Clemson enters the 2026-27 season with a familiar label hanging over it again: underestimated. That has been the routine in the ACC preseason picture, and the Tigers have made a habit of outplaying the expectations that get stacked against them.
Brad Brownell is working through a summer that has been slowed by injuries, though he said he has gradually gotten players back into the fold. Even so, Clemson still feels like a team with more to show than it has revealed so far.
“I think I'm very optimistic on our talent level and what we have the ability to do, but we've got to put it all together and get together out there on the court together to do it,” he said at the ACC Tipoff on Wednesday.
Brownell was joined in uptown Charlotte by guard Ace Buckner and center Carter Welling, two important returners for a roster that looks very different from last season’s group, when only one player was back. This time, more pieces already know the system, and that familiarity matters.
“I think it’s a lot easier this year because you already have coin in the bank,” Welling said. “Some of the guys, they know you, they know what to expect.”
The shape of this team may also look different on the floor. Clemson is expected to be more guard-driven than it has been in recent years, with Buckner, sophomore Zac Foster, Notre Dame transfer Cole Certa and freshman Harris Reynolds leading the action in the backcourt. That should give the Tigers a more versatile offensive profile.
“We might be different in how we play in terms of I think we're a little more guard-centric than maybe the last few years, and so we're trying to open the floor a little bit more, playing some spread ball screen stuff a little earlier in the clock and see how that goes,” Brownell said.
The schedule gives Clemson a chance to prove it. The Tigers will play in the Maui Invitational at the end of November and will also face Cincinnati, TCU and Auburn in nonconference play. On top of that, they’ll see almost all of the ACC’s top teams, with North Carolina the lone exception.
Buckner believes that kind of slate can help the Tigers make noise if they handle their business - or at least hold their own in the losses.
“What we can do out there to really put names and the team on the map to establish ourselves as one of the best teams in the country, which I believe we are,” he said.
Welling put it even more plainly, calling Clemson “a bunch of underdogs” as the season begins. Brownell understands that perception, but he knows the talking stops once the games start.
If Clemson can stay connected, defend the way his teams usually do and bring the whole roster together, Brownell believes the Tigers can reach the level they’re chasing.
“If we can come together and be connected and defend like most of the Clemson teams that I've coached, we have a chance to achieve the kind of things you talked about,” Brownell said.
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For Clemson, the result matters less than the feel of it. Charleston Southern won again, but the game was messy, physical and constantly interrupted by penalties and targeting ejections on both sides, which is hardly the sort of clean tune-up that suggests a polished outfit is about to walk into Death Valley. The Tigers will get a team with some recent momentum, but also one still sorting through discipline issues and plenty of signs it is not yet operating at full order. [Read more 🡒]
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That makes every remaining chance matter, even if the slate does not offer much in the way of obvious quality. Clemson needs to take care of business and hope the league gives it some help, because without another ranked opponent on the horizon, the Tigers best argument may end up depending as much on what other ACC teams do, including Duke, as on their own finish. [Read more 🡒]