Re: Absolutely. We will use it every year to address needs.

Considering Clemson’s putrid basketball history, I give a resounding “yes” to that question. Honestly, this whole thread is puzzling as it is year after year. I don’t understand why these two factions moan and groan about the two most successful coaches Clemson has ever had in either of these two respective spotts. The condescension toward Coach Swinney is patently absurd, but the berating of Coach Brownell all of the time is not much better. Clemson just achieved two consecutive 20+ win seasons in men’s basketball. In the ACC. And, let’s not put too much stock into the silly national talking point that the ACC is somehow an “also ran” basketball conference for the last several years. That is laughable. Shoot, the conference most likely has more Tournament wins, as well as more national titles, than any other conference this century. The ACC is still the ACC in basketball. With that said, how many times has the consecutive/multi 20+ win thing happened in Clemson history? In over 100 years of playing basketball, and I’d say at least 75 of those years had at least 20+ game seasons, has it ever happened more than 15-20 times? I don’t know the number, but it can’t be that high.

Ultimately, my point is that Coach Brownell, I think, has demonstrated he can have “good” teams on a relatively consistent basis, which is far superior than anything Clemson has ever had to crow about, regarding basketball, in my lifetime. While Brownell hasn’t had a NBA pipeline of players and national accolades, his teams, for the most part, have been competitive and rarely get obliterated from season to season. Additionally, the notion that some are arguing, no, not you, that Coach Swinney is somehow regressing into irrelevancy is, again, absurd. Coach Swinney is already a Hall of Fame coach. He has been that since about 2020. Everything he does from this point on just builds on that legacy.

P.S. And to show I’m not completely incapable of fair and objective criticism of Coach Swinney and Coach Brownell, (no, I’m not in a “cult”) I’ll admit this: 1.) Coach Swinney, I think, has missed on some of his hires/decisions to retain a few coaches/staff during his tenure at Clemson. I think that is not a completely unfair criticism, but, who hasn’t done made those types of mistakes in any long career?

2.) And, as far as Coach Brownell goes, I think it is fair and correct to criticize him on this: for seemingly his entire tenure at Clemson, his teams have struggled regularly and mightily with clockwork like patches of inability to score, for long stretches of game time, season after season. It has been gut wrenching. Even when he has had “good” teams, like this year’s team, it never fails that there will be more than a few games, as well as long periods of game time, when his teams will shoot more poorly than JV girl basketball teams and the offense will just inexplicably disappear. It’s mystifying.

DougKingsmoreCrusade

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I would think so

Mar 7, 2024, 1:05 AM

The most obvious position of need will be center. You're almost certainly not going to be able to "replace" PJ Hall, but the team could probably benefit from getting a veteran center out of the portal. Hopefully a physical big who can do a good job of posting up and scoring in the paint. The depth at that position has been thin even this year, so that's a move I would expect to see Brad make in the offseason. With PJ and Bas both gone, that would leave the team without a true 5 on the roster.

Beyond that there's really no telling. Clark and Girard will also be big losses, of course, so who knows what guards or small forwards Brad might be able to pick up in the portal, if any, to help replace them. I would definitely expect more than one transfer to be added, but exactly how many and how good they'll be is hard to project at this point. There's also no telling exactly what positions they'll play or what their playstyles will be. A lot of it may depend on what players are available and who is willing to come to Clemson.

Chase still has the option to stay another year if he wants it, so that's probably going to be the biggest question of the offseason and will obviously make a huge difference in where the team stands. I'm also guessing that Hemenway will come back next year because he had to miss this entire season with injury. The thought was that he could medical redshirt this season and get a fresh year of eligibility for next year. So that could also potentially be a big help, but as we've all learned by now, counting on Alex to be available is a shaky proposition at best.

I think the best part of it all is the young core of returning players already on the roster. Of course, Ian Schieffelin should be back for his senior year. Josh Beadle, Dillon Hunter, RJ Godfrey, and Chauncey Wiggins will all presumably be returning for their junior seasons. All four of them have gotten significant playing time off the bench this season and have shown a lot of promise. The good thing about that quartet is that it is well balanced in terms of position, with 2 guards, 1 small forward, and 1 power forward, so they should offer plenty of versatility at the very least.

We also shouldn't forget about the two redshirts already on the roster. Asa Thomas and Jake Heidbreder should both be ready to play next year. Asa was a 3-star recruit, and Heidbreder was a third-team all-Mountain West player who averaged 15.1 points per game. That's no joke, because as we know, the Mountain West is a good enough conference in basketball to rival the power 6. The reports about how Jake has looked in practice have also been very good, so he in particular could make a massive impact.

And let's remember the recruits coming in for next season. Del Jones and Dallas Thomas are both 4-stars. To help put it in perspective, of players on the current roster who committed to Clemson out of high school, Dillon Hunter, Beadle, Godfrey, Wiggins, Schieffelin, and Hemenway were all 3-stars. Chase Hunter and PJ Hall were 4-stars. Now of course, recruiting rankings aren't everything, and as we know, recruits don't always pan out as expected. But Jones and Thomas should be the 2 most talented freshmen Clemson has gotten in 4 years. It may take them some time to develop at the college level, but they could still certainly have a big impact on the team right out of the gate.

It will be interesting to see how Brad decides to adjust the starting lineup. As previously discussed, center is the big unknown right now with no returning centers on the team, so it's likely we may see a transfer fill that role unless the staff decides to try playing Godfrey as a 5. You'd think Ian Schieffelin would be a lock to start at power forward with Godfrey as his backup. Small forward is a key question. Will Chauncey Wiggins be given the starting job at the 3 position, or will Brad try to find another Jack Clark type player in the portal for better defense and rebounding? I think a lot will depend on how much Wiggins can improve his defense in the offseason. It would certainly be nice if he could improve it enough to start, because his scoring potential is elite. But as we've seen this year, Clark's defense has been more valuable. So only time will tell as far as that's concerned.

It's anyone's guess what happens at guard. We don't know if Chase will come back; if he does, you'd figure he'd be one of the starters. That would leave Josh Beadle, Dillon Hunter, Jake Heidbreder, Alex Hemenway, and Del Jones as the options for the other guard spot. This raises a ton of questions. Would Chase still be the primary point guard, or does he get moved back to shooting guard? Or could he alternate between both? We know Josh Beadle and Dillon Hunter will probably be the other options at point guard, while Jake Heidbreder and Alex Hemenway will be the options at shooting guard.

Or will Brad find another elite shooting guard in the portal to replace Joe Girard? If that were the case, you'd figure Chase would then be the full-time point guard and everyone else would be relegated to bench roles. But we still don't even know if Chase is coming back. Could Del Jones be good enough to see immediate playing time? How might he factor into this equation? He's described as a combo guard who can play both the 1 and the 2, although he is primarily a point guard. If he gets significant playing time, will it be at point guard or at shooting guard? Or both? As you can see, the possibilities at guard are so wide open right now that it almost seems foolish to make any definite predictions.

So all in all, I think there's a lot to be excited about for the 2024-2025 men's basketball season between potential transfers, veteran returners, young returners, redshirts, and new freshmen. There will certainly be some big shoes to fill, but between the remaining talent already on the roster and the new additions, I believe this team should still be good next season and beyond.

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Does Brad

Re: Does Brad

Absolutely. We will use it every year to address needs.