Some basketball thoughts

A couple of weeks ago, Brad Brownell gathered with the media to discuss his team as it prepared for its opener against Gardner-Webb.

Brownell had spent a lot of time with his guys over the previous few weeks, and his feel for this team was much better than, say, over the summer when there were still a bunch of unknowns.

To me, one thing stood out from Brownell's observations that day:

His belief that November and December this season could be tougher than November and December last season.

If you remember that stretch last year, you know it was quite trying for Brownell as he tried to impose his methods on a veteran group that had been recruited by Oliver Purnell. Noel Johnson and Donte Hill left the program. The Tigers suffered three straight losses to Michigan, South Carolina and Florida State from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, and a few days after the loss at FSU Brownell seemed exasperated when I sat down with him for a lengthy chat.

Point is, last year Brownell and Co. had to go through a lot before the team blossomed and achieved more than anyone thought it would. So for him to say this season would be harder in the early stages was saying something.

Last year, Brownell knew he had something in Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant. Stitt was a really good penetrator, and Brownell believed Grant's ceiling was higher than people thought. Those two guys were the foundation for last year's success, so their absence is going to be felt in a big way in the early going.

As we assess the state of things right now, we have to go back to the 2008 and 2009 signing classes.

2008

Baciu
Narcisse
Smith
Young

2009

Booker
Hill
Jennings
Johnson

Those were two decorated classes. Two of the guys (Johnson and Hill) are no longer here. One of the guys (Baciu) hasn't come close to fulfilling the expectations that accompanied his arrival. Narcisse has been marginal. Booker and Jennings are still trying to prove they can be dependable players and leaders (and that's really where this season's fortunes will hinge).

So of all the guys in those classes, just two guys (Young and Smith) have emerged to be what Purnell's staff thought they were in the recruiting process.

This means your freshmen have to contribute, and that's a tough deal early in the season. During that same media gathering a few weeks ago, Brownell spoke of the difficulty in integrating so many new guys into the system and making the learning process slow enough for the freshmen, but fast enough to keep the veterans interested and enthused.

Losing back-to-back home games to College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina doesn't look good, and it certainly doesn't feel good for Clemson fans.

But there's no tremendous shame in it because those are two solid programs built by two coaches who know what they're doing. And it's no tremendous surprise because Brownell himself indicated there might be days like this.

This team probably won't be as good as last year's team, but it should get better like last year's team did.

LW