LandDR

[bracketball @bracketballio]

deep dive 4: clemson tigers

bracketball projection for 2026-2027:

20-14 (10-8); 8th in the acc; miss ncaat

last season’s results:

24-11 (12-6); t-4th in the acc; ncaat 8-seed – first round exit

2025-26 roster breakdown:

*see media*

incoming recruits + transfers:

*see media*

deep dive:

brad brownell is one of the most underrated coaches in the country. he has quietly been at clemson for 16 years now and has only one sub-.500 season (third year with the program). he has 6 ncaat appearances under his belt (3 straight), including one elite eight appearance
in 2024. the guy knows how to win games. this coming year, brownell and the tigers will be looking for their 5th straight 20-win season – previous four were all 23+ (!!!) – and their 4th straight ncaat appearance.

despite not having a single player average over 12ppg this past year, brownell’s team still fared pretty well offensively – although it caught up to them in the tournament when they really could have used a go-to guy against iowa. the tigers were a strange team – a statistical and analytical anomaly. on the surface, looking at their torvik row, they have very solid defensive metrics. and that’s not to say they weren’t a good defensive team – they were. but a lot of this, one might argue, stemmed from their snail-like pace (65.1
poss per 40 – 335th in the nation and bottom 2 in the acc) and forcing teams to play their game.

looking at the metrics, what stood out to me was that 335th ranked pace (65.1 poss per 40), their 118th ranked ortg (112.4 – really not so bad considering their leading scorer averaged 12 ppg and they had one other player above 10 ppg), their tov% which was 31st lowest in the
country and their opp ortg sitting at 310th in the nation. their torvik row was lush, but not as lush as past years and certainly not as lush as you’d think for a team that went down to the wire with what would be an elite 8 bound iowa hawkeyes team (it was 61-57 with 1:24 left and the tigers wound up losing by 6!).

what hurt this team more than anything in the end was their lack of a real scorer. in that iowa game they shot just above 40% from the field. while the hawkeyes themselves shot under 40% from the field, their edge on the offensive end came from the free throw line. iowa shot 24/31 from the charity stripe to clemson’s 8-12. not going to cut it in a win or go home game. on top
of this disparity, iowa owned the rebounding margin 36-24, including 13 orbs to clemson’s 8. clemson did play solid defense all game long (iowa also just could not hit open shots) and turned the ball over just 3 times! ultimately, it came down to the tigers not having
that guy (chase hunter, pj hall, joseph girard, ian schiefelin) that could get them a bucket or get to the line when they desperately needed points.

so where can they, and will they, improve going forward? brownell has already acknowledged the fact that their lack of that go-to-guy was what ultimately led to their
demise and i have a feeling, as the good coach that he is, he will not let that happen again. at least with the system that he runs, this is not a recipe for success. he will have a 15+ ppg scorer next year. i can definitely see this being a guy like carter welling (if/once healthy at
some point) or ace buckner as their minutes naturally increase, but i also have a couple dark horse picks:

chase thompson got extended run in the tigers’ postseason games (all 12+ mins and a season-high 19 mins in their opening round acc tourney win against wake) and is a guy i liked a lot this past year. i am a firm believer that he will be a key contributor to this team
next year in an expanded role. great size and frame for a sf at 6��8 225 and can shoot it + get downhill and attack the rim with efficiency. his usage was only at 12.5 this past year – lowest amongst guys playing >20% of available minutes on clemson. If he gets the green
light next year and bumps up to around 20 (totally reasonable), i absolutely see him being a
double-digit scorer consistently. second best ortg on the team, most efficient scorer on the
team and shot 40% from three (albeit on only 25 attempts – but still!). also, fwiw, he was 1 of 3 high major freshman 6’8 and below last year to play >20% of their team’s available minutes, have an ortg >115, usg under 15 and efg and ts % above 60. these are all awesome marks to combine for.

another guy i can see being a major contributor is incoming notre dame transfer cole certa.
certa actually made the freshman to sophomore scoring jump that clemson fans will be hoping chase thompson can make. he averaged 2.5 his freshman year at nd and jumped to 12.8 on almost 37% from 3 this past year. if certa can continue to improve, bolster his frame and
develop a little bit more of an attacking the rim aspect to his game, he will absolutely provide meaningful contribution to this clemson team.

there’s a lot to be excited about for clemson fans.

clemson currently has 12 guys on their roster for next year taking into account their announced returners, recruits, transfers and intl signings (none) which means they probably have one or two more roster spots left – they carried 13 this past year. i really like ace buckner and think he has potential to be a strong lead pg for the tigers along with zac foster. healthy, i think having both of these guys at your disposal is a real luxury. they both
play smart basketball, take care of the ball and can still contribute at a pretty efficient clip on the offensive end. unfortunately, foster will be recovering from an acl tear and may not be 100% until the second half of the year. with that being said, i think it only makes sense for brownell to bring in a pg reinforcement. think they could also benefit from some athleticism and defense on the wing. they have guys that will be able to score for them, and i think incoming freshmen harris reynolds and, to a slightly lesser extent, amare james will contribute but experience always helps. see below for some potential options:

tijan saine jr. (weber state)
- averaged 17.5/2.3/4.3 for weber state this past year and can distribute at a very high level. clemson would not necessarily need him for his scoring ability so if
brownell can somehow sit him down and convince him to play a certain role – which would be taking care of the ball, running the offense, distributing and not being a net negative on defence – then this move would make sense. otherwise, i’m not sure this move has legs. saine is one of the best pgs left in the portal and clemson is
probably about the level he’ll land at if i had to guess.

jaylen curry (oklahoma state)
- averaged 10.1/3.2/3.5 for oklahoma state this past year and would bring in some needed experience to this roster and guard rotation. knows how to share the rock
and can be a pest on defense. 10 multi-steal games this past season, 3 with 4+ (!). 2.5 a/to ratio and shoots free throws well (80%+). i think this could be a great addition to clemson’s roster if a pure pg is still what they’re looking for. could really help this team down the stretch.

dennis parker jr. (radford)
- there are very few high-major-caliber athletic wings out there in the portal at this point but dennis parker jr. is definitely one of them. he averaged 18.3/5.9/1.3 last
year for radford and it is only a matter of time before he is scooped up by a big school. parker jr. would be a guy that could take some of the scoring burden away
from others, play with intensity and grab boards. not much else to it.

cheers.

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@Kcperkman1 Happy Feet

[Marc Whiteman @MarcWYFFNews4]

Selection Sunday at @ClemsonMBB

Brought to you by Hardee’s

[Chapel Fowler @chapelfowler]

Clemson MBB players react to their 2026 NCAA Tournament placement at Littlejohn Coliseum … Tigers are the No. 8 seed in the South Region and will open against No. 9 Iowa in Tampa, Florida on Friday. Likely a second round game vs. No. 1 Florida

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@QualkTalk Maturity and leadership

[Grayson Mann @gray_mann21]

Chase Thompson is out with the starting five to open the 2H.

Nick Davidson and Ace Buckner have been a package deal off the bench, and that remains the case with Welling's injury.

[Griffin Barfield @BarfieldGriffin]

HALFTIME: Clemson 41, Wake Forest 23

A complete turnaround from Winston-Salem three weeks ago. 50% from three and seven turnovers forced.

Frosh Chase Thompson leads Clemson in scoring with seven points in nine minutes.

[Drew Cagle @_dcagle]

Halftime: #Clemson 41, Wake Forest 23

Excellent half from the Tigers, save for Welling's injury.

Chase Thompson (7 pts, 3-4 FG) and Dallas Thomas (6 points, 2 3PM) led the second unit.

Oh yeah, and they held Wake's potent offense to 36% shooting from the field.

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@Spitting_GRIT Us too! Go Tiggers

[SpittingGRIT @Spitting_GRIT]

Sitting in a class dreaming of what Chase Thompson might do on the basketball court tonight 😴

[Cliff Spammonds @CliffSpammonds]

Chase Thompson made a huge impact against Stanford last night:

10 PTS | 4/5 FG | 1/1 3PT | 3 REB | 18 MIN

Bright future at Clemson for Chase. We don’t win this game without him.

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@CliffSpammonds @adamdropsbombs I hope that’s AI…😂

[Griffin Barfield @BarfieldGriffin]

All three of Clemson's double-digit scorers were off the bench in the win over Stanford:

Nick Davidson: 16 PTS, 7 REB
Ace Buckner: 11 PTS, 3 REB
Chase Thompson: 10 PTS (career-high), 3 REB

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@CliffSpammonds @StanfordMBB lol. You’d fit in good with this family.

[Cliff Spammonds @CliffSpammonds]

@StanfordMBB Somebody didn’t have Chase Thompson on the scouting report

[Griffin Barfield @BarfieldGriffin]

Freshman Chase Thompson has played 10 of the 17-ish minutes for the Tigers thus far, taking the place of RJ Godfrey, who picked up his second foul.

Two points and two rebounds, a plus/minus of 4, seeing growth already from the Minnesota native.

[PalmettoSportsNetwork @PalmettoSportTV]

Clemson All-Access Featured: Chase Thompson https://t.co/wqRtWnTU7Q

[Clemson Basketball @ClemsonMBB]

Still a lot of work to do. #ClemsonGRIT

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@BradSenkiw This team plays well together. A lot of very good fundamental basketball and grit!

[LandDR @LandDR2]

@nicksortor A reaction when their funding is disappearing.