Tigers' freshmen must find consistency quickly

CLEMSON — In all sports, a time comes in a season when coaches and veteran players roll out a somewhat-tired cliché, saying that freshmen “really aren’t freshmen anymore.”

The idea, per se, is that their experience levels have transcended their inexperience, allowing questions about their rawness to subsist.

As we enter the final month of college basketball’s 2011-12 regular season, here’s the truth: Clemson’s freshmen are still freshmen. That’s a big reason why the Tigers are 11-12, 3-6 in ACC play entering Saturday’s 4 p.m. game at Wake Forest, scratching for a potential NIT bid rather than securing a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

All five members of the class have shown legit potential. But none has become a breakout star or displayed the ability to carry the Tigers should their veteran teammates falter.

So Clemson muddles along as a team with an inability to close games; the Tigers are 1-8 in games decided by five points or less.

Freshmen K.J. McDaniels and Bernard Sullivan are the latest examples of their class’s up-and-down nature.

At Virginia Tech, both looked like emerging factors. McDaniels had the best game of his career. The 6-foot-6 swingman scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and made five blocks.

Most importantly, he took over the game down the stretch. With Clemson trailing the Hokies 67-65 with 11 seconds left, McDaniels went to the hole strong and got fouled.

He missed his first free throw (and intentionally missed the second), but his assertiveness and athletic ability looked like game-changers.

Sullivan also played with aggression. In just nine minutes, he racked up seven points and grabbed four rebounds, showing a strong step-back shot as well as the ability to mix it up down low.

Rated as one of the nation’s top 20 forwards when he signed with Clemson, Sullivan has been limited by asthma; Clemson’s trainers have given him a mix of breathing treatments and breathing medications, including Advair and Alavert.

He said this week that he is trying to wean himself off the breathing treatments before practice and games in hopes of building his stamina, and seeing progress.

Naturally, Tuesday’s 64-62 loss to Maryland was a step back for both players.

McDaniels played 14 minutes but made only one of the four shots he took, scoring two points with a block.

Sullivan played just four minutes and scored two points with no rebounds.

Both players’ minutes shrank with the return from suspension of junior forward Milton Jennings, who scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes.

Jennings can play either forward position, so his presence naturally limits both players’ time.

This presents another problem, one which coach Brad Brownell has acknowledged: a deep rotation can make it difficult for players to find their groove.

Clemson played 11 players Tuesday night, a rather common occurrence this season.

Last year, a typical Brownell rotation comprised nine players.

It is hard for a bench player to get confident if he is always looking over his shoulder, worrying if the mistake will get him benched for the rest of the game.

And some of the freshmen seem to have lost confidence. Guard T.J. Sapp began the season in the starting five, but has fallen into a complementary role while in a deep shooting slump.

Brownell insists that guard Devin Coleman has a strong shooting stroke, but he has struggled in games.

Right now, it is hard to imagine Clemson going far in March unless the freshmen mature, and quickly.

It can happen. I remember sitting in North Carolina’s press seats last January and listening to UNC students telling Harrison Barnes to “go back to Iowa.”

Two months later, he was keying the Tar Heels’ Elite Eight run.

Unfortunately for Clemson fans, they won’t be seeing any players of Barnes’ caliber the rest of the way.

Well, except for next Saturday, when they face Barnes and the Heels in Chapel Hill.