247Sports ACC basketball tiers and Clemson's spot

Sep 15, 2023, 8:31 AM

247Sports has the 2023-24 Clemson men's basketball team as just below the title contender tier for this upcoming ACC season.

The Tier 2 is described as "Middle of the pack with top-4 upside" where "a team from this tier should have enough talent to make the NCAA Tournament, but it has a few too many questions to be an unquestioned championship contender right now."

Clemson’s brass doubled down on Brad Brownell despite missing the NCAA Tournament. Brownell has a roster that can make that decision look wise. Clemson is sneaky loaded. Replacing Hunter Tyson isn’t easy, but a healthy PJ Hall is a complete game-wrecker, and Clemson loaded up on shooting. Syracuse transfer Joe Girard III canned 80+ triples in each of the last two seasons, and a healthy version of Alex Hemenway (career 43% 3-point shooter) is an under-the-radar gem. Clemson also seemed to find something down the stretch with charge-drawing, offensive rebound-hunting forward Ian Schieffelin playing alongside Hall. Clemson outscored opponents by 16.8 points per 100 possessions with Schieffelin and Hall on the floor together, according to Pivot Analysis.

Clemson's projected starting lineup

G Chase Hunter
G Joe Girard III
G Jack Clark OR Alex Hemenway
F Ian Schieffelin
F PJ Hall

North Carolina, Duke and Miami are the teams tagged as title contenders, while Clemson is joined in Tier 2 by just Virginia.

https://247sports.com/longformarticle/acc-basketball-preseason-tiers-miami-hurricanes-unc-basketball-duke-basketball-jon-scheyer-hubert-davis-virginia-clemson-pitt-nc-state-wake-forest-syracuse-virginia-tech-215653469/#2234950