Purnell thinks change can do his team good

CLEMSON — Days after Clemson’s 2008-09 season ended in highly disappointing fashion — a 62-59 NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Michigan that capped off a string of five losses in six games — head coach Oliver Purnell made a few declarations.

No.1: Senior forward Trevor Booker, a preseason All-ACC and All-America pick, was the only guaranteed returning starter.

No. 2: The Tigers had to play much better defense.

No. 3: The offense would change, too, moving away from a 3-point-based system.

As No. 24 Clemson prepares for today’s 8 p.m. season opener against Presbyterian, it appears Purnell has lived up to his word. The team that takes the court tonight has taken positive steps towards improvement, he said Thursday at a season-opening press conference.

“It was refreshing to speak of the rhetoric I’ve used since the season ended,” Purnell said. “Those things I talked about, the indication so far is that it’s been heard. Those were words I used directly after the season was over — if we were going to be better this year, we needed to be a better defensive team and we needed to play as one offensively.”

Poor defense was the biggest reason why Clemson stumbled down the stretch; the Tigers ripped Duke 74-47 on Feb. 5, but never found that same intensity — offensive or defensively — the rest of the way.

Athletic guards like Florida State’s Toney Douglas and Michigan’s Manny Harris gave them major problems.

Sophomore guard Tanner Smith says the Tigers can’t peak so early again – improvement must be year-long.

“As the season goes on we can’t stay stagnant,” he said. “I think the past couple years that’s been a little bit of a problem; we’ve played real well to start the year and then kind of died off. This year we can’t afford to do that. I think we’re too good of a team and too experienced to let that happen.”

The key might be how well a talented group of freshmen — led by McDonald’s All-America forward Milton Jennings and guard Noel Johnson — fit into the system.

None of the four are starting tonight; Booker, Smith, junior point guard Demontez Stitt, junior center/forward Jerai Grant and senior forward David Potter comprise the starting five.

But Purnell’s system needs to go 10-11 deep for success, meaning Jennings, Johnson, forward Devin Booker (Trevor’s younger brother) and guard Donte Hill will all be part of the rotation.

“If you think back on our teams, the nights we were successful, it’s the way we play, high-octane,” Purnell said. “Hopefully we’ll be more high-octane than in the past. High-percentage shots, easy shots, layups, uncontested shots, if we’re going to play at that intensity level, with that speed, we’ve got to have 10-11 guys to play. We need seven, eight, nine guys to play well, and if we do that, we’ll be fine.

“Guys trying to be in the top eight, nine guys playing well, that competition has been and will continue to be really good, and it’s going to get better as the young guys understand more of what we’re doing.”

Who starts and who doesn’t, he said, isn’t necessarily a huge issue.

“In our system, starting is not nearly as important as in a lot of systems,” he said. “It’s not like football. It’s how many minutes you play and how productive you are. Noel Johnson the other night didn’t start (the exhibition against Francis Marion) and he was productive offensively (scoring 19 points) and much better defensively than he had been.”

Such flexibility, Smith said, breeds strong competition.

“I think it’s only going to make us better,” he said. “The competition in practice is going to make us a better team in the game. We’re going to be competing against each other, fighting for spots, fighting for minutes. We go real hard every day and work on really pushing each other and making each other better.”

An equally important issue will be the Tigers’ outside shooting. With top shooters K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby gone, Clemson lacks a clear outside presence (although Oglesby’s departure might improve overall defensive intensity).

However, the 99-51 drubbing of Francis Marion was a positive sign; Clemson canned 14 of 27 3-pointers. Smith said Clemson has “a lot of very good shooters, guys you just can’t leave open.” Purnell thinks quantity can make up for quality.

“If you look at losing T.O. and K.C., we don’t have the range or maybe the pure shooting capability, but it’s not about that,” he said. “It’s about percentages. Basketball is a numbers game. That’s the approach we tried to take with bridging the gap and making up for that loss in the skill area.”

Noted: Clemson signed one player — 6-8 forward Marcus Thornton from Atlanta — as the early signing period opened Wednesday. Purnell said he doesn’t expect to sign another player in this period, but plans to sign one more player this spring. Clemson has three scholarships available, but Purnell hopes to save one for the class of 2011.