5: Clemson
There's no pussycat left in the game played by these fierce Tigers
To those who know him—and especially to those who have coached
against him—it should come as no surprise that one of
coach Rick Barnes's favorite movie characters is Hannibal
Lecter, the psychotic genius played by Anthony Hopkins in
Silence of the
Lambs. "He had that look of an assassin in his eye,"
Barnes says. "The thing I remember most is when he
talked the guy in the next cell into swallowing his tongue.
That's a
motivator."
You can almost picture Barnes standing in front of his
mirror, practicing his steely glare and then checking it
against a freeze-framed videotape of Lecter. After all,
Barnes is the guy who in three years has somehow brought an
assassin's look to, of
all places, Clemson. This is a program so unaccustomed to
success that banners hang in Littlejohn Coliseum
commemorating postseason
NIT
appearances.
"We told our players from day
one that we should expect to be as good as anyone in the
ACC," Barnes says. If that tone wasn't established in
practice, Barnes's two highly publicized shouting matches
with North Carolina coach Dean Smith—the first during the
1995 ACC tournament, the
second in the '95-96 regular season—left no doubt that he was
serious.
Feistiness is crucial because the Tigers aren't an imposing
bunch. There's no surefire first-round NBA pick on the
roster, but four starters are back from a team that willed
its way to a 23-10 record, a berth in the Sweet 16 and a
ranking at one point
in the season of No. 2, the highest in Clemson's history.
Chief among the returnees are the Tigers' top two
players—6' 4" senior forward Greg Buckner, whose 15.6
scoring average was seventh best in the ACC, and 5' 9"
junior point guard Terrell McIntyre, who, like Buckner, was
a second-team
All\!ACC selection. McIntyre personifies the Clemson program: an
overlooked squirt who worked like a maniac to make himself
into a quality college player.
Even if 6-foot junior Johnny Miller, a transfer from Temple
who once made eight three-pointers in an NCAA tournament
game, provides a lift from the perimeter, the Tigers
probably won't be a great shooting team. But they should
overcome that with inside
muscle:
6'8", 245-pound Harold Jamison and
6'10", 240-pound Tom Wideman, both juniors, will be
joined by
6'9", 235-pound sophomore Mohamed Woni and 7-foot,
235-pound freshman Adam
Allenspach.
Buckner did little to diminish expectations when, during
Clemson's media day, he said, "I'll be surprised if we
don't win the national championship." A display of
bravado like that might infuriate a lot of
coaches, but not Barnes. "That's what Buck
wants, that's what his goal is," says Barnes. "You
have to let the players be
themselves."
|
Last Year | 23-10 |
|
Returning Starters | 4 |
| Points Per Game '96-97 | 68.2 |
| PPG By All Returning Players | 56.2 | Barnes has worked to make his players in his own image. The
last thing he wants them to do now is swallow their
tongues.—Seth Davis
Next: South Carolina
|
