By Joel Welser

Clemson won’t be the whipping boy of the ACC again this year. It isn’t just because Miami and Virginia Tech join the conference either, although that helps. Oliver Purnell will have his team ready to compete with the big guys in the ACC. The Tigers showed flashes of brilliance at times, especially in victories over North Carolina, NC State and Boston College.

Who’s Out: Chey Christie, Chris Hobbs and Lamar Rice played in all 28 games for Clemson last year. They will all be missed, but plenty of new talent is coming in. Christie averaged 9.1 points and 2.4 assists per game. Forwards Hobbs and Rice averaged 7.7 and 4.0 points per game, respectively. Also leaving is Beau Shay who saw very little minutes in ten appearances.

Who’s In: The recruiting class will add tons of depth to the bench, although a redshirt or two wouldn’t be surprising. Troy Mathis and Cliff Hammonds will backup point guard Vernon Hamilton. Small forwards Sam Perry and Cheyenne Moore are another talented duo. Perry may end up to be the best of the class. At 6-5, he can play the two guard spot as well and is a tenacious worker. Power forwards James Mays and Jerome Johnson will add more depth under the basket. Mays is a great rebounder and is continuing to work on his perimeter game. Johnson, a very late signer, has a big body and will be asked to battle with some tough competition under the basket.

Who to Watch: Sharrod Ford is looking to have a breakout year. The senior forward is a solid 6-9 and 220 pounds. As a junior, Ford led the team with 11.9 points, 7.2 boards and 2.3 blocks per game. Ford had seven double-doubles last year and nearly a triple-double. In an early season game against East Tennessee State, he scored 21 points, grabbed 14 boards and blocked eight shots.

Projected Conference Rank: Clemson might end up in 9th place again, but it should be a closer 9th place. The gap between Clemson and the top teams should be smaller. They’ll win more conference games then the three last year and some of those will be against teams other then Miami and VT.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NIT