OTE: Built Not Borrowed

Built, Not Borrowed

Written by: Ben Winterrowd

Orange: The Experience Magazine | V17 , Issue 4

Clemson Tiger Basketball under Head Coach Brad Brownell has steadily ascended into one of the premier programs in the ACC. From Brownell being hired in 2010 and going to the NCAA Tournament his first season, to sweeping renovations of Littlejohn Coliseum spearheaded by his fundraising and his development of the basketball donor base, the Tigers have been safely in the upper echelon of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the last four seasons. And they don’t plan on slowing down.

In a league dominated by bluebloods and national brands, the Tigers have become a highly consistent program that expects to win. Clemson has produced multiple All-ACC stars, earned national praise, won marquee games against some of college basketball’s most storied programs, and consistently positioned itself for postseason play and success. The Tigers have compiled the second-most ACC victories during this four-year stretch (2022-26), trailing only Duke.

The breakthrough came during the 2023-24 season when Clemson made just the second Elite Eight appearance in school history. The year before, Clemson lost in the first round of the NIT, but won 23 games, including 14 in the ACC. The Tigers started the following season 4-6 in the ACC, but significant wins at No. 3 North Carolina and Syracuse propelled the Tigers to a 7-3 finish heading into the postseason and eventually an Elite Eight berth. Instead of treating that run as a one-year anomaly, the Tigers followed it with the most regular season wins (26) and overall wins (27) in school history, the most ACC wins (18) in school history, and narrowly missed a chance at a regular season ACC championship.

The Tigers have won 98 games dating back to the 2022-23 season and have culminated the last three seasons with NCAA Tournament appearances – just the third time in program history that Clemson has gone to three straight tournaments.

This is not an easy feat. Roster construction has never been more difficult to manage than in the last several seasons with the rise of the transfer portal. However, Brownell and the Tigers have managed it proficiently to continue their successes on the court. They have masterfully blended their home-grown players with assets from the transfer portal. One of those was Joseph Girard III who helped lead the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 2024. When asked why someone should come to Clemson, he was pretty matter of fact for someone that hadn’t even spent a full calendar year in Tigertown.

“Do it. I mean, this place has been unbelievable. It all goes back to the culture. That’s what was attractive to me…Clemson is just an unbelievable place with unbelievable people. They obviously develop their players, and they win a lot of basketball games. Anyone looking forward to living in a great place, playing with great people, playing for great people, and doing great things should go to Clemson.”

The culture that Brownell has curated has also been aided by the homegrown players of the basketball program being noticed from afar by coaches and players and drawn to be a part of it.

“I just think, from our standpoint, we just have recruited the right kinds of kids that we feel like fit what we do,” Brownell explained, “and then we’re very honest in the recruiting process about what it’s going to be like and what the role is. I don’t think we go crazy and oversell and then underdeliver, so the guys here pretty much [understand] what it’s going to be like, and the experience is usually a good one.”

The Clemson program is a blue collar, working program that develops its players into ACC stars. The Tigers under Brownell produced three-straight First Team All-ACC players for the first time in school history: Hunter Tyson (2023), PJ Hall (2024), and Chase Hunter (2025). All were 1,000-point scorers with Hall and Hunter both ranking in the top eight all time in school history at eighth (1,702) and third (1,789), respectively.

In addition, Ian Schieffelin, a lightly recruited, undersized, high school center became a key cog in the Tigers’ Elite Eight run and earned the ACC’s Most Improved Player award in 2024 before being named to the Second Team in 2025. He finished his career seventh all-time in rebounding and was a 1,000-point scorer.

Following Clemson’s Elite Eight run in 2024, the Tigers entered 2024-25 with postseason expectations to make the NCAA Tournament again. They did. The standard was starting to change.

“We are getting to the point where we need to get in there, and we need to do even more,” said Brownell.

Nothing illustrates this higher standard more than when PJ Hall arrived in Clemson. NCAA Tournament appearances were mostly aspirations. By the time he left, they were expectations. The Tigers had only been to the tournament 12 times in 109 years prior to his arrival.

He joined leaders like Aamir Simms and Hunter Tyson in 2020, hoping to help Clemson make the NCAA Tournament. Just a few years later, Chase Hunter returned for his sixth year expecting to make the NCAA Tournament. Their careers ended, but the program’s momentum did not.

The faces have changed.

Winning in the ACC is difficult. Winning year after year is even harder. Yet Clemson has recorded four consecutive 20-win seasons and established itself among the conference’s elite. What once felt like a breakthrough has evolved into a standard.

In 2025-26, despite replacing nearly an entire starting lineup, Clemson won 24 games, finished fourth in the ACC, and earned another NCAA Tournament berth. What once would have been viewed as a rebuilding year became another successful season.

Clemson has graduated stars but is developing new ones. Brownell has rebuilt the roster. Four years ago, success was measured by reaching March. Today, success is measured by how far the Tigers can advance once they get there.