Confident Clemson Annihilates Duke

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.

And yes, thanks for asking, it's a complete and utter statement game for Clemson, the ACC and NCAA basketball in general. Question that all you want, but remember, Clemson beat exactly one top-five team in its last 36 tries and then straight-up rolled the Devils to the tune of the students chanting "over-ra-ted" with two minutes to go.

Mike Patrick, in fact, argued that "it's one of the biggest wins in the program's history." I wouldn't argue with that.

Of course, to make matters worse, the Clemson student section stormed the floor; I mean, congratulations to everyone involved and all that, but when you're a nationally-ranked team competing for an ACC title and you smoke one of the best teams in the country on your home court, play the part: Clap your hands, pump your fists and walk away.

But that aside, well, wow. Clemson showed up and they throttled the Blue Devils. Only two Dukies -- Gerald Henderson and Lance Thomas -- cracked double figures, Duke only had three hits from outside the arc (Terrence Oglesby had five himself) and it wasn't ever really close. At all.

The lesson, of course, is that Clemson is for real. The Tigers are a dangerous team in a very good ACC that features a top-heavy group with plenty of flaws. In other words, let's not have a total meltdown when they're heading down the stretch competing for the conference title in a few weeks.

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