Busting Brackets
Fansided

ACC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Matthew Travis

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 12: A general view of center court prior to the quarterfinals round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The remainder of the tournament will be played with only essential tournament personnel, limited school administrators and student-athlete guests, broadcast television and credentialed media members in attendance due to concerns over the possible spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 12: A general view of center court prior to the quarterfinals round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The remainder of the tournament will be played with only essential tournament personnel, limited school administrators and student-athlete guests, broadcast television and credentialed media members in attendance due to concerns over the possible spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 16
Next
LOUISVILLE, KY – JANUARY 25: Head coach Brad Brownell of the Clemson Tigers (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – JANUARY 25: Head coach Brad Brownell of the Clemson Tigers (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

team. 432. . . . Tigers . 9

The Clemson Tigers finished the 2019-20 season with only a 9-11 record against conference opponents, but they had some pretty big wins that turned out to be more important than their overall conference record.

The Tigers managed to beat a Duke Blue Devils team that was ranked third at the time, fifth-ranked Louisville, sixth-ranked Florida State, and while the Tar Heels were one of the worst ACC teams last season, Clemson got their first win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill, in program history.

That being said, while Clemson finished the season with a 9-11 ACC record, and a 16-15 record overall, Tiger fans had several games that may have made up for the mediocre performance the rest of the season.

Nonetheless, Clemson will enter the 2020-21 season with a team that looks very similar to that of their 2019-20 team. The Tigers will have four of their top-five scorers from last season back, who is also four of their top-five rebounders, and they also have each of their top-five assist leaders back.

This means the 2020-21 Clemson team will look very similar to that of the team we saw take the court last year. However, they also added three freshmen, all three of which are four-stars with P.J. Hall being the highest ranked, coming in at 54th nationally according to 247 Sports.

Here is what Clemson’s roster will look like in 2020-21:

  • Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Freshman, Guard/Forward
  • Lynn Kidd, Freshman, Center
  • PJ Hall, Freshman, Forward
  • Al-Amir Dawes, Sophomore, Guard
  • Chase Hunter, Sophomore, Guard
  • O’Neil McBride, Sophomore, Forward
  • Nick Honor, Junior, Guard
  • Hunter Tyson, Junior, Forward
  • Parker Fox, Junior, Guard
  • John Newman III, Junior, guard
  • Wells Hoag, Junior, Guard
  • Clyde Trapp, Senior, Guard
  • Jonathan Baehre, Senior, Forward
  • Aamir Simms, Senior, Forward

Clemson has a total of 14 players on their roster for the 2020-21 season, one more than the scholarship maximum of 13. Of those 14, I would expect Aamir Simms to have the biggest impact seeing he was Clemson’s leading scorer, rebounder, and assist getter last season.

In addition to Simms, I expect Newman, and Dawes to be impressive as well. Nonetheless, Clemson is a team that could make the NCAA Tournament for only the second time since 2011, or they could fall on their face following a rough conference schedule, only time will tell.