Brad Brownell addresses Clemson season, how team is coming together for next year
Brad Brownell picked up a paper filled with notes he had written down prior to speaking with reporters Wednesday.
The Clemson men’s basketball coach counted off the number of teams that have been in the last three NCAA tournaments. Only five teams have accomplished the feat.
“We’ve been to two,” Brownell continued. “Syracuse has been to two. Miami has been to two. Everybody else below that, so there’s an element of consistency that I am proud of.”
For as consistent as the Tigers’ program has been, Brownell also acknowledges that the team has to be better moving forward. Clemson missed the postseason and ended the year with a 17-16 record and a 10th-place finish in the ACC with an 8-12 mark. That included a six-game losing streak where half of the losses came by five points or less.
Having Hunter Tyson out with a broken clavicle didn’t help, but it allowed younger players such as Ian Schieffelin and Ben Middlebrooks to play and add experience. The Tigers salvaged the season by winning five of the final six games and getting to the second round of the ACC tournament.
“If you really followed us and you followed the stories and you watched our kids, you just were really impressed and pleased with the way they wouldn’t give in,” Brownell said. “We lost a million close games, we had some heartbreaking defeats, we had two shots at the buzzer that didn’t go in. We obviously had a couple that did (go in) against us. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes that’s basketball, and I, as a coach, got to do a better job of figuring out ways to make sure that either we don’t get into that situation or that when we do, we finish it.”
Here’s a three takeaways for the Tigers moving forward:
Giving to, taking from portal
In less than a month, Clemson lost two of its most experienced guards to the transfer portal in graduate Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes, then added point guard Jaelin Llewellyn from Princeton.
Brownell said he was sure either Honor or Dawes would leave, and that being without both was a known possibility. With two scholarship players out, it left room for the Tigers to bring in Llewellyn. Brownell called the recruiting process deja vu after having recruited the former All-Ivy League first-team member when he was coming out of high school.
“Jaelin is appealing because he can do a couple of different things,” Brownell said, adding that Llewellyn was a top target. “He’s had big scoring games, if you need him to score. He’s had other games where he gets six assists, if he needs to do that.”
Llewellyn took his official visit last week, with PJ Hall serving as his host.
“I’m 1-for-1, so from now on I should probably host,” Hall joked.
PJ Hall’s progress
Speaking of the 6-foot-10 center, Hall wore a boot on his left foot and is keeping all weight off it with the help of a scooter. He had surgery last month during Clemson’s spring break after playing with inflammation between the fourth and fifth metatarsals of the foot for the majority of the season.
Hall said the post-surgery recovery will take about three months, and it hasn’t been easy to watch teammates work out while he’s limited. For now, he’s undergoing physical therapy for the whole leg and tries to move the foot as much as possible to keep blood flowing to it.
“I watch these practices out there and I’m like, ’Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I need to be out there right now,’ ” Hall said. “It’s hard to watch them, but I know that it’ll make me better in the future.”
Preview of future
Optimism for an improved Clemson squad was a shared sentiment from Hunter Tyson, Hall and Brownell.
Much of the team’s struggles last season were attributed to injuries taking Tyson and Hall out at the same time down the stretch. Tyson opted to return for an extra season as part of NCAA relief allowed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brownell also praised incoming freshmen Chauncey Wiggins, Chauncey Gibson and RJ Godfrey, all of whom will add size to a Clemson roster that often lacked it this past year.
“Chauncey Gibson, 6-5, and can shoot and pass and Chauncey Wiggins, 6-9, can shoot and pass, skill players,” Brownell said. “RJ Godfrey is (an) incredibly versatile guy that big, strong physical body 6-7, 225 (pounds), can dribble pass for his size. … I love what we have coming back. Love the guys we’re adding and you know, super excited for next year.”
