ACC Basketball: Updated preseason rankings for 2018-19

Head coach Brad Brownell entered last season on the hottest of seats and had a roster everyone predicted would finish in the bottom third of the conference. Instead, all Clemson did was reach the Sweet 16 and finish 25-10 on the season – their best mark in eight years under Brownell.

The Tigers also return two of the most talented players from that team in leading scorer Marcquise Reed (15.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.3 apg) and Shelton Mitchell (12.6 ppg, 3.6 apg). Elijah Thomas (10.7 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.3 bpg) is also an impact player in the paint, giving this team one of the best trios in the conference.

That said, Clemson also lost a lot from last year’s team. Donte Grantham was thought of as their most talented player and point guard Gabe DeVoe was their leader, best player, and the driving force behind their Sweet 16 run.

The Tigers were not a very deep team last year and, with no newcomers expected to have an impact, they will have an even shorter bench (Brownell may even choose to have a six- or seven-man rotation).

I think that lack of depth will keep Clemson from competing with the teams that are at the top of the conference, yet they’ll go as far as Reed, Mitchell, and Thomas take them.