Clemson cracks top-20 in early 2018-19 projections

Clemson big man Elijah Thomas has already announced he will return for 2018-19, after averaging 10.7 points and 8.1 rebounds last season.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Tue Apr 03 11:27:36 GMT-04:00 2018

College basketball pundits see Brad Brownell’s Tigers sticking around the rankings in 2018-19.

Much like the early rankings on the football side, rosters are far from set, with final NBA draft decisions to be made in late May, but they do provide somewhat of a picture of the next season. The momentum created by the program's first Sweet 16 run since 1997 is evident nationally.

NBC’s CollegeBasketballTalk has Clemson just inside the rankings at No. 25, anticipating all of the starters eligible to return - to return - in Shelton Mitchell and Marcquise Reed.

“Obviously, the calculus here changes if Mitchell and Reed end up staying in the NBA Draft,” Rob Dauster writes. “but at this point, I think that they’ll come back. With those two in the fold, plus Elijah Thomas in the paint, this has the makings of another team that will push for a top five seed.”

ESPN is the highest on the Tigers at No. 18.

“Brad Brownell entered the season on a warm seat, desperate for an NCAA tournament berth,” ESPN’s Byron Medcalf said. “This season's success changed the perceptions of Brownell and his program, which will welcome back three of the top five scorers from last season's squad: Marcquise Reed (15.8 PPG), Shelton Mitchell (12.2 PPG) and Elijah Thomas (10.7 PPG). Brownell's team relied on its top-10 defense in 2017-18. The Tigers will again next season.

“He has enough coming back to justify this slot.”

ESPN's Joe Lunardi placed the Tigers in his early 2018-19 bracket as well, as a 7-seed.

CBS Sports rounds out the early rankings with the Tigers at No. 24.

Sporting News and Associated Press each left Clemson out of their top-25 with Final Four surprise Loyola-Chicago at No. 25 and another ACC team at No. 24 (Notre Dame in Sporting News; Florida State in AP).

Clemson finished No. 14 in the final 2017-18 KenPom efficiency rankings. The Tigers were ranked in the final 10 top-25 rankings of the 2017-18 regular season.