NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 24 teams in 2020 “The Basketball Tournament”
By Max Marmitt
20. The Basketball Tournament power rankings – Power of the Paw
Actual Ranking: #18 – Round of 24 Matchup: #15 Armored Athlete on July 5th
Returning after a quality first year showing, the Clemson alumni have added some great pieces that will assuredly make this a much better team. Last year they eliminated “Team 23,” one of the most experienced TBT teams and a team that lost 67-65 to Overseas Elite in the 2015 TBT championship. The next round was an even matchup against Team CP3 (ranked #13 this year) and the Power of the Paw came up short losing just 73-68.
Gabe Devoe and Marcquise Reed compose a dynamic backcourt that was effective in the TBT last year and lethal during Clemson’s NCAA Sweet 16 run in 2018 (the two top scorers on that Clemson team). Devoe scored 22 points in both the first weekend games and gave Final Four participant Kansas all they could handle scoring 31 points in addition to nine rebounds in a narrow 4-point loss. Reed is a 2-time All-ACC player who put up great numbers across the board, especially his senior year at Clemson with 19.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 steals per game.
The frontcourt is no joke either as Elijah Thomas and Donte Grantham are a dangerous frontcourt together. Thomas can score in double figures, is 19th all-time on the Clemson total rebounds list, and is 4th in the program at blocks per game at 1.92 (2-time ACC all-defense). Grantham has had a brief NBA experience with the Oklahoma City Thunder and can do a bit of everything. He efficiently can score at a high level (shot 56 percent from the field and 42 percent from three his senior year) while having a versatile skillset. There’s a reason he started 113 of his 114 games at Clemson.
The only thing I’m not really a fan of with this team is the zone defense approach because the best TBT teams easily pick apart zone defenses. Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse Alumni) ran the 2-3 zone in honor of Jim Boeheim but eventually learned this lesson the hard way and later stuck with a man to man defense. However, they might not permanently go zone this year and I believe Clemson has the star power to potentially beat Armored Athlete in the first round.