The 2024-25 Clemson basketball season unfortunately won't be remembered as fondly as it should.
The Tigers dominated the regular season in the ACC, beat Duke, and finished in second place by just a game before losing to Louisville in the conference tournament semifinals. Clemson then earned a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament which I felt was a spot too low, but it didn't much matter as Will Wade and McNeese spoiled the Tigers' quest for back-to-back Elite Eights.
Brad Brownell then watched as his entire team graduated, opted to play football instead, or hit the transfer portal. He lost all of his starters and brought back only Dillon Hunter to the roster.
So it's pretty clear that Clemson should take a step back next season, right?
Did we forget the portal still exists?
Not only do the Tigers bring in a couple of talented freshmen (I'm buying all the Zac Foster stock), but they also add several key portal players like Nick Davidson (Nevada), Jestin Porter (Middle Tennessee), Jake Wahlin (Utah), Efrem Johnson (UAB), RJ Godfrey (Georgia), and Carter Welling (Utah Valley). This makes the roster look much more enticing and this is easily a tournament team.
Joe Lunardi disagrees.
On Tuesday, Lunardi came out with his latest ESPN Bracketology update and Clemson was mentioned, but not for the right reason.
Scanning the bracket, Clemson was nowhere to be found, but if you looked at the top of the page, the Tigers appeared as "Next Four Out". Kansas State, Virginia, and Georgetown were also on the "Next Four Out" which means that Clemson would be fifth in line to make the NCAA Tournament behind Washington, Indiana, Marquette, and Nebraska.
Time to prove everyone wrong again.