Down in Clemson, the Tiger faithful are circling February 4th
on the calendar. Why? Because that is the day many of them think they'll break
the eternal losing streak in Chapel Hill. And if Gardner-Webb can almost do it,
why not Clemson?
In the general collection of patsy games, most everyone else
did what you'd expect. Miami beat Morgan State, where the Human Eraser
once roamed the paint, 83-51. State beat the Citadel
91-59. FSU beat
Jacksonville 78-48. And then there was the UNC game.
UNC won 83-80...over
Gardner-Webb? How is that
possible? And winning on a last-second shot? At home? Wow. They'll
no doubt get better, but still. That's stunning.
Clemson meanwhile ran out to a 30 point lead in the first ten
minutes of their game and was up 50-17 at the half. You say, well, yeah,
it's Bethune-Cookman. To which we say, well, Clemson hasn't won all those
games in recent years, and it's not like they're, oh, Gardner-Webb or anything.
In Raleigh, meanwhile, State is also playing it's usual
collection of weak sisters, but typically, the Pack is sluggish early and shoots
poorly. Not so far this year. State
is hoisting threes as fast as they can and hitting a fair number.
FSU has moved Al Thornton to power forward after he bulked up some, and he is apparently presenting some matchup problems.