CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – In a world where instant gratification rules, especially in sports, the Clemson basketball program serves as a fine example of why patience is a virtue. Instant results on the bottom line are demanded at every level of sports nowadays, but the reality is that they aren’t always possible unless one wants to do quick fixes that oftentimes hurt in the long run.
When Oliver Purnell took over as head coach in 2003, a stretch of three straight 20-win seasons seemed like more than a pipe dream. The Tigers had endured six straight losing seasons of ACC play, the last five of which saw them win five or fewer ACC games in every season. History was not on its side, either, as the Tigers have only twice had consecutive 20-win seasons.
Things didn’t turn around right away, as the Tigers were 10-18 in Purnell’s first season, including a 3-13 mark in the ACC. The wins improved every year, but by year four, the Tigers still had not cracked .500 in the ACC with their second straight 7-9 mark. By that time, they were in their fourth straight NIT, and the improvement there was seen every year as they went from reaching the first round to the second round, then the final.
After finally breaking through and reaching the NCAA Tournament last year, Clemson is a lock as of now to get there this year. Tuesday night’s win over Boston College gave them at least 20 wins for the third straight season, the first time in the program’s history that has happened. While 20 wins might not mean what it used to in light of teams playing more games, there is still some significance, especially when it happens in this fashion.
“It means we’re fairly stable,” said Purnell. “We put together three years like that with a couple of different recruiting classes, and we like the group we have coming in next year. We just feel like we’re stable, and when you’ve got a stable program, the wins and losses take care of themselves.”
Purnell now has the best winning percentage of all Clemson head coaches, moving to .616 after Tuesday’s win. That’s an area in which his teams at Clemson have improved every single season he has been on the bench, even as the number of wins went down by one last year from the prior year. Tuesday’s win also ties him with Rick Barnes for the highest ACC winning percentage in the program’s history.
The program’s rise has been slow and steady, as well as under the radar. The Tigers are buried in the ACC behind schools that get far more publicity with much more tradition, and it is thought of as a football school. That perception certainly didn’t change when Tommy Bowden was ousted as head coach after a 3-3 start this past season. But now, the basketball team is earning its own respect, and doing so in a season where they weren’t necessarily expected to do so.
With the loss of leader Cliff Hammonds, as well as a key to their press in James Mays, the Tigers had a question mark in front of them this season. But as has been the case all along, a number of players have improved from the prior season, and new key players have emerged. K.C. Rivers was a steady offensive player with a lot of talent in his first three years, but now he’s their leader and the winningest player in the program’s history with 88 wins. Six other holdovers have shown improvement in almost every major statistical category since last season, and not just slight jumps.
Junior Trevor Booker has gone from averaging 11 points last season to just over 15 this season, all while becoming one of the better frontcourt players in the ACC. Senior Raymond Sykes has more than doubled his rebounding numbers from last season and nearly doubled his scoring average. Others, like Terrence Oglesby, Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant, have shown good improvement that isn’t as obvious from strictly looking at the numbers.
“Those guys go home and work,” said Rivers. “I’ve got people in my background, people in my corner that help me, just like everybody else. They know that you can’t come back with the same kind of game, you’ve got to compete a different way. I knew coming into this year that I had to score a different way.”
While the veterans have shown that they can improve and go from role players to leaders, the Tigers look to be in good shape to continue that. Even looking ahead, their younger players have talent, but also have what it takes to eventually be what the current veterans are once they reach that stage.
“I definitely see it in Tanner (Smith), he’s going to be very good,” said Sykes. “Andre (Young) is going to be very good, he’s a hard worker. People don’t see it, but (Bryan) Narcisse is going to be very good. They come in and push us defensively and offensively, and they’re only going to get better.”
Rivers likes the maturity of this team, even among the younger players, and feels that’s a big reason this team is playing as well as they are. He sees the intangibles in this team that have gone a long way towards their current 20-3 mark, ones that have shown up in big wins like the early road win at Miami or their recent blowout of Duke.
All of that has the Tigers looking like an ACC title contender with a 6-3 mark just past the halfway point of ACC play. They are right there with North Carolina and Duke, both of whom they only play once this season, and as they continue to develop, could be a team to make a run in the conference tournament. But they have bigger goals than that, as one might imagine.
“We’re looking to go deeper in the (NCAA) Tournament,” said Booker. “I know we lost last year in the first round, and we’ve still got that feeling in our mouth. We’ve just got to get past that first round.”
If they do that, they will continue the incremental improvement that has happened every year under Purnell. Along with that, they will continue to show that with a little patience, the desired results can be obtained. It didn’t happen in the first couple of years, but Purnell looks to have a consistent winner after being given a chance to develop it.
