One opportunity lost, underrated Clemson looks to get it right

CLEMSON, S.C. -- It was 7:30 a.m. on a warm September morning, and Schilletter Dining Hall here on this ACC campus was filled with the smell of hot breakfast, the kind cooked in bulk and displayed on a buffet line where students walk with a tray, point, nod and overload plates with generous helpings designed to get the minds working properly in advance of another long day of college classes.

Cliff Hammonds was sitting at a table in the back.

James Mays' Tigers missed the NCAA Tournament after a 17-0 start. (Getty Images)

I was picking his brain.

The subject was Clemson's recent trip to the Bahamas, the short venture over the Labor Day weekend that took the Tigers to the beach for a pair of exhibitions. By all accounts, the whole thing was gorgeous and beneficial. But after a few minutes, the conversation shifted further to the past, all the way back to last season, the one that began so well with 17 consecutive victories, the one that turned to hell with an omission from the NCAA Tournament.

"Just one bounce of the ball could've made all the difference," said Hammonds, a 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 11.6 points per game last season. "But I think everything that happened last year happened for a reason. It made us even hungrier coming into this year. So now we're just ready to get back out there."

Basketball is fragile.

One foul can change a game.

One game can change a season.

One season can change the entire perception of a program.

And, honestly, is there anybody who understands this more than Clemson?

All the average fan remembers about last season is how the Tigers roared to a 17-0 mark before collapsing like an Iraqi government. After the best start in the country, Clemson closed the regular season by losing nine of its final 13, then dropped the ACC Tournament opener to enter Selection Sunday with a 21-10 record.

Goodbye NCAA Tournament hopes.