Window of opportunity
CLEMSON -- The week in ACC basketball began with Duke, fresh off a victory over North Carolina, going to Miami and getting squashed 81-59.
A day later, North Carolina went to Wake Forest and saw its baby-blue wheels fall off in a positively unsightly first half before losing 92-85.
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Wednesday night, Boston College went to Blacksburg and devoured the momentum and confidence the Hokies had amassed of late.
Elsewhere on the same night, Florida State often looked listless in a loss to Syracuse in front of a mostly empty arena in Tallahassee. And totally hapless Georgia Tech managed to go to South Bend and pull out a narrow victory over Notre Dame.
Yeah, it's been one of those years in the ACC. A year of almost unrecognizable tumult and weirdness that makes almost no result all that surprising.
This week has been a microcosm of that, and it just so happens that this was the week Clemson had off after Saturday's home loss to Miami.
The main objective for the Tigers, of course, is to recuperate and refresh both physically and mentally.
But as you watch these games elsewhere, you're also reminded of the exquisite opportunity Brad Brownell's 13th team has as it sits in a three-way tie atop the standings with Virginia and Pittsburgh.
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It just so happens that this is one of Brownell's most gifted, experienced and battle-hardened teams.
It also just so happens that the conference is right there for the taking for a program that is traditionally a total long shot to contend.
Last week was a reminder that this group is still very much mortal, still very much not immune to some of the frailties we've seen elsewhere. And Joe Lunardi provided another indication of the stakes when he projected the Tigers as an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, same as North Carolina.
Just when Chase Hunter turns into Superman and makes you think this team is hard to bet against, the Tigers go to Boston College and look almost totally out of sorts in a loss to the Eagles.
Then they follow that by coming home and getting beaten on the glass while also missing too many shots from close range in a loss to Miami.
In one respect, you wonder if this team has lost some of the mojo that made Hunter, P.J. Hall and Hunter Tyson look unstoppable in major victories earlier this season. Because a lot of the shots that have been missed over the past two games seemed almost automatic in wins at Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and others.
But there's also ample reason to believe a recharge was all this team needed to get back to playing its best.
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Even with fatigue clearly a factor against Miami, the Tigers were able to establish some offensive rhythm that had been largely missing over the previous few weeks. They had 17 assists on 28 baskets against the Hurricanes and hit 10 3-pointers on 25 tries.
"Our shot quality was very high," Brownell said. "We had high assist numbers, made 10 3's, had nine turnovers. So don't mistake me -- I thought we played very well offensively, and to be honest with you we had several makable shots around the basket area that you need to make if you're going to beat good teams. And we didn't make some of those. Those are individual players finishing plays that we've just got to get done. That has nothing to do with our rhythm and timing. ... Over the scheme of a long game, our offensive execution was pretty good in that game."
Even so, Hunter is in a pronounced funk after his heroics against Florida State two weeks ago.
In Tallahassee, Hunter made 7 of 12 shots and had 26 points in 27 minutes after returning from a sprained ankle.
In the two games since: 7-of-26 shooting (2-of-10 from 3) for 18 points in 70 minutes.
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"I think we'll be better when we get everybody back and kind of in the same rhythm," Brownell said. "That's been hard for us in the last three weeks, playing without Chase. I always equate that to playing without your starting quarterback; the rhythm isn't quite as good.
"And then defensively, we've got to be a little tougher. We've got to be a little tougher-minded to get a few stops that you need to get if you're going to win some of these close games. These games all come down to the last couple of minutes, and it's a couple of tough possessions. We've got to do a little better job there."
The Tigers could also serve themselves well to use this week to take a step back, examine the tumult elsewhere, and remind themselves that they have an extraordinary opportunity to pounce.
And that starts with an opportunity to make North Carolina's life even worse Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill.
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