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This was an expected loss, but a tough one after the hot start and holding Schieffelin to 4 points & 4 rebounds.  Clemson's MVP may have been Jaeden Zackery.  He harassed Blakes, especially in the 2nd half, with relentless, physical on-ball defense.  He had 4 steals, giving him 200 for his career - tops in the ACC (#2 is R.J. Davis of UNC with 158).  Chase Hunter's younger brother Dillon chipped in with 6 steals in only 19 minutes.  The defense, and Stanford's inability to deal with it during a crucial stretch was the difference in the game to me.  From 52-52 with about 15 minutes left to play, turnovers by Raynaud, Blakes, & Cammann led to a 62-52 deficit. Basketball is a game of runs, but Stanford's offense looked out of sorts during that stretch and never seemed to recover.  They finished with 16 turnovers leading to 25 points for Clemson.

I'm still cautiously optimistic.  After today's game at Pitt, Stanford will be home for 7 of the next 10 games, and the opposition, while generally better than the non-conference opponents, should be more beatable than Oregon, Clemson & Pitt.  I found some ACC "power rankings" - all done prior to the Clemson game.  USA Today had Stanford at #12 which I think is reasonable.  A Syracuse site had Stanford at #9 which to me is a best case, everything falls into place scenario.  Shockingly, a Va Tech site (The Fighting Gobbler!) had them at #6!  I usually feel like I've got rose-colored glasses, but that's far too optimistic for me.  The comments in these ratings all mention Raynaud, but he still needs more consistent support from more than just Sellers & Blakes.

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This was an expected loss, but a tough one after the hot start and holding Schieffelin to 4 points & 4 rebounds.  Clemson's MVP may have been Jaeden Zackery.  He harassed Blakes, especially in the 2nd half, with relentless, physical on-ball defense.  He had 4 steals, giving him 200 for his career - tops in the ACC (#2 is R.J. Davis of UNC with 158).  Chase Hunter's younger brother Dillon chipped in with 6 steals in only 19 minutes.  The defense, and Stanford's inability to deal with it during a crucial stretch was the difference in the game to me.  From 52-52 with about 15 minutes left to play, turnovers by Raynaud, Blakes, & Cammann led to a 62-52 deficit. Basketball is a game of runs, but Stanford's offense looked out of sorts during that stretch and never seemed to recover.  They finished with 16 turnovers leading to 25 points for Clemson.

I'm still cautiously optimistic.  After today's game at Pitt, Stanford will be home for 7 of the next 10 games, and the opposition, while generally better than the non-conference opponents, should be more beatable than Oregon, Clemson & Pitt.  I found some ACC "power rankings" - all done prior to the Clemson game.  USA Today had Stanford at #12 which I think is reasonable.  A Syracuse site had Stanford at #9 which to me is a best case, everything falls into place scenario.  Shockingly, a Va Tech site (The Fighting Gobbler!) had them at #6!  I usually feel like I've got rose-colored glasses, but that's far too optimistic for me.  The comments in these ratings all mention Raynaud, but he still needs more consistent support from more than just Sellers & Blakes.