Brad Brownell Credits 'High-Quality People' For Clemson Basketball's Growth

The 2025 offseason for Clemson basketball head coach Brad Brownell was one of his most different, but perhaps his most rewarding.

Only one player was returning after 14 players departed the program after the 2024-25 season, either to be out of eligibility or graduation. Nevertheless, Brownell added six transfers that provided immediate impact and brought in a freshman class that has already stood out and one of his most game-ready classes.

That led the Tigers to a 13-3 start to this season, being a perfect 4-0 in ACC play while playing resilient defense.

The people around Brownell within his staff were mentioned as a reason for the program’s success. However, he also credits his players, whom he calls “high-quality people,” for the buy-in of Clemson’s culture and each other during their recruitment.

“I just think, from our standpoint, we just have recruited the right kinds of kids that we feel like fit what we do,” Brownell said on Monday during the ACC coaches teleconference, “and then we’re very honest in the recruiting process about what it’s going to be like and what the role is.

I don’t think we go crazy and oversell and then underdeliver it, so the guys here pretty much understood what it’s going to be like, and the experience is usually a good one.”

Some of that is improvement in underdeveloped areas. Brownell spoke about transfers Jestin Porter and Carter Welling, especially with how well their defense has been over the last month over the Tigers’ seven-game win streak. That wasn’t how someone like Porter came into the program.

That was included in the recruitment of the Middle Tennessee guard, who needed to play good defense if he wanted to have minutes on the rotation.

“There’s some things that he had to learn within our system defensively, and he had to understand that, you know,” Brownell said, “his defense was going to be important if he wanted to play as much as he wants to play.”

Fast forward to this past weekend, and Porter finished with a career-high five steals in Clemson’s most recent win over Notre Dame.

Playing away is another key that has allowed the Tigers to be successful. Brownell’s program has won 11 straight away games in ACC play. The away trips rely on the leaders, which both Dillon Hunter and RJ Godfrey, two of the team’s experienced players within the program, have helped out with during this stretch.

“I think Dillon Hunter and RJ Godfrey deserve a lot of credit for it because they’re such good guys,” the Clemson head coach said. “Such good personalities, they’re very welcoming. I think they made everybody feel comfortable.”

That leads to more chemistry and more connectedness, which is how the Tigers are playing on both sides of the ball to begin ACC play. As they hope to hear their name called when the AP Poll comes out later today, Brownell will look to keep that chemistry going while the team remains at the top of the conference standings.

“It’s guys being connected and understanding what each other’s responsibilities are,” he said, “and then doing your job and understanding the importance that is being placed on you doing your job.”

Clemson will be back in action on Tuesday night, playing Boston College at Littlejohn Coliseum.