Jerai Grant

Clemson's resume is pretty sparse, and their presence in the tournament is pretty generous. In their first season post-Oliver Purnell, they have suffered the usual struggles associated with with a regime change; new defensive schemes (i.e. no more press), players leaving, and few immediate incomers. Trevor Booker went to the NBA, Noel Johnson transferred to Auburn for no obvious reason, and only one freshman gets any minutes - lightning quick 5'10 backup point guard Cory Stanton, who was billed as a shooter but who hasn't brought his jumpshot yet. So save for the losses of Booker, Johnson and David Potter, Clemson returned much the same team as last season, as is so often the case with a coaching change.

Booker was mainly replaced by giving an expanded role to Jerai Grant. When Booker was in town, Grant played a limited, useful and thoroughly enjoyable role - blocking the shot and yelling at one end, running to the other end, then dunking at the ball and doing some more yelling. Now without Booker, Grant has been called upon to expand that skillset, and he has shown he is capable of doing so. Grant has shown he can create a little in the post and make shots other than dunks, even sticking a couple of mid-range jumpshots and driving the ball from 15 feet away. And he never lost the skills that made him so entertaining in the first place.