Oliver Purnell has made great progress in his first four years as head coach of the Clemson basketball program. The Tigers have shown an improvement by at least three victories each of the last three years, including a six-win improvement to a school record tying 25 wins in 2006-07. He joined just two other ACC coaches in history (Bobby Cremins and Mike Krzyzewski) as the only league mentors to take an ACC program to at least a three-victory improvement in three consecutive years.
The 2006-07 Tigers recorded just the eighth 20-win season in school history and the 69.4 winning percentage was seventh-best in school history. The squad recorded 13 wins over teams that would win at least 20 games in 2006-07, and nine of the 25 total wins came away from home, most by a Clemson team in 10 years, and the second-most wins away from home among ACC schools.
Clemson was the last team in the nation to suffer a loss after a 17-0 start and was the last team in the nation to suffer a non-conference loss (18-0 until NIT championship loss to West Virginia). Clemson was ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today poll for eight consecutive weeks in December and January and had a number-one ranking in the Sagarin computer poll in December.
Men's Basketball Outlook for the 2007-08 Season
07-06-2007, 01:40 PM
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