BTO Exclusive: Clemson Climbs The Rungs Of The ACC

BTO Exclusive: Clemson Climbs The Rungs Of The ACC

Despite losing multiple starters from last season's 23-9 club, Clemson is picked to finish third in the ACC this season.  Some see it as an odd choice.  The Tigers don't.


By JIM SUMNER
Basketball Times Online

The ACC — coaches, players, league officials and media — got together in Greensboro last weekend for an annual get together called Operation Basketball.  One of the rituals involves the media predicting the league’s finish, along with an All-ACC team.
You’re probably not surprised to learn that Duke and North Carolina took the top two spots.  In fact, they actually tied for first place, with Duke getting more first-place votes.  Par for the course.
But these aren’t the only ACC teams with distinguished pedigrees.  So, who does the media think is most likely to challenge Duke and North Carolina for the regular-season title?  Maryland, which won an NCAA title earlier this decade?  Georgia Tech, who played for an NCAA title in 2004?  Or Wake Forest, which was ranked No. 1 last season?
Actually, the correct answer is Clemson. That’s right.  No. 103 in the ESPN/ Sagarin historical program ranking.  That Clemson.
It’s easy to overlook the Tigers. The school has never made a Final Four and has never won an ACC tournament; in fact, they’ve only made the title game twice, 1962 and 2008.  Not a single player from Clemson made an NBA roster this season.  The school hasn’t had a first-round pick since Sharone Wright in 1994. 
And to top it off, Clemson lost three starters from last season’s 23-9 team, including a bulk of the team’s perimeter shooting.
About that perimeter shooting — Clemson made 256 3-pointers last season, 161 of them by K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby.  Rivers was a senior, while Oglesby surprisingly left Clemson for Europe with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Clemson talks about having the firepower to replace Rivers and Oglesby.  There’s returnees Demontez Stitt, Andre Young or David Potter and newcomers Milton Jennings or Noel Johnson.  Candidates all.
But Clemson coach Oliver Purnell sounds like he might relish a return to more traditional values, stating that his team needs “a higher percentage [rather] than higher volume” on threes.
It’s not hard to see that as a reference to Oglesby, a shoot-first, ask-questions-later bomber. Oglesby could shoot you back into a game, but he could shoot you back out just as easily.
Purnell seems more concerned with what happens on the other side of the ball.  Clemson jumped off to a 16-0 start last season.  The Tigers were 19-2 after an epic 74-47 beat-down of fourth-ranked Duke.
Then, things started going wrong.  The Tigers fell at woeful Virginia.  Then lost to even more woeful Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament opener.  Michigan ended Clemson’s season in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 62-59.  Five losses in the final six games, for a 23-9 finish.
Purnell places the blame clearly on defense.  “The biggest problem was not defending at the same level as earlier in the season. ‘Defend’ is our battle cry.  I want to be one of the best defensive teams in the country.”
Star forward Trevor Booker (pictured) adds another reason.  “The team fell apart late. People had their own agendas, started doing their own things.  Playing for the NBA, playing for stats. Some of those players are here, some are gone.” 
Booker is the key to turning it around.  The senior isn’t exactly unknown on the national level; he did make the pre-season Naismith Watch.  But his intense, blue-collar game allows him to slip under the radar screen of fans more impressed by style than effectiveness.  At 6’7”, 240 pounds, Booker dominates inside, offensively, defensively, and on the boards, the latter to the tune of 10 rebounds per game.
He’s trying to refine his perimeter skills, both to help his team and prepare for an NBA career as a wing.  But there’s a limit.  Purnell maintains “Our bread is still buttered with Trevor on the blocks. He’s an agile, mobile guy, who can play two or three positions. Trevor draws a lot of people, opening the floor for the rest of the team.”
Booker is on the same page.  “I definitely am not going to be a ball hog. I need my teammates to open it up. Teams will start scouting us and realize we can shoot the ball. We still have shooters.  You just don’t realize it yet.”
Who will be on the floor when Booker is drawing those defenders?  Purnell ruffled some feathers over the summer when he suggested that Booker was the only player guaranteed a starting spot.  Purnell’s message?  “Compete and get better.  We’re not satisfied with not winning the ACC. We need to be deeper and fresher than last year. We’re pushing our leaders to concentrate on chemistry.”
One of those leaders should be Potter, a 6’6” senior.  Potter says the team took Purnell’s warning to heart. “Our reaction? Everybody just getting after each other, working hard in practice, scratching and clawing.”
Scratching and clawing is music to Purnell’s ears.  There’s no question that he wants Demontez Stitt to be at the top of the scratching-and-clawing list.  The talented but erratic junior is the incumbent at point guard and his coach wants him to lose the erratic.  “He needs to take a big step forward,” says Purnell.  “He could be one of the best guards in the ACC.   We’re looking to push the ball more and we need Demontez to do that.”
There will some freshmen in the mix, including 6’9” Milton Jennings, Clemson’s first McDonald’s All-American since Wright in 1991.  Wing Noel Johnson also was a consensus prep top-50 player last season, while 6’8” Devin Booker will give his brother some sibling help inside.  Jerai Grant, a 6’8” junior and the nephew of former Clemson star Horace Grant, has the inside track on replacing Raymond Sykes as the glue-guy fifth starter.
Purnell and his team say to forget the three departed starters and don’t worry about the three-point shooters. Purnell says, “I don’t shun expectations.  We’re going to be ready,” a clear warning that Clemson has every intention of challenging for ACC supremacy.

Jim Sumner, a Raleigh-based writer, is BTO's Tobacco Road correspondent.  An author of three books and numerous articles on the ACC, he has provided expert commentary to HBO’s Battle for Tobacco Road and ESPN’s Between the Lines.  He can be reached at jimsumner@earthlink.net.

Photo Credit:  www.clemsontigers.cstv.com