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Clemson Tigers (2001: 12-19)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

Larry Shyatt came to Clemson three years ago with his eyes wide open.

"When I took the job, no one had a clearer picture than me of the problems," he said. "No one knew the Clemson history, the current program better than I did. We had a nice six-senior, two-junior team. We knew that within two years, we would have to replace 11 of the 13 players."

Shyatt, an assistant at Clemson under Rick Barnes before taking the head-coaching job at Wyoming for one year, also understood that he was inheriting a team with some serious off-court problems, problems he still won't discuss. It's taken Shyatt three seasons to not only replace the talent, but to clean up the behind-the-scenes mess.

Apparently, those problems disappeared in the off-season with the departure of four upperclassmen. Junior Will Solomon, the team's top scorer and a two-time All-ACC player, jumped to the NBA, while veterans Dustin Braddock, Pasha Bains and Chucky Gilmore all transferred.

Their exit, combined with the graduation of injury-plagued center Adam Allenspach, leaves Shyatt with a team that's painfully young.

"We have eight underclassmen," he said. "I like it. I like them. We've eliminated some serious problems in our program."

But is Shyatt starting in time? After two lackluster seasons, how good is his job security?

"If your goal is to be a high echelon team for a long period of time, rather than a short period of time, probably the most important items are patience and stability," he said. "I'm not a quick fix guy."

Shyatt is also an optimist who insists that the Tigers have better players-and better people-coming into the program than ever before. In fact, he claims that his last two recruiting classes stack up with anybody in the ACC.

"As a group, I wouldn't trade with any team in the ACC," Shyatt said.

Backcourt

The nominal point guard is 6-0 junior Edward Scott (7.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.2 apg), appointed as Clemson's first captain since Terrell McIntyre and Tom Wideman shared the job in 1999.

Scott had to play as a freshman with a pin in his broken foot. He never complained and never made excuses. He's a good defender and he is careful with the ball, offering a sharp contrast to his running mate in the backcourt.

The only thing holding back 6-1 sophomore Tony Stockman (12.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.6 apg) is, in Shyatt's words, "his carelessness."

Stockman, the leading freshman scorer in the ACC, finished second to Duke's Chris Duhon in the ACC rookie of the year voting and joined Hobbs on the league all-freshman team. He's a natural point guard --maybe even more creative than Scott. But to achieve the stardom Shyatt predicts, the Ohio native will have to improve his 37.4 percent shooting and his 1.2 to 1.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.

If Clemson needs more ball handling help, Shyatt can turn to his most heralded recruit -- 6-4 Chey Christie. The younger brother of former Clemson standout Tony Christie averaged 25.4 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior at Biloxi (Miss.) High School. But he really established himself after the season, earning MVP honors at the Capital Classic and for the U.S. team in the World Global Games.

Christie will play in the backcourt and will share some time on the wing with 6-5 sophomore Dwon Clifton (3.9 ppg, 2.6) who came to Clemson from High Point, N.C., with the reputation as a great long-range shooter, but made just 17-of-58 three-point shots. Clifton played well enough in the other phases of the game to start 18 games as a freshman, but he'll need to find his shooting touch to become a quality ACC player.

Frontcourt

A combination of Allenspach's back problems, a broken foot that sidelined Gilmore and off-season knee surgery limited 6-8, 260-pound junior Ray Henderson (5.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) to sporadic duty. It also forced 6-7, 265-pound Chris Hobbs (7.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg) to shoulder most of the inside scoring and rebounding load.

Hobbs, coming off an ACL injury that forced him to sit out most of his senior year at East Chapel Hill (N.C.) High School, responded with an impressive effort that earned a spot on the All-ACC Freshman Team. He recorded six double-doubles and led all ACC freshmen in rebounding.

Shyatt expects to give Hobbs and a healthy Henderson (who has gotten his weight down from 288 to 260 pounds) help from his latest recruiting class. Sharrod Ford, a 6-9, 210-pount shot blocker who averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, is the most heralded, especially after turning in an impressive performance for the United States team at the World Global Games in Dallas in July.

But Shyatt warned that 6-8 freshman Jemere Hendrix, a late pickup from Covington, Ga, who originally signed with Notre Dame, might be the surprise of the group with his ability to go inside or outside.

In contrast to last season, Shyatt has plenty of frontcourt depth this year. He has 6-10, 240-pound freshman Steve Allen of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and 6-6, 260-pound Olu Babalola from London, England, to provide inside muscle. And 6-10 junior Tomas Nagys (3.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg) from Lithuania will be trying to build on a late-season surge that saw him improve his scoring from 1.8 a game to 7.1, his shooting from 26 percent to 47 percent and his rebounding from 3.2 to 5.7-all over the last 10 games.

Bottom line

No team in the ACC has a more dismal basketball heritage than Clemson.

The Tigers have never won an ACC championship, have never gone to the Final Four and have finished in the league's top three just six times in 48 years-and never twice in a row.

Shyatt is trying to lay the foundation for a program that can go where no Clemson team has ever gone before. But to do that, he needs time for his youngsters to mature.

It's going to be difficult for the Tigers to climb very far out of the ACC basement with such a young team. But Clemson should be a much more difficult hurdle for the league's upper echelon than a year ago. Although Will Solomon was an NBA talent, he unbalanced a young team. Shyatt, reluctant to criticize his star, nevertheless believes the Tigers will be better without him.

Clemson will clearly be better with the addition of so much frontcourt depth. And if youngsters such as Stockman, Hobbs and Clifton blossom in their sophomore seasons as Shyatt hopes, the Tigers may make real progress.