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Rex Brown

Clemson’s K.C. Rivers (1) drives the lane during a game last season at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson. Rivers and the Tigers open their 2008-2009 campaign tonight against Hofstra in the Charleston Classic.

CLEMSON — K.C. Rivers can hardly contain himself.

“This is a start to what I think is going to be a spectacular season, and I’m looking forward to it,” the Clemson forward said.

Rivers’ coach, however, isn’t as thrilled about it as his senior. It’s not that head coach Oliver Purnell isn’t excited about a new season beginning, it’s who it is against and where it is at that troubles him. The Tigers will tip off the 2008-2009 basketball season tonight in the Charleston Classic against Hofstra of the Colonial Athletic Conference.

“The more I have see of Hofstra, the more nervous I get about the opener,” he said. “They return nine of their 10 top scorers, and they have an outstanding trio of guards.”

Those guards are Greg Johnson, Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester. Jenkins averaged 15 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while Johnson is averaging nearly four assists per game.

“This team has the ability to be at the top in the Colonial this year because they return so many players, so many experienced players. They are strong in the backcourt, and yet at the same time, they have big strong post people,” Purnell said. “They block shots in the interior and they have tough kids, and they are really well coached.

“We didn’t get a great draw here if you are looking for a cupcake as a draw. This is not a cupcake. This is going to be a real challenge for us because they, I’m sure, feel that they have the guards to handle our pressure defense.”

It’s a challenge the Tigers are looking forward to, especially considering their defense, which will be without James Mays, Sam Perry and Cliff Hammonds for the first time in five years, will get an early test to see how they can handle quick and athletic guard play.

“We are probably going to have to figure out in the game which (defense) is the most effective,” Purnell said. “Even though everybody in this room knows how we want to play, though we might not be able to do that from day one. But we are going to start out that way, and hopefully, we will be able to go for 35 or 40 minutes playing the way that we want to.

“If we get in a situation where we have to pull back a little bit because of their outstanding guards, then we might have to play half-court defense. You may even see some zone out there. It is kind of like seeing snow this time of year.”

If Clemson, which went 24-10 last season, can get past the Pride, then odds are they will have to face Temple and then perhaps the host school, the College of Charleston, in the championship game on Sunday. In all, this is going to give Purnell and his coaching staff an opportunity to see what kind of team they have early in the season.

“We opened up in a tournament like this a couple of years ago where we played at Old Dominion, and we played Arkansas State in the first game and Monmouth in the second game and beat Old Dominion in a close game in the finals,” he said. “That really helped us I thought. I thought what it did was give us a shot of confidence right off the bat.

“We had two tough games, including playing on Old Dominion’s home court and Old Dominion went on to the NCAA that year, so they were good. It can give you a shot of confidence, but in three days you can play a lot of basketball and you can certainly assess a lot about your team and a lot of individuals on your team.”

As for playing Charleston itself, Purnell is looking forward to seeing a lot of orange in the Carolina First Center – the College of Charleston’s new home.

“We like seeing fans dressed in orange in other arenas besides our own,” Purnell said. “We believe that is Clemson territory down there. That is one of our highest attended Clemson club meetings and all of that stuff. I know those people are excited about having us down there.

“We get a chance to showcase our team and college basketball. This is a solid field. You don’t have a lot of teams with national claim, but anybody who knows basketball, and you go right down that line, and you look and see we get Hofstra in the first round, and everybody knows that (Bobby) Cremins will be much improved and at home in that new arena with the emotions that will bring.

“Temple out of the Atlantic 10, a league I know a lot about, was an NCAA team last year and they return most of their guys. They are outstanding. There are some other teams that don’t have those names, but are outstanding like a TCU or a Western Michigan that people know are good basketball teams, particularly this time of year you see those kinds of teams knock off those teams with the so-called big names all the time. You are going to see it, but we are hoping we can go in just one game at a time and get a win.”

And that, of course, would make it an exciting start.