It is way too early to panic over the Clemson basketball team

Tuesday night, the Clemson basketball team dropped its second overtime game in a row, a 91-88 defeat to hated in-state rival South Carolina. That came on the heels of Saturday's 87-82 loss at home to Memphis.

Now, the Tigers are certain to fall right back out of the top 25 after working all season to jump into the polls and reaching as high as No. 16 the week after knocking off then-No. 4 Kentucky on December 3rd. Thus, many Clemson fans have quickly turned cynical toward the basketball team.

In fact, some even seem to be throwing in the towel and giving up on head coach Brad Brownell and his team despite the fact that the college basketball season is still far from hitting its conference stride.

Because Clemson is a football school, many fans look at all Clemson sports with a football mindset. They tend to overreact to losses, especially when they come in pairs or groups because, to football fans, one or two losses can wreck a season given the limited number of games on the football schedule.

However, the reality is that basketball provides teams with a much greater margin for error. In fact, just about every year, a team that started the season in mediocre fashion gets hot in February or March and makes serious noise in the Big Dance.

Clemson fans should know that given what the Tigers did a season ago. The 2023-24 Tigers started the year 9-0 and even had a win over then-No. 23 Alabama, a team that would reach the Final Four. However, they dropped a tough road game at Memphis 79-77 on December 16 for their first loss of the season.

Then, when ACC play began in earnest, Brownell's team stumbled out of the gates. In fact, Clemson lost to Miami, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech to have a 1-3 conference record (they previously beat Pitt as part of their 9-0 start) on January 10. What's more, on February 3rd, after a one-point loss to Virginia, Clemson was just 4-6 in ACC play.

At that time, no one thought that the Tigers were in for a magical run in March. Fans at that point were likely turning their attention to the impending start of baseball season and the football program's spring practice sessions.

However, the Tigers caught fire after that. They closed the season going 7-3. So even despite a first-round exit in the ACC Tournament, they did enough to get into the NCAA Tournament where they made a run to the Elite Eight.

The point is that basketball seasons are like basketball games. They are usually made up not of singular moments but rather ebbs and flows.

Fans frustrated by the last two Clemson basketball games must keep that in mind. By knocking off Kentucky, this team has already shown that it has the talent to beat any team in the country. What's more, the ACC is not a strong conference this year meaning that Clemson can likely rack up the wins in league play.

Plus, the last two games were back-and-forth affairs against quality teams with Tuesday's game being played on the road in a raucous arena. Maybe, if Clemson had been blown out of both games, it would warrant concern.

However, that isn't the case. Instead, the Tigers scraped and clawed in both contests and just came up short. That will happen to every basketball team in America at some point this year.

So don't check out on Brownell and his squad. They've hit a rough patch with two frustrating losses in the last week but they open conference play with three-straight home games starting on Saturday against Wake Forest. That is an opportunity for Clemson to get back to its winning ways and it would be a shame if Tiger fans missed out on what could be another fun ride simply because they are thinking about basketball with their football brains leading the way.