CLEMSON -- It's an eventful time for Clemson basketball, in large part because of the recent additions from the transfer portal.
Let's dig into some of the background on that, plus the latest we're hearing on PJ Hall and his NBA audition:
-- Brad Brownell and his staff have become quite skilled at this portal thing.
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Most of us have good surface-level recall of important transfer additions over the years: The trio of Shelton Mitchell, Marcquise Reed and Elijah Thomas was integral to the Sweet 16 trip. And more recently, David Collins two years ago and Brevin Galloway last year were deft moves to get graduate transfers.
The addition of Joe Girard from Syracuse is a major splash because he's a shooter and scorer who will pair well with Chase Hunter and others in the backcourt.
Another way to look at it: The decision of two ACC players (including Jack Clark from N.C. State) also speaks well for how the program is viewed from afar.
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Yes, here inside the Clemson bubble there is dissatisfaction among a segment of fans who think three NCAA appearances in 13 seasons is not acceptable.
But the counter to that -- which AD Graham Neff articulated in announcing Brownell would be back for a 14th season -- is the health and consistency of the program over the past five years.
Brownell and assistant Billy Donlon did a really nice job of recruiting Girard, and the in-home visit was crucial according to what we've picked up.
Yet we believe what Girard saw in Clemson through his experience playing against the Tigers and observing the program over the years certainly had an impact also.
Similar deal with Clark, who was probably a bit disgruntled in Raleigh given how many of the shots were going to the Wolfpack's guards.
Clark helps fill the void left by Hunter Tyson, but it's important to point out that no one will be expecting him to be the type of presence that plays 34 minutes a game and shoots as well as Tyson did.
Girard will of course be counted on to replace a good chunk of the shooting void left by Tyson and Galloway. But Chauncey Wiggins and RJ Godfrey are developing and will get more minutes at Tyson's spot.
On the surface, landing grad transfer center Bas Leyte doesn't seem like a massive coup because the guy averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds at UNC Greensboro.
But it must be pointed out that this situation was unique, because the staff was basically recruiting the guy to play behind Hall.
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Brownell is a realist and doesn't tend to sugar-coat even in his recruiting pitches, so it says something that they were able to land Leyte even while being honest with him about the fact that he'll probably play eight to 10 minutes per game.
So in that respect the addition of Leyte might be most reminiscent of Mark Donnal, who transferred from Michigan to Clemson as a graduate and backed up Thomas during the team's Sweet 16 run.
The fourth transfer, Jake Heidbreder from Air Force, is only about 175 pounds and actually lost some weight during his two seasons in Colorado Springs.
We are told a decision on a redshirt season for Heidbreder hasn't been made yet, but we'd consider it a strong possibility. Heidbreder also has been dealing with some sort of hip injury, yet we are told surgery isn't expected at this point.
Back to Girard's addition: The transfer portal window closes Thursday, and you wonder if this addition might've caused Josh Beadle to get some wandering eyes.
To be clear, we have not picked up information he's transferring.
-- Hall is not a lock to return to Clemson, according to our feel for his situation as he goes through his draft-evaluation process.
Hall decided after the season to declare for the draft, but to preserve his college eligibility he did not hire an agent. It's a process past Clemson players have gone through before returning to school, including Jaron Blossomgame.
The NBA Draft combine will be held next week in Chicago, and early entrants have until May 31st to remove their names and return to school.
The feeling is that Hall wants to return to Clemson, but you never know what the NBA folks will tell him. He's fully healthy for the first time in a long time after missing last offseason following multiple surgeries, and even last season was difficult as he tried to recover through the rigors of the season.
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When Hall declared, our belief was this was just a formality and that his return was inevitable. Based on our latest returns, we'll downgrade "inevitable" to "likely."
And yes, anything less than inevitable has to cause some stress. Because if Hall ended up leaving it'd be a devastating blow to the program.
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