemson prove they can play against the zone, even if I’ve never practiced a zone defense. Just put 5 guys on the floor, tell them to stand inside the 3 point arc, and see if Clemson implodes.

They just might...

Predictions

KenPom

Clemson 76 - Boston College 65 - 84% Confidence

Drew

Clemson 67 - Boston College 61 - 0% Confidence