The great thing about the NCAA Tournament is its single-elimination format. However, when you are on the wrong side of that formula, it can be heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the Clemson Tigers were reminded of that the hard way on Thursday after falling to No. 12 seed McNeese 69-67.
In the span of about two hours, Clemson fans went from dreaming about another deep March run to having to come to grips with the end of another season. What made the end of the road so tough this year is that it also signaled the conclusion of Ian Schieffelin's Clemson career.
There's no question, the senior forward was the most beloved player on the roster. Fans wore chef hats to the games in his honor as they fell in love with his gritty style of play and the way he gave his all for the university.
That's why, everyone at Clemson hoped to see a better ending for the player who best embodied "Clemson Grit". But, unfortunately, Schieffelin's time as a collegiate ended with a whimper.
Schieffelin played one of his least-impactful games of the season for Clemson in round one
In the loss, Schieffelin scored only one point and grabbed eight rebounds. He was 0-4 from the field and 0-2 from 3-point range in 33 minutes played. What's more, he picked up four fouls.
It seemed as if McNeese's speed and quickness took the slower Schieffelin out of his game. At 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds, he's built more for hand-to-hand combat in the post rather than trying to play a finess game as he was forced to play on Thursday.
What is surprising is that Schieffelin had been playing some of his best basketball of the season in recent weeks. Finally close to healthy after dealing with a nagging back injury and a calf strain for most of the season, he had started to stuff the stat sheet since the middle of February.
In the eight games from February 15 through the ACC Semifinals on March 14, Schieffelin averaged 13.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. What's more, over that time period, he scored in double figures six times.
His strong play down the stretch of the regular season was one reason why many thought that Clemson was poised for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. However, that all changed in the blink of an eye on Thursday afternoon.
Ian Schieffelin's legacy at Clemson won't be tarnished by one game
While Schieffelin went out in quiet fashion as a Tiger, his Clemson legacy is safe. He appeared in 130 games for the Tigers in an era when the transfer portal makes it rare for a player to have that many contests in the same uniform under his belt.
He ends his career with 1,007 points and 840 rebounds. But the stats don't tell the full story of his time as a Tiger.
The reson so many people love Schieffelin is because of the improvement he made as a player. Arriving as an under-the-radar 3-star signee, he went from scoring just 3.1 points and grabbing 2.8 rebounds while playing only 11.1 minutes per game as a freshman to being the heart and soul of the 2024-25 team that set the record for the most regular-season wins in school history.
Along the way, he was named the 2024 ACC Most Improved Player and he set the tone for the culture that his head coach, Brad Brownell, wanted to instill within his program. Clemson has become known for being one of the toughest and hardest-working teams in college basketball and that transformation was completed during Schieffelin's time on campus.
Of course, he wasn't just part of that process, he was the spearhead. As a result, he will always be beloved by Clemson basketball fans. However, it will always be a shame that his Tiger career ended with such a whimper.