CLEMSON, S.C. - Even in the midst of his worst season at Clemson, women's basketball coach Jim Davis knows down deep he's on the right path back to success.
"I don't think there's any question about that," Davis said after yet another loss kept the usually proud Lady Tigers at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Clemson (7-14) has lost eight in a row, the longest such streak in Davis' 18 seasons. At 1-8 in the difficult ACC, the Lady Tigers are a loss away from three straight losing league seasons, something that's never happened to the program before. They stand last in the ACC in points allowed, rebounds allowed and steals and next to last in field goal percentage and scoring.
They've been hammered at home, blown out on the road and shown enough problems for Davis to pull out the few remaining strands on his head.
"It's not fun," junior Amanda White says, a nervous chuckle following her words.
Davis says he finally saw some hopeful signs in his team's latest loss, an 87-82 defeat to Maryland, which moved up a spot to 19th in the latest national rankings Monday.
While there were too many defensive lapses and missed shots down the stretch to pull out the win, the Lady Tigers recovered from a 13-point deficit in the second half and were tied with about four minutes remaining.
It was an effort and cohesion Davis hadn't seen in a while - and certainly not on Friday night where the Tigers were soundly beaten 99-55 by North Carolina.
"In all honesty, it wasn't there Friday night at Chapel Hill," Davis says. "It was here in practice Saturday."
White said the players talked about their problems and how to correct them through hard work. They emphasized better on-court communication, something she said they've had problems with at times this year.
Effort has been a hallmark of Davis' successful tenure with the Lady Tigers. The program wasn't Connecticut or Tennessee, but Clemson was always in the NCAA tournament - 14 times since 1987 - and, with ACC tournament titles in 1996 and 1997, usually a threat to take down one of the higher seeds.
A few cracks in the program's bedrock came two years ago with Clemson's first losing season, 14-15, under Davis. The Lady Tigers recovered to go 17-12 last season, but just 5-11 in the ACC. Still, Davis was given a three-year contract tying him to Clemson through the 2007-08 season.
Without a miracle finish, Clemson appears likely to finish below.500 for just the second time during the Davis era. That means no NCAA tournament for the third straight year, something Davis has never dealt with before.
Davis said before the season he'd try and mix in his athletic newcomers with his more experienced players like Amanda White. With the losses mounting, Davis had no choice but the speed up the process.
Against Maryland, freshmen Maxienne White, Tasha Taylor and D'Lesha Lloyd were the in Lady Tigers' top five in minutes played. Those three, along with junior guard Reggie Maddox, were in the lineup as Clemson made its second-half, 22-4 run as the team went from trailing 47-34 to leading 56-51.
Davis and his team aren't giving up on this year. "We all know we've got to keep working at it," Amanda White says, "and the work will pay off. Maybe not today, but hopefully the next day."
Davis thinks his younger players may have been unfamiliar with handling a lead against a tough, talented team like Maryland. More likely, the Lady Tigers will have to absorb a couple more such defeats before turning the corner.
"It's tough," Davis says. "But with that kind of effort right there, we're going to get somebody."
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