Friday is going to be a long day for the Clemson men’s basketball team before they get to play their first round NCAA Tournament game against Rutgers.
The Tigers and Scarlet Knights are scheduled to play the 9:20 p.m., Midwest Regional game from Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. However, thanks to television analysts like ESPN’s Seth Greenberg, and a few others, Clemson should have a little bit of extra energy going into the late game.
Greenberg has picked Rutgers to beat the Tigers and ultimately as his dark horse team to advance to the Sweet 16. Other national analysts have also gone with 10th-seed Scarlet Knights as the sleeper pick and even Vegas picked Clemson as an underdog in its opening lines on Monday.
“Sometimes being the underdog is good because the pressure is not really on you,” Clemson forward Aamir Simms said Wednesday. “The pressure is on the team that is the overdog, as some would say. So, we are definitely excited.”
The seventh seeded Tigers (16-7) opened as the only high seed to be tabbed as underdog in the 68-team field.
“It is nothing to us. You don’t take it personally that people are saying that because that is something people have always said,” Simms said. “So, it is another day being a Clemson Tiger, honestly speaking. We are perfectly fine with that. Count us out if you want. We are just going to play our game.
“To each his own. Everyone can say what they want, but we know what we represent, and we know what we can bring to the table and that is all that we are focusing on.”
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