Two 4-star players he managed to recruit, including a pre-season ACC player-of-the-year candidate. A 2000-point scorer from the transfer portal, who is #3 all-time on ACC 3-point chart (and was a 4-star recruit at his original school). A very experienced starting lineup.
Playing in a weakened ACC that may get only 3 or 4 teams into the NCAAT, we're now guaranteed to finish with a worse conference record than last year's team. A losing conference home stand (so far having lost 4 of 7 home games). Squandered 3 home games with double-digit 2nd half leads.
Maybe they win out the regular season--that'd be great.
Maybe they win the ACC Tournament--that would be FANTASTIC.
Maybe they even go deep into the NCAAT and make the Final Four--would be one of the most AWESOME THINGS I"LL EVER SEE as a Clemson fan, matched by the 2 CFP titles I witnessed (yeah, I was at every CFP game Clemson participated in).
But right now, knowing that what we saw last night and over the last few weeks is Brownell's best team ever, not to mention the last 14 years, the future does not look so bright to me.
Make that "2 of the 7 four star recruits he has ever managed to bring to Clemson". Seven 4-star recruits in 14 years, and 3 left the program after 1 or 2 years.
The future may not be bright, but Brownell always does just enough keep the light on. And it's clear that is all the Clemson admin cares about. Just enough.