Clemson random thoughts

[whereinthehellami]

With the off-season upon us I thought we would look at each ACC team and throw out some random thoughts about each school. I thought we would start at the top of the ACC and go from there. Keep it flame free and maybe even get some of the fans from the other schools to weigh in. It doesn't have to be all Bball related but that should be focus.

GT (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1832), VT (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1718), BC (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1608), MD (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1483), UVA (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1331), and UNC (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1252) were previously looked at.

Lets take a look at Clemson:

Clemson was picked to finish 9th and finished 8th this past season. They started strong and finished strong, too bad about the middle.

Clemson was runner-up in the NIT, losing to WVU, and finished with 25 wins, tying the school record for wins (1986).

Clemson's lone senior was Vernon Hamilton (6-0), their starting PG who was 2nd in pts (12 PPG), 2nd in assists (3.5 APG), and 1st in steals (2 SPG).

Vernon Hamilton made some all-defensive teams and finished the year as Clemson's all time steal leader.

While Vernon Hamilton was Clemson's PG, Cliff Hammonds led the team in assists (147-122).

Clemson had 5 guys average double digits in points (Rivers 14 PPG, Hamilton 12 PPG, Mays 12 PPG, Hammonds 12 PPG, and Booker 10 PPG).

Clemson shot 58% from the FT line and an even worse 56% during ACC play.

Clemson has 1 recruit in the RSCI top 100 (Laron Dendy, 6-8) at #53, though he slipped 19 spots from their previous ranking.

James Mays has entered his name in the draft but has not hired an agent. It would be a big blow to Clemson if he does not return next year.

In football Bowden is back on the hot seat after losing 4 out of the last 5 games this past season.

Willy Korn their highly touted QB recruit is moving up the depth charts and could make a run at starting for the Tigers next season.

The Bowden bowl is Clemson's first football game of the season and will go along way in determing the direction Clemson football will take this year.

[ACCBBallFan]

If James Mays returns,Clemson will compete for top third of ACC. If not, middle third.

Unfortunatley for Oliver Purnell, Clemson again has the toughest ACC unbalanced schedule, having to play UNC GA Tech and NCS twice plus FSU and Miami. They do get BC, VA Tech and Wake at home but have to play MD, UVA and Duke away. The could be battling UVA and MD for mid-tier ACC and road games hurt.

[gw67]

The Tigers return 8 of their top 9 players. Rivers, Hammonds, Mays and Booker are ACC quality players and I expect them to be joined by either Perry or Potter in their starting line-up. Neither Rivers nor Hammonds is a great run-jump athlete but both are solid offensive players. Mays is big and athletic who has improved over each of his three years at Clemson and is needed by the Tigers for rebounding and inside defense. Booker has the potential to be an All ACC player. He is not nearly the athlete that Mays is but, IMO, he is a better all around player who demonstrated solid fundamentals on the offense last year. He outperformed some more highly rated freshmen frontcourt players last year (I don’t believe that he was rated within the top 150 incoming freshmen) which may be an indicator of the ability of the recruiting gurus to identify good prospects past the obvious 10-20 top players. I don’t know anything about their recruits except that Grant played at Dematha and he is the son of former Wizard, Harvey Grant. I expect that these youngsters will provide backup at point guard and the frontcourt next year.

Team strength is their experience. Team weaknesses are horrid foul shooting and inability to win on the road in the ACC. I see Clemson being one of the top five teams in the ACC provided Mays returns.

gw67

[Olympic Fan]

Just to clarify, Laron Dendy has been reclassified as a high school junior and will not be enrolling at Clemson next year. He has re-opened his commitment, so it's not even certain that he'll be at Clemson in 2008-09.

In addition, freshman A.J. Tyler is transferring. Not a big blow, because he played little last year.

With Dendy out of the picture, Clemson has three recruits. Terrence Oglesby and Demontex Stitt are both 6-2 combo guards, both rated about 150 nationally. Jerai Grant is a 6-8 forward from DeMatha who is barely rated a top 200 recruit.

I also disagree with the characterization of Hamilton as Clemson's point guard. That's the position he played as a freshman and sophomore, but he had so many ballhandling problems and such an awful assist/turnover ratio that Purnell finally gave up and switched him to off-guard and let Hammonds handle most of the point guard chores -- the reason he (and not Hamilton) has led the Tigers in assists the last two seasons.

I agree with the assements that Clemson will be a first-division ACC team if Mays returns -- Booker is going to be a better post scorer, but Mays is the key to Purnell's fullcourt pressure defense. The good news is that he's given the people at Clemson every indication that he will withdraw from the draft. This is not a case like FSU's Alex Johnson last year who made a seemingly stupid decision to turn pro because he was flunking out ... Mays has the option of returning and since nobody seems to think he'd be drafted, he probably will.

PS: One interesting thing about Clemson is their victory progression under Purnell. He won 10 games his first year, 16 the second, 19 the third and now 25 in his fourth year. If he continues to improve his win total for another year, you have to like Clemson's chances.

[whereinthehellami]

Just to clarify, Laron Dendy has been reclassified as a high school junior and will not be enrolling at Clemson next year. He has re-opened his commitment, so it's not even certain that he'll be at Clemson in 2008-09.

With Dendy out of the picture, Clemson has three recruits. Terrence Oglesby and Demontex Stitt are both 6-2 combo guards, both rated about 150 nationally. Jerai Grant is a 6-8 forward from DeMatha who is barely rated a top 200 recruit.

Good call on Dendy.

The three Clemson recruits don't look particulary imposing on paper but they seem to fit the Purnell mold. Guys that give good effort and play up tempo.

Demontez Stitt (6-2, SG) has been impressive lately and the word is that Clemson coaches feel good about his future at point guard. There was mention on the UNC board that they should have gone after this kid as a backup PG (grew up a UNC fan) and they hope that he doesn't come back to bite UNC in the heel.

Terrence Oglesby (6-1, SG) is tagged as being one of the better shooters of the class but undersized and limited athletically. There could be an adjustment period for Terrence as the ACC has alot of size and speed, though shooters can always find a niche.

Jerai Grant (6-8, F) is described as athletic with good length and lots of potential. It sounds like Grant needs at least a year to get more strength before seeeing the court though.

[whereinthehellami]

I agree with the assements that Clemson will be a first-division ACC team if Mays returns -- Booker is going to be a better post scorer, but Mays is the key to Purnell's fullcourt pressure defense. The good news is that he's given the people at Clemson every indication that he will withdraw from the draft. This is not a case like FSU's Alex Johnson last year who made a seemingly stupid decision to turn pro because he was flunking out ... Mays has the option of returning and since nobody seems to think he'd be drafted, he probably will.

There have been hints (Poopsheet) of possible academic issues regarding Mays that might make the 2nd round appeal to Mays. Didn't Mays already miss part of one season to academics? The Clemson faithful got to be sitting on the edge of their seats on this one as their season rests on May's decision of whether or not to stay in the draft.

[whereinthehellami]

Based upon Mays returning, the Clemson lineup should look something like this:

Starters
Cliff Hammonds 6-3 SR
KC Rivers 6-5 JR
Sam Perry 6-5 SR
Trevor Booker 6-7 SO
James Mays 6-9 SR

Bench (over 10 MPG)
Julius Powell 6-7 JR
Raymond Sykes 6-9 JR
David Potter 6-6 SO
Demontez Stitt 6-2 FR

The starting 5 is very athletic and pretty experienced for the ACC, Clemson should be able to get into the upper tier of the ACC.

With the above lineup, their ACC schedule looks like this:

Home Games
GT - W
FSU - W
Miami - W
UNC - L
NCS - W
BC - W
VT - W
WF - W

Away Games
GT - L
FSU - W
Miami - W
UNC - L
NCSU - L
Duke - L
MD - L
UVA - L

That would put Clemson at 9-7 and would no doubht get them a bid into the NCAAs, which would be another step up for Purnell and the Tiger's program.

[ACCBBallFan]

I would not count those home wins versus Ga Tech and NCS just yet, nor the loss at UVA. I agree with Mays, Clemson could go 9-7 or 8-8 in ACC despite the brutal unbalanced schedule.

Oliver Purnell will again be on the bubble.

Like last year even if they starts undefeated, Clemson needs to finish strong in its last 10 to make the dance.

[whereinthehellami]

Like last year even if they starts undefeated, Clemson needs to finish strong in its last 10 to make the dance.

I totally agree about finishing strong, which they actually did at the end of last season with getting to the NIT finals. Can they build on that next season? With Mays, they might have the most experienced starting 5 in the ACC with 3 seniors, a junior, and a sophomore; so its not really a reach for them to finish strong in the ACC next season.

[sarasotatiger]

Hellooo Board (read with best Seinfeldian Newmanesque inflection)

I am back to take another shot at the NCAA's. I hope the new format for your board won't relegate this post to the backwaters of flamers and haters. So here goes a post from a fan of the perennial wanna be's from Tiger Town.

This will be the best Clemson basketball team in a decade. Purnell is a class act who has a team with a ton of potential.

We have...
1. outside shooting
2. athleticism on a defense that can be stifling
3. scoring depth with experience in the front court
4. hustle guys that get the team fired up
5. A classy coach that seems to get it...whatever it is in college hoops
6. One of the best 6th men in college hoops

Our potential will be realized if...

1. our guards (point is a true freshman) can handle ACC play
2. our entry passes into the low post are solid
3. our bigs put a little practice time into finishing with their backs to the basket
4. our free throw shooting is better than dreadful

My personal wish list for the season...

1. 20+ wins with a 10-6 ACC record
2. Obviously the NCAA's because the NIT would be an even bigger disappointment than last year.
3. Beat Duke ;) (my wife will let me sleep on the couch and I am ok with that)
4. A handful of nice upsets against teams that people don't think we can be competitive with (starting with the Tarholes on Jan. 6th)
5. Another strong start with a tougher pre-conference schedule with games against 4 likely tournament teams ODU, Purdue, at Mississippi State, and Alabama.
6. Pound the Cocks (the other carolina)
7. 65%+ from the line as a team (is that sooo much to ask?)

Sounds simple. Give' em Hellll Tigers!

[riverside6]

Who is your 6th man that you are referring to? If you mean KC Rivers (http://www.scacchoops.com/forms/players.asp?search=kc rivers), then he'll be starting this year.

Other than that, I'm pretty much in agreement with you.

Clemson should be very good. Let's see how Purnell and the Tigers can do with expectations surrounding the team.

[Olympic Fan]

You have a right to be excited. On paper, this is the best Clemson team since at least the Terrell McIntyre teams in the late 1990s.

But Riverside is right -- KC Rivers, I'm sure he's the sixth man you were talking about, is projected as a starter this season. In fact, he started down the stretch last season (he had 10 starts last year ... I think 8-9 of them were the final 8-9 games).

Enjoy the preseason and early season. But forgive the rest of us a modicum of skepticism until Clemson can extend its strong play into, say, February. After the team's fast starts the last two years, forgive us if we don't get too excited if the team opens something like 10-0 or 15-1.

Otherwise, good luck (except aganst Duke).

[FewFAC]

After 2 decades of annually broaching this topic, I'd suggest a better goal would be winning a game on Feb. 10. And though I'd bet Navy has a better chance of beating Notre Dame football this year, I doubt either happen.

[sarasotatiger]

concerning K.C. Rivers and my labeling him as purely a 6th man. With Purnell's rotation of players, the starters often depend on matchups. However, Rivers had a big impact last year off the bench while in some of his starts he was flat early. As a result during his first 2 seasons he was perceived as a 6th man.

As far as him starting, alot of that will depend upon our young guards abililty to play point. My guess is that Hammonds, Potter, and Stitt will somehow divy up most of the time at 1 and 2, with KC playing the 3. He doesn't have the best handles and if our 1 guard struggles, we will have to get another dribbler on the floor. Therefore relegating Rivers to the 3. If he starts in that role will depend on matchups and the strength of play by Booker, Mays, Sykes etc.

All that aside, I like to think our frontcourt size and athleticism matches up well with the rest of the conference. It is the backcourt that will make or break the season.

How bout Duke? It is my perception that you have the opposite situation, a strong and talented backcourt with a young somewhat unproven frontcourt. Optimistic?

[sarasotatiger]

After 2 decades of annually broaching this topic, I'd suggest a better goal would be winning a game on Feb. 10. And though I'd bet Navy has a better chance of beating Notre Dame football this year, I doubt either happen.


Nice trifecta, you managed to belittle 3 teams in one sentence. Of course your perspective is justified with Clemson's track record on the hardwood. About 2 decades...I guess thats right. It was just about 17 years ago that Clemson beat Hurley, Laetner and the boys for our one and only ACC regular season championship. See? Miracles do happen!

As to UNC, just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't. We don't hold our breathe so I suggest you shouldn't either. Perhaps, this year, you'd be better off concerning yourself with January 19th.:p

[ACCBBallFan]

Like NC State, Clemson's only question marks are unproven PG and bench. Oliver Purnell's teams have gotten better each year since he arrived on the scene.

I think Clemson competes with UNC, Duke and NC State for top 4 in ACC and even has a chance to break into the win column for first time even @ UNC, but better chance in home match, if their PG can play decently, not even have to excel, and if their FT Shooting is at least average.

Lawson vs unproven PG, big mismatch but Clemson known for team speed and defense

Ellington vs Hammonds, an under rated senior
Ginyard/Green vs K C Rivers, possibly advantage
Thompson vs Mays, probably advantage
Tyler vs Booker, perhaps not as huge a disadvantage as most who face Tyler

[sarasotatiger]

I begrudgingly expect that the ACC will shake out to have UNC on top with everyone else battling for second. Unfortunately, from guard to center, from starters to the bench, Coach Williams will have enough mismatchs against every team in the league to make the Tarheels a prohibitive favorite for the regular season championship. I long for the good old days ...where o where did Matt Daugherty go?

However, as proven every tournament season, a hot team shooting a high percentage of threes and freethrows can beat anybody. And while I'll take a W from the Tarholes anytime anyplace, Clemson's season will likely hinge upon getting our share of W's at home while taking more than a couple of the roadies against Duke, UVA, Miami, NC State, FSU and Maryland.

[FewFAC]

Nice trifecta, you managed to belittle 3 teams in one sentence. Of course your perspective is justified with Clemson's track record on the hardwood. About 2 decades...I guess thats right. It was just about 17 years ago that Clemson beat Hurley, Laetner and the boys for our one and only ACC regular season championship. See? Miracles do happen!

As to UNC, just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't. We don't hold our breathe so I suggest you shouldn't either. Perhaps, this year, you'd be better off concerning yourself with January 19th.:p

The only reason it looked like I belittled three teams in one sentence is because I refuse to use smileys. I'm not a 12-year old girl for chrissakes.

And trust me. I'm not holding my breath. But because Clemson has a ton to prove to me, and an extended history of meltdowns after fast starts to overcome, I'm gonna have to see some proof before I begin to get concerned. [/smartasscomment]

[hurleyfor3]

4. A handful of nice upsets against teams that people don't think we can be competitive with (starting with the Tarholes on Jan. 6th)

That game is AT CLEMSON. If you really had cojones you'd be predicting a victory in Chapel Hill on February 10.

[sarasotatiger]

That game is AT CLEMSON. If you really had cojones you'd be predicting a victory in Chapel Hill on February 10.

While a more thoughtful approach to flaming me would be to accuse me of being childish because I used a couple of :eek: those things in my posts, I appreciate the implications of your reply and will try to find some of them there cojones. WELL THERE THEY ARE...golly I found em!. Hey and THE COJONES predict that on February 10 at Chapel Hill the final score will be Clemson 88 UNC 42. Balsy enough? Or should I make it really close, say 74-73? That was a fun if somewhat silly little game. Thanks for the suggestion. I feel better,do you?

Now that we put that to rest, you and FEWFAC should get together, beat me up and take my lunch money.

On the other hand, if you want to talk a little good natured smack along with some meaningful basketball (as used to occur regularly on this board) then reply.

[Cavlaw]

While a more thoughtful approach to flaming me would be to accuse me of being childish because I used a couple of :eek: those things in my posts, I appreciate the implications of your reply and will try to find some of them there cojones. WELL THERE THEY ARE...golly I found em!. Hey and THE COJONES predict that on February 10 at Chapel Hill the final score will be Clemson 88 UNC 42. Balsy enough? Or should I make it really close, say 74-73? That was a fun if somewhat silly little game. Thanks for the suggestion. I feel better,do you?

Now that we put that to rest, you and FEWFAC should get together, beat me up and take my lunch money.

On the other hand, if you want to talk a little good natured smack along with some meaningful basketball (as used to occur regularly on this board) then reply.
I like this guy.

[Cameron]

:) :) :)

:)

[ACCBBallFan]

I begrudgingly expect that the ACC will shake out to have UNC on top with everyone else battling for second. Unfortunately, from guard to center, from starters to the bench, Coach Williams will have enough mismatchs against every team in the league to make the Tarheels a prohibitive favorite for the regular season championship. I long for the good old days ...where o where did Matt Daugherty go?

However, as proven every tournament season, a hot team shooting a high percentage of threes and freethrows can beat anybody. And while I'll take a W from the Tarholes anytime anyplace, Clemson's season will likely hinge upon getting our share of W's at home while taking more than a couple of the roadies against Duke, UVA, Miami, NC State, FSU and Maryland.

sarasotatiger - you still got the better of the Vernon Hamilton for Rey Terry and Brandan Wright trade. So Clemson Tigers have a better chance this year than last year, though UNC is still really loaded with talent.

[JasonEvans]

Clemson cannot defeat UNC in basketball. That would be the end of life as we know it. It would be the opening of the 7th seal, Armageddon, Ragnarok, Doomsday, and a Wham reunion all rolled into one.

--Jason "I predict this is when Clemson will win in Chapel Hell: http://z.about.com/d/altreligion/1/0/n/F/2/infinity.jpg" Evans

[Indoor66]

Clemson cannot defeat UNC in basketball. That would be the end of life as we know it. It would be the opening of the 7th seal, Armageddon, Ragnarok, Doomsday, and a Wham reunion all rolled into one.

--Jason "I predict this is when Clemson will win in Chapel Hell: http://z.about.com/d/altreligion/1/0/n/F/2/infinity.jpg" Evans

Definitely would signal the beginning of The Rapture.... :)