Brad Brownell doesn’t feel like he has to fill the final available scholarship on his roster for the 2022-23 season. But Clemson’s men’s basketball coach is keeping his eyes and ears open just in case.
Like most teams, the Tigers have been active in the transfer portal. Guards Nick Honor (Missouri) and Al-Amir Dawes (Seton Hall) have moved on while Clemson has signed two replacements since, including Boston College transfer and South Carolina native Brevin Galloway. The Tigers also landed a signature from former Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn before he backed out of his scholarship last month following the departures of two assistant coaches and instead ended up at Michigan.
Throw in the other comings and goings – Clemson’s current signing class also includes four high school prospects – and the Tigers sit at 12 scholarship players for next season, one shy of the 13-scholarship limit. Brownell said Clemson is “definitely still contacting a few guys” in the portal, though the pickings are slimmer now that the May 1 deadline has passed for players to enter the portal and maintain immediate eligibility at their next school.
“We’re monitoring the situation,” Brownell told The Clemson Insider this week. “There’s less and less guys now because of the deadline, but we’ll kind of take it day by day and see what we’ve got.”
With three guards already signed – the same number Clemson lost off last year’s team – the Tigers have addressed many of their backcourt needs. Four-star signee Dillon Hunter and redshirt freshman Josh Beadle are set to take over at the point with Honor and Dawes no longer around.
But before Galloway inked with the Tigers earlier this month, Brownell said he felt like his team could use another wing. Clemson has missed out on some of its other portal targets at that position, including Wichita State transfer Dexter Dennis (Texas A&M).
Asked if that’s a role the 6-foot-2 Galloway will help fill or if he feels like that’s a position Clemson still needs to address, Brownell avoided specifics. But it’s possible Clemson is done adding to its roster unless the right fit comes along this late in the recruiting calendar.
“We’re still always looking for good players,” Brownell said. “We have a scholarship, and we’ll sign another good player if we feel like we find someone that fits what we’re looking for. I don’t think we have to sign anybody else.
“It’s got to be somebody we think can impact our team. More than likely, it would be an older player. But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
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