Clemson Basketball Summer Update

Big #68 Trevor Booker Dunks- not his usual 35

Here is a little video from a practice. Trevor is the first dunk.

Today, or maybe it was yesterday, or whatever, in Serbia at the World University Games, Trevor Booker saved the day for the USA with a big rebound/tip-out. Trevor lead the team in rebounds with six and the USA held on for a 68-66 win against the host team Serbia.

Apparently, it was a sight to behold- seeing the Serbians go crazy for Serbian Basketball. Of the game, Trevor said, " It was crazy. They had the crowd going. At the end we couldn't make a free throw, but we still came out with a win, so we are happy about that."

He continued concerning the his primary target, "It was hard battling their big guy. He's like 7-1, 400 pounds. I just tried to keep a body on him, and that's all you can do. I think I did a pretty good job, and the other post players did too."

When Coach Bo Ryan was asked about Booker's performance, he responded, "

With out a doubt, and the players know - you can't fool players, they knew that Trevor Booker's energy and his work ethic tonight made all the difference in the world in that game. Everybody else picked up in a lot of different areas, but Talor[Battle] and Trevor, really spearheaded a lot of good things that happened for us offensively, and Trevor on the boards and defensively."

Nice Work Trevor!

And just for fun, here is an article from about a week ago entitled: Trevor Booker: Best Big Man in College Basketball. You read that correctly.

Elsewhere in the world of Clemson Basketball, OP just returned from Ohio at the LeBron Skill Camp recruiting. The same camp LeBron supposed was dunked on and then a video of it was confiscated.

He is in Myrtle Beach doing the same right now.

The match ups for the Tigers' early season tournament, the 76 Classic have been released. This is a young tournament in which all of the teams come from different conferences.

• Texas A&M vs. Clemson
• West Virginia vs Long Beach State
• UCLA vs. Portland
• Butler vs. Minnesota

The Texas A&M-Clemson winner will play the West Virginia-LBSU winner in one semifinal.

The UCLA-Portland winner will play the Butler-Minnesota winner in the other semifinal.

The winners of those games will meet in the championship game.

The dates of the event are Nov. 26, 27 and 29.

Bobo had surgery.

The late addition of Noel Johnson sent the Tigers surging 10 spots in recruiting rankings to #11.

Also, the still horrendously named, but necessary "Rock the John" date has been announced: October 16. It all seems so, so toilety.

Dear Basketball Publicity Person,

I understand toilet humor sells, but seriously? Was no other name discussed? I bet if we all put our heads together, we could move beyond this flushable event name.

Sincerely,

The OP Blog.

If you would like to leave a comment suggesting a new name, please do so.

Go Tigers!

Clemson Throttles SC State

The OP Stat of the Game: 14-19 FT, an amazing 73.68%

The Tigers also had 22 assists.

Even Bobo got to get in on the action this weekend, on 1-8 shooting and 2-2FT. The game wasn't ever really close. The Bulldogs were outclassed and overmatched from the beginning. Most everyone on the team was able to get some minutes.

Read Recaps of Saturday's 90-63 win:
Greenville News
- and an article on Booker, exams, basketball, etc.
The State
The Charleston Post and Courier

Still, a striking absence from today was Raymond Syke's game. He started the season gangbusters, but now has brought back "tiny wine" hands Sykes, circa 2006-2008.

Sykes scores 2 of his dominating 4 pts to go along with his 2 rebounds, his 1 assist, his 2 blocked shots and three personal fouls, awesome. (from the Greenville News)

Also notably absent from Saturday's game was a healthy crowd.

#22, Terrence Oglesby past #22 Bulldog defender in front of a crowd of 15, or so, people. (from the Greenville News)

View a photo slideshow of the game from the Greenville News to see where you could have been, or weren't, sitting. Yes, school is out and exams are over, but seriously?

Now, the Tigers are 10-0, going for 11-0 Tuesday night at 7:30 in Littlejohn against North Florida. That will be their last gimme-if any game can be called such-game of the season.

The difficulty of the remaining games increases exponentially, as the Tigers follow the UNF game with a short hop down to Coral Gables to take on Jack McClinton and Miami on 1/21.

That brief, early ACC game is followed by South Carolina, 12/30, East Carolina, 1/3 and Alabama, 1/6, respectively before the full-on ACC Season begins against NCSU on 1/10

It will not get any easier for the Tigers as the season unfolds.

Go Tigers!

Clemson defeats Savannah State 81-49 in Littlejohn

The OP Stat of the Game: Oliver Purnell, 100 Clemson Victories!!!

Booker and Oglesby lead the Clemson Tigers in scoring at 17 a piece, followed by surprise offensive force Raymond Sykes with 14. Grant and Stitt each scored 8, while, KC Rivers had a notably of night with only 6. points. Nonetheless, the Tigers won- the correct ones.

Still, 61.9 FT % on 13 of 21. Savannah State, on the other hand, shot 71.43% on 5-7 FT. Based upon percentages alone, we lost this match up. However, the Clemson Tigers were able to get to the FT line three times as much as the SS Tigers. Of the attempts at the line, 10 were by Booker, who made 7 of the 10. Sykes, Oglesby, Grant, Stitt, and Yanutola all missed one. This changes the perception of the FT% at least a little.

Elsewher, Bobo made his 'electric' debut with 4 points from two dunks, but also had two blocks, two rebounds, and one turnover in his 9 minutes of NCAA collegiate action- in which Catalin Baicu nearly doubled the amount of time he played 'professionally' in his native Romania. Don't trust Willy with your money next time Bobo, and you probably won't have to sit out five games.

Per the Oglesby front, he returned to form nicely and shot 66.7% from 3pt. range on 4-6 shooting and 17 total points.

The Tigers needed this breather after the close game in Charlotte. And while we didn't perform consistently throughout, in the end, the Tigers followed through and defeated the younger, less-talented Savannah State Tigers, whose only bright spot was Anthony Jones' 20 points.

Now, the Clemson Tigers have to look forward to the Blue Hose of PC Friday night @ 7:30. So when you're fat with Turkey and looking forward to a Saturday meal of chicken, you can relax and enjoy another Tiger Basketball game. OP will start working toward his 2nd hundred in the win Clemson win column then.

Go Tigers!

Let the Bobo era begin, Purnell goes for 100

Oliver Purnell will go for his 100th victory tonight against the Tigers of Savannah State.

The SS Tigers are 4-0 against the UNO Privateers, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, UNF Ospreys, and the Brewton Parker College Barons. However, all of their victories have come in Savannah. In these games, their point total has decreased about 10 points per game:

   DATE            OPPONENT                       W/L    SCORE  ATTEND
------------    --------------------           ---    -----  ------
11/14/08        BREWTON PARKER COLLE           W      83-45    1788
11/16/08        UNIV. OF NORTH FLORI           W      75-60     743
11/18/08        COASTAL CAROLINA               W      66-65    1155
11/22/08        UNIV. NEW ORLEANS              W      54-44     644

The Tigers have two players averaging double-digits and two with 9.5ish ppg. It could be close early, but the Clemson Tigers will not let the boys from down south prevail in Littlejohn.

Also tonight, Romanian Tiger, Catalin 'Bobo' Baicu will make his collegiate debut. However, OP says,

"We're 5-0 and we're certainly not going to abandon the things that we've been doing in order to work somebody in, but hopefully he'll get the chance to get his feet wet," Purnell said. "Now he's a part of our team, and he'll have an opportunity to get in the mix." - from the Greenville News

Right now, the Tigers are spreading the offense around with Oglesby, 13.4 ppg, KC Rivers, 13.0 ppg, Booker, 11.2 ppg, Sykes, 9.4 ppg, Stitt, 9.8 ppg, Potter 8 ppg. Still, the Tigers need to take care of the ball, as they average 17.6 TO/game. Booker has controlled the boards for us, grabbing 26% of our total rebounds. He has to keep this up, but Sykes needs to take a bigger role on the glass. And still with the FT%?

Are we cursed: (Results 1 - 10 of about 11,600 for clemson free throw curse. (0.27 seconds)


The game will not be televised; however, tickets are still available.

Listen: WCCP
Follow: SCACCHoops Live Stats, CSTV Gametracker

Above and Beyond,
Go Tigers!

Clemson Basketball: In which the excitement builds

Enough time has passed between Rock the John and today that I can now, without malice, and in all seriousness ask- what was the sports marketing department thinking when they came up with the name for that? That should have never left the brainstorming session and probably shouldn't have even been in there. Second-rate marketing is not going to help OP and the Tigers make a name for themselves this year.

Speaking of which, Clemson is picked to finish 5th in the ACC this season, with UNC, Duke, Wake, and Miami picked ahead of the Tigers.

The past two weeks have signaled a new era in Clemson sporting history. The abrupt changes in the football program have lead many to seek refuge in the basketball program. To those, I say welcome.

Just this past Thursday, the Tigers held an open scrimmage. The statistics are below:

Orange & Purple Scrimmage Statistics

Player	FGs	Pts	Rebs	Mins
Anderson	0-2	0	3#	18
Baciu	4-10	9	9	29
Booker	9-16	18	11	30
Grant	7-9	15	3	28
Narcisse	0-1	2	1	24
Oglesby	7-16 (6-12)	21	4#	32
Petrukonis	4-8	9	8	18
Potter	5-11 (2-5)	12	5	32
Rivers	7-14 (3-8)	19	9	34
Smith	2-5 (2-4)	6	3#	31
Stitt	6-13	13	8	38
Sykes	3-6	7	4	30
Yanutola	2-3	5	1	20
Young	2-7 (1-6)	7	6#	36

The line that stands out the most to me is Jerai Grant's 7-9, 15 pt effort. This year's success, I think, hinges upon our ability to perform at the forward position: Potter, Grant, Sykes, Smith. We have the inside presence with Booker, who is listed as the #16 Big Man to watch this year according to Gary Parrish, and hopefully Baicu, and have strong guards: Stitt, Oglesby, and of course Mr KC Rivers, listed as the #22 wing player by Parrish, but we are not as experienced elsewhere- ie., we no longer have Mays.

Per this year's team, Espn Insider Blue Ribbon Analysis graded the Tigers
Backcourt: B+
Bench/Depth: A-
Frontcourt: B+
Intangibles: B+

ACC Handbook essentially agrees, but adds Coach: A. This puts him in the same category as Roy Williams and Mike Kryzewski- at least in terms of the grade. Remember, the grade is a range, but its exciting nonetheless.

The season officially gets started 11/14 against Hofstra- are they still the flying dutch?- in the inaugural Charleston classic. Subscribe to The OP: Clemson Basketball Google Calendar to keep up to date.

Link Round-up:
Coach Purnell updated his blog
Former Tigers in the NBA
Milton Jennings Article- a little old-
Catalin 'Bobo' Baciu has been suspended five games

And my new favorite pictures:Bryan Narcisse

Bobo and Stitt

Go Tigers!

Tiger Basketball- The Future?

During the November signing period, Purnell and the Tigers signed three prospects in what is a nationally ranked, 23rd, recruiting class. The highlight is a character named Bobo. Seriously. His name is Catalin Baciu. He is 7'1". He is from Romania. Here are some highlights of Bobo. Two Dunks, 15 Sec. OP also landed Andre Young, a 5-9 guard from Albany, GA, Tanner Smith, a 6-5 guard/forward from Norcross, GA.

Solid Work OP. 2008!

Go Tigers.