Former Tiger on why Clemson basketball is ‘the real deal’
By: Davis Potter January 12, 2023

Clemson’s men’s basketball team is turning heads nationwide thanks to a historic start to ACC play that has the Tigers sitting in first place at the moment.

One analyst whose attention has been caught is one of their own.

Terrence Oglesby, a guard for Clemson from 2007-09 and former Tiger assistant, is an analyst for The Field of 68, a media network covering college basketball. During the network’s Dauster, T.O. & Fanta podcast this week, Ogelsby was asked by co-host Rob Dauster to make his case as to why he believes Clemson is the best team in the ACC.

Oglesby started with the Tigers’ floor general, junior Chase Hunter, who made the move to point guard this season following the departures of Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor.

“They moved arguably their most athletic player to the point guard spot,” Oglesby said. “He had been playing beside Al-Amir Dawes, who transferred to Seton Hall. Al has his flaws, but he also has his strengths. Nick Honor goes from Clemson to Mizzou, and he’s doing fine there. But what happened was you moved those guys out of the way, and Chase Hunter had to slide over to the 1. You have this big, strong, dynamic athlete at the point guard position. He can guard the 2 (shooting guard) or the 3 (wing).”

Oglesby then moved to the Tigers’ frontcourt duo of Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall. Tyson, who’s going through his fifth season in the program, is Clemson’s leading scorer and is averaging a double-double for the season. Tyson has been on a tear of late, recording five straight double-doubles.

Hall isn’t far off his team-leading scoring pace from a season ago after working his way back into the starting lineup following an offseason knee injury. The Tigers’ junior big is averaging 12.5 points per game.

“In my mind, that’s a first-team all-ACC player right now,” Oglesby said of Tyson. “He’s been incredible. He had a 31 (points) and 15 (rebounds) game, I believe it was against NC State a week or two ago. He has been that guy, and they still have that centerpiece they can run things through in PJ Hall.”

Ogelsby also pointed to a bigger lineup Clemson has been playing for the last seven games with forwards Ian Schieffelin and R.J. Godfrey seeing their minutes increase. The 6-foot-7 Schieffelin has started with Tyson and Hall in six of those seven games while Godfrey, a true freshman, started the other game at the wing.

Meanwhile, Hunter is a 6-4 point guard. Nobody in the Tigers’ backcourt rotation is shorter than 6-2, giving Clemson what Olgesby believes is the kind of size and length that’s helping the Tigers on both ends of the floor.

“This team is for real, they’re well coached and they’re bigger around the perimeter,” Oglesby said. “The roster fits (Clemson coach) Brad Brownell much better than the last few seasons when he was trying to play too small with 5-9 and 6-0 at the 1 and the 2.”

With Wednesday’s win over Louisville, Clemson improved to 14-3 overall and remained the lone unbeaten in league play with a 6-0 ACC record. The Tigers are a game ahead of Miami for the top spot with nearly two months of regular-season games left to play.

But Oglesby said he believes there are many things working in the Tigers’ favor that give them staying power the rest of the way. 

“Clemson is that freakin’ good,” Oglesby said. “Are they going to win the regular season (in the ACC)? I don’t know. Their schedule is favorable though. No trip to Miami. No trip to Cameron Indoor (Stadium). There are only three games on their schedule that I would be like, ‘Oh, that’s going to be tough.’ The rest are winnable.

“This is going to be a very good team and a very tough out for any team for the rest of the season. They’re that good.”

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