04/10/07 - Excited About The Future …

We are very excited about the future of Clemson basketball. Although the season ended with a loss to a tough West Virginia team in the NIT finals, there are many positives that we can draw from the NIT experience and the season to help us down the road. As we continue to build this program, we are not satisfied with making the NIT and we strive to make the NCAA tournament each year.

Although the NIT was not the destination we had in mind, the tournament was a real positive experience for our players and program. We were able to showcase our program four times on national television within a week’s time, and able to get key minutes for players who we feel will have a real impact next season. Furthermore, it was a great chance for our fans to watch us play quality competition at home against Mississippi and Syracuse. I want to take a minute to thank our fans for their great support during the Syracuse game; the sellout crowd was a fantastic show of support and did not go un-noticed by our team or recruits on television.

I also want to take a moment to thank senior Vernon Hamilton for his 4 year contributions to our program. Vernon has been a solid point guard for 4 seasons and will be deeply missed next season. He has improved each season, just as our team has improved. I was excited for him to get a chance to finish his career on a grand stage like Madison Square Garden. I also want to thank senior Chris Poole for his contributions to our program this season. He has been a great team player and always shows up ready to work at practice.

As I turn an eye towards next season, I am very excited about the future. We return 83% of our scoring and 91% of our rebounding. Our recruiting continues to get better each season. This season we signed Mr. Basketball in North Carolina as well as 2 other recruits who we think will contribute early.  I look for us to take that final step next season with a trip to the NCAA tournament.

The next few months will be very hectic around the office, so I will probably check in a little less frequently on the blog. I will be spending a majority of my time recruiting and monitoring the academic progress of our players. I also hope to get a little rest. In closing, I feel like this program has gotten better each of the last 4 seasons and we are poised to make another step next season. Thanks to everyone for their support.

Go Tigers!

-- Coach P