2019-20 Clemson men's basketball preview

Overview: The Tigers are coming off of a disappointing season that culminated in a fruitless effort to salvage the year with an NIT championship. Of their starting core, they are only returning junior guard Clyde Trapp and junior forward Aamir Simms. 

This Clemson program is going through a dry spell as of late, only making one NCAA tournament appearance since 2012. With only Simms and Trapp remaining from the Tigers team that put together a run to the Sweet Sixteen two years ago, it does not look like this Clemson team has that same spark. In addition, Head Coach Brad Brownell was not able to snag a recruiting class that would make anyone optimistic on the chances of Clemson finding success in the unforgiving ACC.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they did not have to wait until November to compete again, as they suited up for the World University Games in July where they put together a miraculous six-game string of victories to come home with gold medals dangling around their necks. Clemson will look to ride this wave through March in hopes of giving the rest of college basketball world a surprise by squirming into the NCAA tournament.

One thing that needs to go right: Simms needs to be locked in day in and day out offensively for this team to find success. Simms will be the most experienced scorer on the entire roster and will be counted on to help drag the Tigers to victories.