JJ Starling: B+
SU’s star finally looked like himself to start a game tonight. Starling has really struggled to start games since coming back from his injury. He was bad in the entire Louisville game and in the first half against Notre Dame. In the second half against the Irish JJ was incredible and the team played great. The Orange can play well when their league guard is playing his best ball and that was evident tonight. Starling was taken out of the game nine minutes in when he had 11 of the team’s 16 points. I’ll never understand why Autry made that decision.
Syracuse Defense: F
This team is just horrible defensively and there’s no other way to put it. They can’t stop anyone no matter what kind of defense they play. If a team is making open shots, they’ll score close to 100 points every time. The defense hasn’t gotten better, they’ve just played a few horrible teams that make them look good sometimes. Syracuse might be the worst defense against screens in the country.
Littlejohn Coliseum Crowd: B
Shoutout to the Clemson students. Their team has been really good lately and the fans are out in full force supporting their team. There are some empty arenas in the ACC (Notre Dame, Florida State, Boston College) but this was pretty packed. It’s always fun to watch a game with a good crowd, especially in college basketball. This was the first time this season that the ‘Cuse has played a tough road environment.
Watching Clemson as a College Basketball fan: A
It pains me to say this on here but as a big fan of college basketball, I really enjoy watching Clemson play. I had them in the final four in my March Madness bracket last year, so wasn’t surprised at all when they made it to the Elite Eight as a six seed I wasn’t surprised. Brad Brownell is a really good and underrated coach who has had a long run with a good amount of success at a school that has all of it’s attention on the football team.
