Clemson Tigers Men’s Basketball Team Receives High Praise From Expert

The Clemson Tigers men's basketball team is in great shape heading into the 2024-25 campaign.

Mar 28, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Brad Brownell celebrates with forward Jack Clark (5) after defeating the Arizona Wildcats in the semifinals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The run that the Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team went on during the 2024 NCAA Tournament was a magical one.

A six-seed, they defeated the No. 11 seed New Mexico Lobos in the first round. The No. 3 Baylor Bears were beaten before they took down the No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats in the Sweet 16.

Their championship hopes would be dashed by the No. 4 seed Alabama Crimson Tide, who defeated them in the Elite Eight 89-82. It was the first time they advanced that far in the tournament since 1980, as the 2023-24 season was in the running as best in program history.

What can we expect as an encore this upcoming season?

In the opinion of Joe Lunardi of ESPN, another trip to the NCAA Tournament is on deck.

In his preview of the five power conferences in college basketball, the ACC was ranked No. 4, with only the Big 10 behind them. They are projected to have six teams make the tournament with an average seed of 7.0.

The Tigers are among the four teams that Lunardi believes are locks from the 18-team mega conference to be selected for the field of 68.

“But the conference will need to back that history up in the regular season, to exceed its current bid projection. The league realistically has just four NCAA locks (Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Clemson) but there's considerable wiggle room with at least double that number of genuine bubble teams,” the college basketball expert wrote.

The fact Lunardi has Clemson as a lock for the NCAA Tournament speaks to how well Brad Brownell and his staff did restocking the roster after their run. 

Their top two scorers from last season, PJ Hall and Joe Girard III have moved on from the program. Rotation players RJ Godfrey and Jack Clark, along with Alex Hemenway, are also no longer with the team.

They hit the transfer portal, bringing in Viktor Lakhin from the Cincinnati Bearcats and Jaeden Zackery from the Boston College Eagles, who are both projected to be starters. Myles Foster was added to the bench unit from Illinois State Redbirds.

Replicating their success from last season will not be easy, but they are in a good position to put together another productive campaign.

Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin, who were third and fourth on the team in scoring last year, will be taking on a larger role for the squad, along with Chauncey Wiggins.