Clemson misses out on NIT, season ends at 17-16

The 2021-22 Clemson basketball season is officially over.

The NIT revealed its bracket Sunday night and the Tigers are not in it.

A source confirmed to Clemson Sports that the Tigers will not accept a bid to a lesser tournament, meaning that the season ends with Clemson holding a 17-16 record. While the Tigers did not make the postseason, they do finish the year with a winning record for the ninth consecutive year.

This marks the first time since 2016 that Clemson will not play in the postseason. The only other year the Tigers didn’t play in the postseason was 2020, but no postseason tournaments were held that year.

There is reason for optimism looking ahead to the 2022-2023 season.

Clemson won five of six games to end the season after finally getting more healthy, and the Tigers return PJ Hall, who should be one of the best players in the ACC next year.

Clemson also returns second-leading scorer Al-Amir Dawes and could get back fourth-leading scorer Hunter Tyson, who is considering coming back for a fifth year.

The Tigers could end up returning five of their top six scorers from this year.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell saw plenty to build off of with the way Clemson ended the season.

“It’s been a fun group to coach,” Brownell said following his team’s loss to Virginia Tech on Wednesday. “These guys have worked really hard, and as a coach that’s what you want, a group of guys that gives you everything they have, are coachable and improves, and I think our team did that this year.”