2008 Clemson Basketball Predictions

Written by Steve Janus on November 4, 2008

Last Season
The Clemson Tigers are coming off of an impressive 24-10 season in 2007. The Tigers also racked up a 10-6 record in the ACC, far beyond any of the expectations that anyone had for them. Their performance landed them a spot in the NCAA tournament, but they were ousted in the first round by Villanova. Even with their one-and-done performance in the tournament, the Tigers have to be happy about the progress that they made. This was their first tournament appearance since 1962 and they’ve just barely made the NIT in recent years. Clemson is losing three starters from last year’s squad, making it a tall order to match the 10 wins they were able to earn in the conference in 2007. Clemson also needs to improve on their free throw shooting if they want to be a true contender this year as last season they were ranked 312th in free throw shooting percentage hitting merely 62.3% from the charity stripe. For 2008-2009 the Tigers have been given +1000 odds to win the ACC.

Frontcourt
Clemson comes into the 2008-2009 season without one of their most consistent defensive players from last season, James Mays. The loss of Mays will need to be filled by forward Trevor Booker, who is a returning starter from last season. It will be key to see if Booker can step in and fill the void. He is an All-ACC type of player, but has struggled in the past with getting into foul trouble. Starting forward Raymond Sykes will also be asked to help fill the void of Mays, and he was able to do so last season when Mays was injured, but he doesn’t have enough minutes logged just yet for Clemson to feel confident in him as a replacement. Tiger’s fans have to be excited about the addition of 7’1” freshman center Catalin Baciu, who scouts have touted as a big man with a shooter’s touch and good ability to run the floor. Baciu is still a little raw, but will get the starting nod and could very well be an impact player on this team immediately. 6’8” forward, Jerai Grant will also see significant playing time. Grant has great potential, but like so many of his teammates this year, he lacks the experience at this level to know what kind of an impact he is going to have.

Backcourt
As with the frontcourt, Clemson lost a key player in their backcourt that will need to be replaced. Cliff Hammonds, who averaged double digits (11.4 ppg) from the guard position. Luckily, the Tigers do return their leading scorer from a year ago, K.C. Rivers. Rivers put up nearly 15 points per game and the Tigers will need that kind of production out of him again this season if they are going to have any kind of success. Clemson will also get some much-need production out of shooting guard Terrance Oglesby, who is a tremendous threat from three-point range and one of the big reasons the Tigers shot 40% from behind the arc in 2007. Rounding out the backcourt is point guard Demontez Still, a sophomore who showed some signs of becoming a solid player last season. Still will likely be asked to distribute the ball more this year after shooting an awful 27% from three point range last season. He also needs to improve on defense, but coach Oliver Purnell feels like he has the ability to become a good defender as he matures as a player.

Final Thoughts
It’s doubtful that the Clemson Tigers can match the 10 wins they had last year in the ACC. They’ve simply lost too many good players on defense and have too many questions about who is going to pick up that slack. With that being said, it’s not out of the question to think this team can come out and make a run at the NCAA tournament again in this year, but don’t expect them to make much of a splash. BetUs has Clemson at +10000 to win the NCAA Championship.

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