ACC Basketball: Duke clear ahead, Pitt dead last in latest power rankings

The Tigers are a team that we figured would be a really good defensive team this season but struggle to score without All-ACC big Aamir Simms around. But his replacement wasn’t Youngstown State transfer Naz Bohannon but instead a breakout version of PJ Hall, a 6’10 sophomore forward that is averaging a team-leading 13.4 ppg, including a pair of 22-point games against Wofford and St. Bonaventure.

He’s been good, along with South Florida transfer David Collins. The 6’4 guard leads the Tigers with 6.0 ppg and is one of five starters averaging in double figures, alongside Hunter Tyson, Nick Honor, and Al-Amir Dawes. There’s good balance among the starters but a lack of a bench combined with not having a lot of high-end scoring potential limits what Clemson can do offensively.

And on the defensive end, not having Simms has shown. Clemson still is solid on that end of the court but isn’t going to be top-25 like they were a year ago. Against a Rutgers team that was missing point guard Geo Baker, the Tigers were down pretty much most of the game, allowing 74 points in the 10-point loss.

This is a team that hasn’t looked bad and has the potential to get some wins against the top-6 of the ACC. But unless Hall can become a consistent 16-18 ppg scorer and give them a go-to option on offense, they’ll be fairly inconsistent overall.