FanHouse Terrence Oglesby

Virginia proved the 2008-09 adage about "winning on the road" today, beating nationally ranked Clemson in overtime. It was a big day for the Cavaliers program as a whole; they honored Sean Singletary by retiring his jersey and then notched their biggest win of the season, all in a few short hours.

Clemson, of course, was coming off a 2-1 stretch that saw them throttle Duke for arguably the biggest win in program history. Clearly, a loss to Virginia hits on the other end of the spectrum.

If you wanted to play a parlay on Miami and Clemson road-grading Duke and Wake Forest the kind of clubbings usually reserved for the Knicks or Andy Kennedy's cab rides, you probably would've had to look far, far down your betting slip.

Think somewhere in the area of Alex Rodriguez autographing a copy of Joe Torre's new book and Alex Rodriguez shacking up with a woman whose age is less than his homer totals.

And then keep looking down.

Clemson wasn't scared of Duke tonight. Not one bit. They said it before the game, and man, oh man did they prove it for 40 minutes Wednesday night, absolutely thrashing the Blue Devils 74-47 in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Clemson and Duke square off tonight at 9PM ET in Death Valley with, kind of surprisingly, a lot on the line. That's not an insult to the Tigers necessarily, but this game has "marquee win" potential written all over it. Duke's ranked fourth in the country (first in the ACC) and the Tigers, despite an 18-2 record and a 10th overall national ranking, still aren't getting everyone's respect.

And despite the high octane nature of the Devils' offense, the Tigers simply aren't scared. In fact, they're confident.

The undefeated season went out the window when the Tar Heels dropped a "no way they lose that" game to Boston College. The national championship talk then took a hit when North Carolina was outclassed at Wake Forest.

So folks were understandably concerned about Wednesday night's matchup with 10th-ranked Clemson, even though the Tigers have never, ever beaten the Heels in the Dean Dome, Carmichael Auditorium, Woollen Gymnasium or anywhere else in Orange County., N.C.

No need to worry, apparently; Clemson's 0-53 record in Chapel Hill coupled with Wayne Ellington's 29-points-per-game average against the Tigers virtually guaranteed the outcome before tip-off.

Long ago, this stopped being merely a streak.

Streaks are what happens when you defy the odds long enough to become noticeable. A NFL team wins seven in a row. That's a streak. You flip a coin and get heads half a dozen times consecutively. That's a streak. Alex Rodriguez dates a woman whose age is lower than a Tiger Woods golf score? Even once, that too is a streak.

But long ago, this became less skid and more law of nature, something Newton scribbled about between the bit about apples and equal and opposition reactions.

Conference: Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
Record: 24-9, 10-6 in conference
RPI: 22
How They Got In: at-large.
Seed/Bracket: #5/Midwest

Mascot: Tigers. Nothing special ... except for the trademarked "hook" in the logo of the tiger's paw.

Big Wins: Purdue, Mississippi State and Miami.

Notable Loss: They lost at home to Charlotte just days after taking UNC to overtime. They also had bad losses to Florida State and Georgia Tech late in the season.

Player You Should Know: To me, the most important player is James Mays. When he is active in the paint ... on both ends ... he causes so much trouble. He can defend with the best of them (just ask Tyler Hansbrough) and stays active on the boards. Bookend him with bruiser Terrence Booker and the Tigers put up quite the physical front.

Outlook: With their pressing defense, it will be tough for opponents to prepare on short notice. It can be beaten by smart guard play and patience. Speaking of guard play, that will be the deciding factor on how Clemson will play in this tournament. Cliff Hammonds is playing through a broken wrist while you never know how freshman Terrence Oglesby will play from game to game.

What may bite them in the rear is their poor free throw shooting. If they could have hit their FTs, they would have beaten Carolina twice this season.

What a prelude to the ACC season!

#19 Clemson had #1 North Carolina on the ropes all game long. They led virtually the entire way until Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and clutch shooting got the game into overtime. In OT and down 88-87, Ellington his a smooth three (among all kinds of pressure) with :00.4 seconds left to pull the game out for North Carolina, 90-88.

Ellington had a career day. Dude scored 36 points on 11-of-19 shooting ... including 5 of 8 from downtown. None was as big as the final shot, which looked as calm as a free throw despite the pass to him nearly being stolen and with a hand in his face. Ellington scored seven of the Heels' nine points in overtime.

If not for Ellington, this game was over. Tyler Hansbrough got a double-double (12 points, 15 boards) but got absolutely nothing going all game. Clemson used Trevor Booker, James Mays and Raymond Sykes to nag Psycho T into attempting just eight shots.