No NBA regrets as Clemson senior keeps Tigers alive
Two impressive — but very different — college careers intersected in Clemson’s 75-61 win over N.C. State in the first round of the ACC Tournament Tuesday at Barclays Center.
The Clemson win, which advanced the Tigers to a 2:30 p.m. Wednesday matchup with fifth-seeded Duke, extended the career of senior forward Jaron Blossomgame, who led the Tigers with 22 points.
Conversely, the N.C. State loss seemingly marked the end of the brief college career for freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr., who’s expected to enter the NBA draft.
Smith, who has not formally announced his decision but is considered to be a top-five pick, struggled mightily in his first ACC Tournament game, scoring just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting and committing four turnovers to only three assists.
For Blossomgame, this is the gravy left over from his decision to stay in school for one more year after coming within hours of declaring for the draft last May.
“I went into it thinking I was going to leave — mentally, I was completely gone,’’ the 6-foot-7 All-ACC forward told The Post of his decision to give the NBA a go last year.
Blossomgame said his decision was swayed during interviews with NBA teams when he asked, “Would it be beneficial for me to come back to school?’’
Though he said Tuesday, “I believed that I would have been a first-round pick last year when I came out,’’ draft projections didn’t confirm that. He said he “took the pros and cons’’ of leaving school and staying and “I felt most comfortable coming back to school.’’
“I feel like in order to leave school you have to leave knowing you’re going to be a first-round pick,’’ Blossomgame said.
Most projections now have him going late in the first round, and playing his senior year seems to have helped. A year after averaging 18.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, Blossomgame has averaged 17.3 points and 6.2 rebounds this season.
“One of the things that I’m unbelievably proud of is Jaron had his degree and still came back,’’ Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “As much as he was going to improve in certain things in basketball … I think he’s a guy that wanted to enjoy his Clemson experience one more time.’’
Blossomgame said his goal was “to come back and solidify myself, and I really feel like I did that. I came back and had another All-ACC caliber season and I helped my team win some games.”
One piece of unfinished business remains for Blossomgame, and that’s getting to an NCAA Tournament, where Clemson hasn’t been since 2011.
The 17-14 Tigers likely will need to advance to the ACC Tournament final to even be considered.
“Obviously, I haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament and I’ve been at Clemson for five years,’’ he said. “This year, we still have a chance. We’re a good team and we’re playing good basketball right now.’’