NCAA Basketball clemson Tigers

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The talk of the Atlantic Coast Conference's basketball media day Sunday was the trouble a player could get into if he talked too much.

Or said the wrong thing, or gestured the wrong way, or celebrated excessively, or did anything else that might be considered "unsporting behavior,'' according to a new zero-tolerance policy approved for this season by the NCAA.

Many of the players and coaches gathered at Greensboro's Grandover Resort bluntly said they either did not like the change, didn't understand why it was necessary, or both. The biggest issue: there is too much room left for the wrong interpretation.

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.

Just when you think Clemson has overcome its propensity for blowing games late, just when you think the team has gotten mentally tougher and smarter, and just when you start to think that the way it not only blew out Duke, but broke its spirit, well, the Tigers find a way to revert to form and lose to Florida State 65-61.

This one took some effort from Clemson. The Tigers had a 15-point lead with under nine minutes left in the game, and they were at home. The Seminoles have generally been a genearlly incosistent offense team that turns the ball over too much. Florida State does have a very good defense, though, and that helped limit the Tigers while the 'Noles went on a 23-4 run to win the game.

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.

We've covered -- rather extensively, actually -- the level to which Clemson embarrassed Duke Wednesday night in Littlejohn Coliseum. But still, nothing really sums it up the game quite like Trevor Booker's monster dunk on both Kyle Singler and Brian Zoubek. Enjoy.

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.

Clemson didn't look horrible in the first half Thursday night, but they certainly looked like a team that could be headed for a losing streak, based solely on Virginia Tech pouring in 53 points -- 22 of them from Malcolm Delaney -- before halftime.

But the Tigers rebounded in the second half, holding the Hokies to just 29 points over that span, to pull out a four point win on the road.

Ranking the rankings criticizes the critics as soon as the polls come out.

Headlining: It's obvious, right? Duke tops both polls for the first time since the end of the 2005-06 regular season and we're all depressed ecstatic! I want to say that it's hard to like this Blue Devil team, but when is it easy to like Duke? (Answer: When you're a Duke fan. Or when the Blue Devils are playing Carolina.) That being said, the 2008-09 incarnation isn't nearly as hate-able as previous teams.

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.