By Will Vandervort.
Once again, the Clemson men’s basketball team was picked to finish in the bottom half of the ACC standings by the media who cover the conference. But don’t think Clemson cares what the media thinks.
Last year, the same media that attended Wednesday’s Operation Basketball Event at The Westin in downtown Charlotte, N.C., picked the Tigers to finish 14th in the 15-team conference, yet the Tigers won 10 games in the new ACC and finished sixth in the standings.
Clemson, who went 23-13 overall and advanced to The Final Four of the NIT, beat Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament and were a bad call away from knocking of ACC runner-up Duke in the quarterfinals.
So don’t think the Tigers care what the media have to think about their chances in 2014-’15. The ACC media picked Clemson to finish No. 11 in the preseason poll on Wednesday.
“I usually don’t worry about the rankings and stuff,” Clemson center Landry Nnoko said. “It doesn’t matter what they say. It really comes down to the game and the way we compete against each other.
“When you are out there competing, rankings really don’t matter.”
Of course a lot of the media are down on the Tigers again because forward K.J. McDaniels decided to forgo his senior season and entered the NBA last spring. The ACC Defensive Player of the Year led the team in scoring, rebounding, blocks shots, free throw and field goal percentage. He put together one of the greatest seasons in the program’s history as he earned First-Team All-ACC honors as well.
So with McDaniels now playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, the media again thinks the Tigers will fall back into mediocrity. But Nnoko, who returns as the ACC’s leading shot blocker, feels otherwise and so do his teammates.
He thinks the Tigers can get back to 10 wins in the conference and be right in the middle of the action when the end of the season rolls around.
“That’s the goal,” the junior said. “We definitely are going to compete every night and come out ready to play. We feel like we can play against anybody. We have a lot of home games and a lot of big home games in the ACC season so that is big for us and that will help a lot.”
Clemson will kick off the ACC season at home against North Carolina on Jan. 3. The Tar Heels were picked to finished second in the ACC on Wednesday by the ACC media. Duke is the preseason favorite to win the conference, the Tigers play in Durham on Feb. 21.
The No. 3 team, Louisville, will host Clemson on Jan. 7, while the Tigers host No. 5 Syracuse on Jan. 17.
Clemson returns eight lettermen from last year’s team, including senior point guard Rod Hall, who averaged 9.7 points per game last year, and senior shooting guard Demarcus Harrison – 7.8 points per game.
Nnoko averaged 6.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per night to go along with 69 blocks. The Tigers also return guard Jordan Roper and forward Jaron Blossomgame. They also have newcomers in standouts Gabe DeVoe and Donte Grantham.
“We don’t necessarily look at wins or losses,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I want to see the development of my team throughout the course of the season. I want to make sure we are playing better basketball in February and March than we do early.
“We do have goals as a program in trying to take the next step as a program. We want to be a part of the NCAA Tournament and we know we have to play well. But at this early stage of the season, it is premature to be talking about long term goals like ACC Championship and NCAA Tournament.”