Once upon a time Clemson had made three straight NCAA tournament appearances, but got bounced in the first round. It appeared that under Oliver Purnell Clemson just wasn’t going to be able to sustain postseason success with a supposed gimmick press defense that would wear the team down as the season progressed.
People forget that in 2008 Clemson was ranked third overall heading into the ACC tournament and lost a close game to North Carolina 86-81 in the championship game. Purnell was dinged for poor evals and recruiting at the end of his tenure, but he left enough talent on the team for it to make the NCAA tournament the year after his departure.