2007 Clemson College Basketball Picks & Predictions
Jimmy Boyd thinks that his NCAA basketball predictions in his 2007 Clemson season preview will show the team finally getting to the NCAA tournament. Whe Oliver Purnell took over this program four years ago the school’s basketball program was in shambles. He took the slow and steady approach and has won more games than the previous year each season since he got here. This year’s team expects no less than an NCAA tournament appearance after starting out 17-0 a year ago before losing in the Finals of the NIT. With five of the top six players returning from a year ago there really is no reason for this team to back track and a top tier finish in the ACC is in the near future for the Tigers.
The Tigers will be solid in the paint with sophomore center Trevor Booker. Booker was impressive in his first year of collegiate play in averaging 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game as he started all 36 games for the team. James Mays thought about trying his luck in the NBA Draft, but decided to come back to school after averaging nearly 2 steals, 2.6 assists, 12.2 points, and 6.4 rebounds a game as a junior. If Mays and Booker can hit mid-range jumpers then they can free up some room and cause some damage in the ACC. Ramond Sykes and Julius Powell are both juniors that provide depth and while they aren’t that great of athletes they will provide minutes off the bench.
The point guard duties will be handed over to freshman Demontez Stitt who was Mr. Basketball in North Carolina a year ago. He is a hard worker who can play defense as well as score. Cliff Hammonds is the senior off-guard who averaged 11.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game in his 33.5 minutes per contest a year ago. He’ll take over the ball handling duties if Stitt doesn’t develop quickly enough. KC Rivers will be the starting swingman who provides a great offensive punch. He put up 14 ppg a year ago despite coming off the bench for the first 3/4ths of the year.
If all you can remember about last year was how Clemson lost ten of their last fourteen games then you might be missing out on a quality team with your college basketball picks. The team kept a lot of games close against top-tier ACC opponents, and had poor free throw shooting cost them plenty of times. The time is now if the school is going to make the NCAA tournament, and this should be a team that public expectations are lower than they should be, so look for good NCAA basketball odds on them early in the season. I love going against the public’s expectations when doing basketball betting since it works more often than not.