Season Preview: #8 Clemson

Games against 2012 NCAA Tournament teams: 10

Games against ACC top 4: 6

Games against ACC bottom 4: 7

Best non-conference game: 12/8 vs. Arizona


Projected Starting Five:

F - Devin Booker (Senior)

F - Milton Jennings (Senior)

F - K.J. McDaniels (Sophomore)

G - T.J. Sapp (Sophomore)

G - Rod Hall (Sophomore)


The team I missed on the most last year was Clemson.  I really thought they had the pieces to finish in the top four of the ACC and go back to the NCAA Tournament.  Instead, they really struggled in the non-conference, beat up on bad teams in conference play, and finished 7th.  It's hard to say why Clemson struggled so much, because they had the same team pretty much from the year before.  Most of their problems were offensively, and they struggled on the road (2-6 in conference).

Now they have to try to rebuild with a completely different backcourt.  Tanner Smith and Andre Young are gone, the two leading scorers for this team last year. Coach Brad Brownell will turn to young, unproven players to run the show.  T.J. Sapp and Rod Hall combined for about seven points and 32 minutes per game last year.  The good news is Clemson retains its strong frontcourt.  Devin Booker has proven to be not as good as his older brother but was a stabilizing force down low.  Milton Jennings did not really live up to expectations last year, but should be good in his senior season.  The wild card for me is K.J McDaniels, who showed flashes as a freshman of being a really good player.  But he was very inconsistent, and didn't get many minutes.

Clemson has a very tough stretch in their non-conference schedule, where they have to play Gonzaga, Purdue, South Carolina and Arizona.  If they can get through this with some good wins, I think they could be on the right track this year.  They also have a tough start to the conference season, with their first two games against Florida State and Duke.  But they only play UNC and Duke once each, and play a lot of games against teams at the bottom.

So how will Clemson do this year?  I am not as high on them as I was last season.  I think with a completely new backcourt it's going to take some time for them to adjust, and there will be some struggles.  Besides Booker and Jennings, they are very young - all the rest of their players are either sophomores or freshmen.  They will win some games because of their favorable conference schedule.  But I don't see a return to the NCAA Tournament this year.