Clemson Tigers Basketball Stars Earn All-ACC Preseason Awards

The Clemson Tigers were also picked among the top teams in the ACC in this year’s preseason coaches’ poll.

Mar 30, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Clemson Tigers guard Chase Hunter (1) reacts after the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the finals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Clemson Tigers stars Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin were both named All-ACC second team preseason selections by the ACC media, which was released on Wednesday.

The Tigers were also selected to finish fourth in the conference.

Hunter and Schieffelin were both in attendance at last week’s ACC tip-off and are expected to be two of the veteran leaders entering this season.

Hunter, a 6-4 guard from Atlanta, Ga., returns for his sixth year of college basketball after he averaged 12.9 points, 3.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game last season. He’s spent his entire career at Clemson and began before the COVID-19 pandemic, giving him an extra year to play after he took a redshirt.

He cranked up his play in the NCAA Tournament, where he led Clemson with 17.8 points per game, along with 4.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists as he earned All-West Region honors.

Schieffelin is also from Atlanta, but the 6-8 forward is in his fourth and final collegiate season. He’s been a steady contributor at Clemson, but last year he was a full-time starter who averaged 10.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He was also named the most improved player in the ACC.

North Carolina’s RJ Davis was named the preseason player of the year and was also named to the first team, along with Hunter Sallis of Wake Forest, Cooper Flagg of Duke, Markus Burton of Notre Dame, and Nijel Pack of Miami.

Flagg, one of the top recruits in the country, was also named the ACC preseason rookie of the year.

Jamir Watkins of Florida State, Baye Ndongo of Georgia Tech and Ishmael Leggett of Pitt joined Hunter and Schieffelin on the second team.

Duke was selected to win the league, garnering 42 of the 54 first-place votes. The Blue Devils were followed by North Carolina with 11 first-place votes and Wake Forest with one first-place vote.

The Tigers were the first team in the poll that didn’t get a first-place vote, but with 765 total points, they finished just ahead of Virginia.

Tigers coach Brad Brownell and the Tigers went to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980. Brownell has turned the Tigers into consistent winners since he arrived in 2010. The Tigers have won 265 games and since the 2017-18 season, Clemson has won 20 or more games four times and received three NCAA Tournament bids and two NIT bids.