ACC Preview #11 - Clemson

The Tigers are in a rebuild mode but you can’t put a price on good coaching.

We don’t know just how Clemson will do this year but we do know this: anyone who picks Wake Forest ahead of Clemson vastly overestimates Wake Forest and underestimates Clemson and in both cases it comes down to coaching; Brad Brownell is an excellent coach while Danny Manning has been a disappointment.

Certainly Manning has had more talent and that’s not a huge surprise. Wake Forest is capable of attracting good players.

Generally speaking, Clemson has, through the decades, had if not less talent then certainly less skilled talent than the dominant North Carolina teams.

Brownell has managed to keep Clemson competitive despite that and we expect that will continue this season.

Clemson loses Elijah Thomas, Shelton Mitchell, Marcquise Reed and David Skara and there’s no question those are staggering losses. The first three proved themselves to be outstanding ACC players and while Skara was maybe a step behind them he was still very much a contributor and a good defender.

Who’s got next?

Look for 6-8 Aamir Sims to start for sure. He’s been a tough out for everyone. Alabama transfer Tevin Mack, a 6-6 grad student transfer and a native of Columbia, will probably start too.

Junior guard Clyde Trapp (6-4) probably will start as well. He’s a junior now and is probably ready to step up to another level. John Newman may get the call at the other spot which would give the Tigers a big backcourt - 6-4 and 6-5 respectively.

Don’t rule out Khavon Moore though. A 6-8 grad transfer from Texas Tech, Moore has guard skills. He had some injuries and didn’t play a whole lot there but he looks to be versatile and that never hurts.

There are undoubtedly a lot of question marks for the Tigers. Guys like Trey Jemison, Nick Honor, Jonathan Baehre - they haven't distinguished themselves so far.

Also available are two more grad student transfers: 6-4 Curran Scott from Tulsa who has a regrettable tattoo that, when he wears a jersey looks like someone inked chest hair in, and 6-10 Paul Grinde from...Vassar? The most notable thing about him is that he’s huge. If 285 lb. Zion Williamson had come back this year for Duke, he’d only be the second heaviest player in the ACC as Grinde weighs in at 300. Maybe Dabo Swinney should look at him as a lineman. He’s said to be a bit ponderous.

Freshmen:

• 6-2 Al-Amir Dawes is a four-star guard, for whatever that’s worth. He may be good enough to start and possibly at point which would be a great break for the Tigers. He’s a rare New Jersey recruit for Clemson.
• Chase Hunter (6-3) is said to be a good slasher and could be a useful backup guard.
• Alex Hemenway is a 6-3 guard from Indiana said to be a good shooter. He bears a slight resemblance to legendary Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy. He may be able to spend some time at point guard as well.
• O’ Neil McBride is also listed as a freshman. He’s a 6-7 kid from Myrtle Beach. He spent a year at Fork Union and may be one of those guys who mature a bit later. We really don’t know much about him.

What we do know is that Brad Brownell has long since proved his coaching chops. His team will be physical and defend to the best of its ability and that gives any team a fighting chance. Offense is still an open question and we don’t know how that will work out but there are some guys here with the potential to surprise. It doesn't mean they will of course, only that they might.

Given what we’ve read about Boston College freshman CJ Felder, a native of Sumter, we wonder if the Tigers will regret not having gone after the Sumter native more aggressively. He might have been a real asset for Clemson.