Saturday, March 15, 2008

Clemson makes it to the Finals!?


Tigers get rematch against Heels

Clemson playing in the ACC Championship Game is literally a once in a lifetime event… Only once in the 55 year history of the ACC has Clemson made it to the championship game, and that wasn’t even in my lifetime. The Tigers last made it to the championship game in 1962 when coincidently they knocked off # 2 seed Duke in the semis. The folks at StateFans Nation have adopted the Tigers and quite frankly so have I. With all of the discussion in the Triangle during the past week about whether or not Carolina was committed to winning the ACC title, it is refreshing to see a team make it to the Championship that you have no doubt about. Make no mistake about it, if Clemson manages to finally get over the hump against the Heels, they will cherish the ACC Championship more than they will breaking their 10-year NCAA drought.

In the other ACC Semi Final, Tyler Hansbrough showed why in my opinion he should be the conscious National Player of the Year. Sure, whenever a shot goes up, you sort of expect Hansbrough to have a good shot at getting the rebound, but swishing a fade away jumper from the right side to win the game? That’s a new wrinkle to his game that will make him that much more dangerous as the Heels battle for the ACC and NCAA championships. Hansbrough had 26 points and 9 rebounds as he refused to let the Heels lose in their come from behind win against the Holies.

Arguably, Clemson and Carolina played in the two most exciting games of the ACC regular season. Should make for an interesting championship game. Keep in mind, Clemson has found two new weapons… A healthy James Mayes who has been a beast since getting the cast off of his hand, and a new found stroke from the free throw line. The Tigers shot 68% from the line against Duke, including an unheard of 7-8 in the last two minutes.

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