CLEMSON -- Such a weight was lifted from the shoulders of Brad Brownell last March as his team became the best form of itself at the perfect time.
The magical run to the Elite Eight gave Brownell not just a new contract but a heaping amount of goodwill that would've brought patience and understanding had this year's team taken a dip.
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But it's Feb. 21 and Clemson hasn't taken a dip. The Tigers are 21-5 overall and 13-2 in the ACC with Saturday's big game at SMU looming.
At the same point last year's team was 8-7 in the conference and 18-8 overall.
Granted, the conference was more rigorous last year.
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Yet it seems this Tigers team has been so good to this point that we have to ask ourselves a question that we never thought we'd ask:
Are they better than last year's team?
As we've written over the last week, some folks will judge this team on whether it advances as far (or farther) than last year's team in the NCAA Tournament.
That's not a fair evaluation in our eyes, largely because of all the variables that go into making a run.
Sometimes getting hot at the right time also involves the other team going cold at the right time.
Clemson fell victim to some bad fortune in being denied a trip to the Final Four, as Alabama's Jarin Stevenson somehow shot 5-of-8 from 3 after entering the game having made just 27 of 93 shots from long range (29 percent).
That still boggles the mind.
Yet the Tigers also benefited from some off shooting by Baylor and Arizona, including from the free-throw line, preceding the Elite Eight appearance.
Anyway, we maintain that this season can be considered a rich success regardless of how far Brownell's team advances in March Madness.
Back to the question we spent quite a long time thinking about, and conversing with basketball insiders about, over the last day or so:
Are they better?
If you subscribe to the theory that good defense beats good offense, you'd lean toward this team.
Jaeden Zackery has been sensational guarding at the top, with relentless energy and quickness that certainly gets into the legs and head of opposing guards.
Some say Chauncey Wiggins is the X factor for this team, but we'd argue Viktor Lakhin and it's probably not even close.
Because when Lakhin is on, he's an absolute nuisance of a defender and that's an upgrade over PJ Hall from last year.
But as we get closer to March, we're getting closer to the point that last year's team showed that its best quality was its top-end performance and scoring.
The 2023-24 Tigers showed that with a remarkable pre-conference showing that included a pasting of the same Crimson Tide team in Tuscaloosa, a convincing home win over a really good Boise State team, and a narrow defeat at Memphis.
That team learned an important lesson early in the ACC season after abysmal defensive showings at Miami and Virginia Tech: It wasn't going to win much of anything if defense was optional.
And sure enough they ended up locking down previously high-flying New Mexico, Baylor and Arizona in the first three rounds of the tournament.
Another thing: Even though last year's team was just 11-9 in the ACC, there were still moments of brilliance. They went to Duke knowing they could beat the Blue Devils, and would have if not for some late-game brain freezes. They went to Chapel Hill knowing they could take it to the Tar Heels, and they did in going up big before holding off UNC in the end 80-76.
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That Tar Heels team was pretty good, too, as it came close to knocking off Alabama on the same day Clemson took out Arizona.
So if we were to size up the theoretical matchup between this Clemson team and last year's Clemson team it'd be: Last year's more explosive offensively and better in the half court, and this year's better defensively and probably more locked in mentally during the regular season.
Of course, the script is still being written for a team that has been more consistent than last year's.
If they played a seven-game series we'll take last year's team in six, but we could be talked into seven.
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Heck, we could even be talked into this year's team taking it.
But the mere fact that we're even having a conversation about it at all is a hell of a tribute to Brownell and this year's team.
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