Clemson basketball: 2021 is a new low for a below average program

Take a look at how bad Clemson basketball has gotten under Brad Brownell.

Clemson basketball has lost four of their last five games by an average of 24.5 points per game. During his 11 years as the Tigers head basketball coach, this sort of play has plagued the program but it has never been that bad.

The 2020-2021 Clemson basketball season was supposed to be different.

Of their eight top scorers in 2019-2020, the Tigers brought back six of them. Not only did they bring back a wealth of experience but they also added the best recruiting class that Brownell has ever had.

When you add Fordham transfer, Nick Honor, into the mix, Clemson basketball had everything that they needed to overtake an ACC conference that is among the worst it has ever been. When you look at the traditional powers in the conference – UVA, Duke, UNC, and Louisville, all of them are having down years.

UVA and Duke have handed Clemson its two worst losses of the season so far and UNC is on the horizon. The game against the Tar Heels looked very winnable just three weeks ago and now we have to hope that it isn’t another embarrassing loss.

2020-2021 has been more of the same under Brad Brownell.

The 10 early wins this season had a lot of people believing that the Tigers had finally turned the corner under Brownell.

A closer look shows us that it has gotten worse despite all of the returning talents on the roster. Over the last 11 years, Clemson basketball has lost four of five games in seven of those seasons. One could blame a tough ACC schedule or one could look at the leader of the program and realize that he has no idea how to make the needed adjustments and allows his team to get caught in quicksand.

This is just the second season under Brownell that the Tigers have had four losses by at least 18 points. The only other season that we saw that from Clemson basketball was back in the 2014-2015 basketball season. The Tigers have never suffered more than four losses by 18 or more points in a year under Brownell.

However, this is the first time under Brad Brownell that Clemson basketball has lost to three unranked teams by 18 or more points in a season. While FSU and Duke may at some point get back into the Top 25, they were unranked at the time that they wiped the floor with Clemson basketball.

People can make excuses when you get beat by Top 25 teams, especially in the ACC, but when you are getting outclasses and outcoaches by teams that are your equal or worse, that is a new low for Brownell.

The sad part is with a $3 million buyout for Brownell, 2021-2022 will more than likely be more of the same.