Clemson Men’s Basketball takes on big, bad, Duke

If you’re old enough you can remember games like this one for Clemson Men’s Basketball, even if they are few and far in between.

The life of the basketball coach of the Tigers, while paying well, isn’t always fun.  Most of the attention you get is bad, or worse yet, the fan base becomes apathetic.

Second fiddle?  You may even be third, or fourth fiddle at Clemson and if the events of Thursday afternoon showed anything, it’s that football is still king in these parts.

That doesn’t mean you can’t make your own mark, get the fans in your corner and build a winner.

Sure, it might be a little harder, but we’ve seen it done.

The fans want a winner and when they have a winner they will support the team.

Saturday’s game is sold out and this was before the change in offensive coordinators was announced, in case you’re wondering.

Despite their winning streak and 6-0 record in the ACC, Clemson has failed to make a move in either the KenPom.com or Net Rankings.

The computers are unimpressed with the Tigers, but Saturday provides a chance to change that and get on the national radar.

When I look at Duke’s statistical profile, it’s not that impressive.  Their effective FG% is in the bottom half of the country, as is their 3 point shooting and turnover percentages.

The Blue Devils are tall (4th tallest team in nation per KenPom.com) and rebound well, especially on the offensive end.

The Blue Devils enter the game with 4 losses, with two of those coming predictably to Kansas and Purdue at neutral sites, but in the ACC they’ve lost road games to Wake Forest and North Carolina State, two teams Clemson has beaten, and escaped Boston College with a one point win.

Simply put Duke hasn’t play well on the road in the ACC this season.

All that to say, Clemson has a golden opportunity ahead of them on Saturday afternoon, and if you want your fans to continue to buy in you need to take advantage of said opportunity.

Clemson enters the game as a 1.5 point favorite with the total set at 141.5 implying at 71.5-70 Tiger win.

Clemson Men’s Basketball enters Saturday’s game with Duke as a short favorite

Marty Coleman (12-5, 7-10 ATS):

I used the word resilient to describe this team and that’s exactly what they were against Louisville on Wednesday.  It wasn’t perfect and was even ugly at times, but the Tigers made the plays when they had to and got key contributions from multiple players off the bench.  I’m worried about rebounding in this game as that’s the Blue Devils strength and not something that stands out for Clemson.  That said, with the number this low, all Clemson has to do is win on their home court and I think that’s a decent bet.

John Chancey (12-5, 9-8 ATS):

I couldn’t blame the Tigers for looking ahead to this weekend when they played Louisville. That happens to teams all the time. Now the Blue Devils have all of Clemson’s attention. Clemson has some young contributors, but they are balanced and led by veteran players. Duke is very young and doesn’t play well on the road.

The game is scheduled to be televised on the ACC Network at 5 p.m. EST.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change