Listen, I am not saying Clemson needs to become a basketball school, but maybe it needs to like the sport a little more.

Hear me out.

Of Clemson’s three major sports—football, men’s basketball and baseball—basketball has been the more consistent of the three the last four years.

Why?

Good question.

There are several reasons.

Some of it is performance based. Some of its coaching and some of it is financial.

Though Clemson football has won two ACC Championships in the last four years, the program has slipped dramatically. The Tigers are just 37-17 in the last four seasons, a .685-win percentage.

In 2024, the Tigers played in the College Football Playoff and played in the 2023 Orange Bowl Classic.

The baseball team has done a little better. The Tigers won the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship and advanced to the 2025 Championship Game last year. Overall, Clemson is 159-67 under Erik Bakich, a .704-win percentage.

Clemson baseball is one of just three teams to host an NCAA Regional in each of the last years, and advanced to a Super Regional in 2024.

However, the baseball team still has 19 games remaining on the 2026 season, a season in which they are 23-14 and in jeopardy of not making the NCAA Tournament for the third time this decade.

The Tigers have been their best on the basketball court. That is right, the basketball court.

Clemson is 98-41 under Brad Brownell the last four seasons, a win percentage of .705, including three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament—just the second time that has happened in the program’s history—while finishing in the top 5 of the ACC every year.

The Tigers, who have had very little success in the ACC Tournament over the years, have advanced to the semifinals of the tournament three of the last four years.

In 2024, Clemson went all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the first time that has happened since 1980.

Let’s not forget, this past season’s team really had no business finishing in the top five of the ACC Tournament and making the Big Dance. They lost 90 percent of their scoring from the 2025 season and brought in four new starters.

How did Clemson make it work?

That is simple. Brownell does the most with less.

Despite getting a little more $2 million in revenue sharing last year, Brownell still competed at a high level, though Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and other ACC teams are spending three times that amount or more in men’s basketball.

Imagine what Brownell could do if he got more than 11-percent of the revenue sharing money. Imagine if he had more NIL funds.

Just look at what he has already done for next year’s team. He has retained most of his returning players, though he lost five assistant coaches since the season came to an end last month. He also signed an extremely talented recruiting class led by shooting guard Harris Reynolds.

Then Brownell goes into the transfer portal and adds former Notre Dame guard Cole Certa, who averaged nearly 13 points per game in 32 games this year, including double digit performances in each of the last nine games of the season.

Let me tell you, Certa was not cheap. But somehow Brownell found the funds to get the shooting guard to sign with the Tigers.

Brownell is still not done, Clemson is still expected to sign a center and another wing player, who can also play in the post, out of the portal.

With basketball winning at the level it is winning at, and Brownell still finding ways to fund his program, though the football program is getting the majority of the rev money and is doing little with it, don’t you think basketball deserves a little bit more?

I do, and so does Brownell.

Though he believes the Clemson Experience still helps sell Clemson, it is getting harder and harder for Brownell to compete against the more funded schools in the ACC. Yes, he was able to get Certa, but can he get the next guy?

He will likely have some ideas on how to get more money for the basketball program, that decision ultimately lies with Clemson athletic director Graham Neff. However, Clemson’s all-time winningest basketball coach knows he has Neff’s full support.

“Well, he is my boss, so I make suggestions,” Brownell said jokingly in a recent press conference. “Graham will do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the university and what he can to be supportive of men’s basketball.”

I got an idea. Make Clemson a basketball school.