By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

Imagine for a moment Atlantic Coast Conference basketball in a couple of years; Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt and Syracuse in the dogfight with Duke, North Carolina and the rest.

Dan Radakovich has, which was why he wants to make sure Brad Brownell has every tool to succeed including, perhaps, a new or refashioned home court.

“It’s not a walk in the park,” said Clemson’s new athletic director, ticking off the names of the ACC’s four newest members. “So we have to continue to invest in our basketball program, and I am very confident in our leadership.”

Playing with a roster consisting of two seniors and no juniors, Brownell has forged a 10-6 record heading into Sunday’s game at N.C. State. It’s not a mean feat under the circumstances, Radakovich said during an hour-long interview earlier this week.

“There are certain circumstances that come with every basketball coaching change, and the unfortunate one that came with Brad is that, as we sit here today, he has no junior class,” he said. “Particularly in the sport of basketball, people look up and down the bench – it’s not a Clemson thing (but) a national  thing – they say ‘I’m not going to have enough minutes here, I have to transfer.’

“When do you get off of that wheel,” he said, “And if you have enough people transfer out of a particular class, you might be back to the same circumstance of not having anyone.”

As a result, Brownell and the Clemson men’s basketball program finds itself in a predicament that Radakovich said was “very unusual.”

“Right now no junior class and – guess what – next year no, senior class,” he said. “Last year was a challenge. This year, a little bit of a challenge, and next year may still be a little bit of a challenge for what our goals are.”

Historically, Clemson has been a difficult sell to recruit high-profile, program-changing basketball prospects. There are more theories than – well – upperclassmen on the current roster, but as Radakovich said, “athletes make it happen.”

“There’s some high profile, knock it out of the park people that wear plastic helmets and shoulder pads,” he said. “And some really high profile, knock it out of the park track people who have done things on a world stage that are here.”

Further investments in basketball could be more than the $5.1 million addition for Littlejohn Coliseum announced two years ago as part of a university-wide capital campaign.

“I think that by the middle of March we’ll have a little bit better idea on Littlejohn as to what happens there,” Radakovich said. Asked if he was suggesting a new or retooled arena, Radakovich said it was a question worth considering. His farewell at Georgia Tech was the unveiling of a $45 million makeover of the basketball facility which took about two years.

“You have to step back and say, ‘Is it a practice facility you need or a performance area that you need?,’” he said. “What really needs to be upgraded there? And how do you balance the two of those together?

“I’m not sure yet, but coming in you have to ask the question. Is that what needs to be done. If  it is, how do you do that?”

At the end of the day, he likes the cut of Brownell’s jib.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to stick with someone that has the same values, understands the institution, embraces all of those things and works incredibly hard,” he said. “I know a lot of people who do that, but they may not work hard, and that kind of cuts them off at the knees.”