Courtesy of Clemson University Athletics CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson’s men’s basketball team made a historic run this season. They finished the year with a 24-12 overall record in the regular season and went 11-9 in ACC play.
It was a lot of uncertainty as the team headed into the NCAA tournament, but the Tigers obviously knew that they had a good squad in their locker room. It wasn’t much noise after they beat New Mexico in the first round. They then turned around to upset Baylor in the second round to get out of the first weekend of the tournament and advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
That turn some heads but there were still plenty of doubters as they prepared for Arizona. The Wildcats mirrored the Tigers in many ways on the court. They were an older team led by the transfer guard Caleb Love, who helped lead North Carolina to championship game in 2022. The Tigers didn’t flinch and were able to pull out a close win over the Wildcats.
Clemson then began to make headlines as eyes around the country began to take notice of the Tigers and their historic run. They advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since the 1980 NCAA Tournament.
Unfortunately, they fell to Alabama after hard fought back-and-forth battle. Now, the season is over it’s time turn our heads to the 2024-25 season. The Tigers top three leading scorers from this season all are seniors; PJ Hall (18.3 ppg), Joseph Girard III (15.1 ppg) and Chase Hunter (12.9 ppg).
They will bring in three three-star recruits in 2024. Forward Dallas Thomas, combo guard Ace Buckner and point guard Del Jones. In addition, they will have Ian Schieffelin and RJ Godfrey. Both players will be expected to take a huge leap next season. The Tigers will also have the almighty transfer portal to lean on that could help replace some of their top talent.
Will that be enough to maintain the success in the ACC? Despite 11 teams having winning records in the ACC this season, only five teams made the tournament. That tied the lowest amount of teams to go dancing from the conference over the last decade.
The Tigers didn’t make an appearance again in the tournament until 2021 after their Sweet Sixteen run in 2018. Then, didn’t make an appearance again until this year. Brad Brownell was the head coach during those years and still remains their today. He has tough battle to fight each year. Not only does he have to compete in the ACC on the court, but off the court as well trying to convince top recruits to come to Clemson battling against schools like North Carolina, Duke, NC State and in state rivals South Carolina.
It’s no surprise that there is a three-year gap between tournament appearances because Brownell has the tough task of finding raw talent and developing it over a span of three to four years. It is hard to maintain success with that formula especially in basketball, but Brownell has missed out on some great talent as well. Zion Williamson is from nearby Spartanburg, but didn’t even give the Tigers a real look. Ja Morant is also from the state of South Carolina, but was vastly under recruited and ended up at mid-major powerhouse Murray State.
Brownell has his work cut out for him on the recruiting trial, but Clemson fans are hoping it won’t take another 44 years until they see an Elite Eight Appearance again.
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