Carolina, Clemson Both Have a Lot on Line

Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall this week at Carolina’s basketball practice? The Virginia Tech loss is a perfect teaching tool for a coach like Roy Williams. You’ve got to think the players heard an earful from ole Roy about what transpired in Hokie-land. I would bet that some of the language may have been a little too descriptive for us to put on television.

Carolina, of course, won’t say this but they came out taking Virginia Tech lightly. And when they jumped out early, it was like, "Here we go again." But this was a team that hadn’t gone on the road much at all, and for a young team in the ACC, it was an eye opener, to be sure.

As sophomore Danny Green said Tuesday, “If you go into somebody’s house, they’re not going to let you take their brownies.” The Tar Heels found that out the hard way in Blacksburg. The home team likes their sweets.

They almost pulled it out, which showed a lot of heart. But as Green said, “We didn’t get a win and a moral victory is not good enough for us.” And that is correct when you’re the No. 1 team in the country. That’s how a No. 1 team drops to No. 4.

So now Carolina goes to Clemson to play the once-beaten Tigers, who just happen to be coming off their only loss of the season.

Clemson’s a pretty solid team. They have good guards and a really good player inside in James Mays. You best believe they will come at Carolina. Clemson is athletic and they can get up and down the court, and they will give Carolina all they want. Good guards, as Virginia Tech’s showed, can give UNC trouble, and Bobby Frasor will miss this game with a bad foot.

But on the other hand, I think Carolina learned a lot at Virginia Tech and this will not be a complacent team on Wednesday. Roy Williams won’t let them be, and when you match up Carolina’s overall talent with Clemson’s, the Tar Heels do come out on top.

I also wonder if Williams will shorten his rotation any. He’s shown no inclination to do so, but it does seem like that with so many players playing so many minutes that several players feel the pressure to make something happen immediately. Reyshawn Terry and Wes Miller come to mind, as does Danny Green. Wayne Ellington will also rush some shots, although he’s got the shooters mentality.

While UNC has never lost to Clemson in Chapel Hill, they have lost three of the last five at Littlejohn. Clemson would as soon beat the Tar Heels as anyone and the crowd will be more hostile than the one at Virginia Tech. Carolina will be humming Tiger Rag in their sleep.

“Our coaches want us to have a chip on our shoulder, be mad about a loss,” freshman Brandan Wright says, "To take it personally that we didn’t play well.”

No question they didn’t have that chip in their first ACC road encounter. It was UNC thinking, 'We’re No. 1 in the country and we’ve got North Carolina on our chest.'" And you have to think that rankles Roy Williams more than anything. After all, he is about intensity.

Sophomore Marcus Ginyard, who in my opinion should be getting more minutes, says, “We’ve got to come out more focused, more intense and be the aggressor in this game.”

This is a huge game for both teams. Neither wants to lose two games in a row.

Is Clemson a paper Tiger? Is that 17-1 mark a mirage?

Will Carolina play like what most believe they are -- the best team in the ACC?

I expect both will be ready. Both teams have something to prove in this January game. The standings show Carolina’s better. Now they have to show that they really are.