Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Clemson Tigers

The college basketball season is just over two weeks away — time is just flying by. To get you ready for the season, I’m previewing the season in men’s college basketball, team by team. In these previews I will highlight key departures, additions, returners and overall DFS viability for each team. These previews will be heavily focused on DFS and fantasy in general, so keep that in mind when I’m talking about the relevancy of a player or team rotations.

We kick things off with the ACC, a conference that severely underperformed in the pandemic-impacted season last year. While the conference will inevitably have a handful of DFS staples for us to use each slate, it still seems like the ACC lost more talent than it was able to gain. With the transfer rules changing after March Madness ended it ultimately led to what was essentially free agency in CBB. There were coaching changes as well which I will talk about throughout this breakdown because new philosophies will mean new strategies for our DFS builds.

In this one, Clemson.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Clemson Tigers 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 16-8 (10-6), fifth in ACC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament first round

Key Departures | Clemson Tigers

Aamir Simms (left for NBA)
Jonathan Baehre (left to play professionally)
Olivier-Maxence Prosper (transferred to Marquette)
Clyde Trapp (transferred to Charlotte)
John Newman (transferred to Cincy)
Lynn Kidd (transferred to Virginia Tech)

Key Additions | Clemson Tigers

David Collins (transferred from USF)
Naz Bohannon (transferred from Youngstown State)

Returners | Clemson Tigers

Hunter Tyson (7.5 PPG/4.2 RPG)
Nick Honor (8.1 PPG/2.2 APG/1.3 SPG)
Al-Amir Dawes (9 PPG/2 RPG/1.9 APG)
PJ Hall (3.5 PPG/2 RPG)
Alex Hemenway (4.7 PPG/1.3 RPG)

Clemson Tigers Outlook for 2021-2022

I came full circle on Aamir Simms last year. After despising him for years due to his knack for causing tilts, he suddenly became a consistent player that made us money. I have to admit I’ll miss Simms now that he is gone. PJ Hall is a former top-50 recruit who will now get his chance to shine in Simms place. He was way too raw last year to get much playing time, but the hope now is that he can start to realize his potential and become a factor. Naz Bohannon was brought in from Youngstown State to bolster the front court and see big minutes in case Hall still isn’t ready. Bohannon did it all for the Penguins and shined as a true alpha in the Horizon with averages of 16.5 PPG/8.2 RPG/3.2 APG. He was a bully on the glass and did a great job of getting himself to the line with a rate of 4.5 fouls drawn per 40. He had a 22.8% assist rate last year, which was top 15 in the Horizon so there are myriad ways Bohannon can give us fantasy points. That said, he will be facing a much different breed of competition in the ACC, and it’s really hit or miss when low to mid major players transfer to a higher conference. Time will tell but he is a player to keep an eye on for sure.

One of Clemson’s strengths this year will be three-point shooting as Nick Honor (37%), Al-Amir Dawes (40%) and USF transfer David Collins (38%) all canned triples at a relatively high rate. Hunter Tyson is also in the mix as he came on strong the last few weeks of the season and ultimately ended up finishing as a 43% three-point shooter.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

This team has a couple of players that are worthy of your consideration for fantasy purposes. They will be a physical, which is a staple for Brad Brownell-coached teams, but the question is whether any of these adequate players can take the next step into semi elite territory. It could be a tough year for the Tigers if not.