Brad Brownell can’t rest on last year’s Elite Eight run. For the Clemson Tigers to reach a Final Four, he has to keep pushing his team in new directions.
While Clemson lost forward P.J. Hall to the NBA Draft, Brownell and his staff have retained talent and brought in a host of transfers they hope will allow them to take that next step in 2024-25 and challenge for the program’s first berth in the Final Four.
This year, during the ACC tip-off event in Charlotte, he talked about his desire to put the team in the hands of its veterans, even as the roster turns over.
That’s part of the reason he brought Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin to the event. Both were integral to last year’s run and he said they will be players he leans on as the Tigers try to reach the top of the ACC this season.
“It’s all about player-driven leadership,” Brownell said. “If we’re constantly relying on coaches to push through challenges, it’s easy to get off track. We need our players to be the ones keeping each other focused.”
Hunter, a 6-4 guard from Atlanta, Ga., returns for his sixth year of college basketball after he averaged 12.9 points, 3.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game last season. He’s spent his entire career at Clemson and began before the COVID-19 pandemic, giving him an extra year to play after he took a redshirt.
He cranked up his play in the NCAA Tournament, where he led Clemson with 17.8 points per game, along with 4.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists as he earned All-West Region honors.
Schieffelin is also from Atlanta, but the 6-8 forward is in his fourth and final collegiate season. He’s been a steady contributor at Clemson, but last year he was a full-time starter who averaged 10.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He was also named the most improved player in the ACC.
It’s no surprise Brownell is leaning on the pair to acclimate a host of quality transfers to the roster, including Jaeden Zackery, Christian Reeves, Myles Foster, and Viktor Lakhin.
Clemson went to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980. Brownell has turned the Tigers into consistent winners since he arrived in 2010. The Tigers have won 265 games and since the 2017-18 season, Clemson has won 20 or more games four times, received three NCAA Tournament bids and two NIT bids.
