Yet another Edmond high school basketball star has made it through the division one college ranks. With the COVID-19 virus canceling all sports, including the NCAA tournament, Curran Scott’s lone season with the Clemson Tigers and college career has concluded.
For Clemson, they were a for sure NIT team, with an outside chance to make some noise in their conference tournament and squeak into the Big Dance. Regardless of this season’s outcome, Clemson broke barriers and made history. The Tigers have only beaten Duke and North Carolina in consecutive games one time; in 1990, en route to their only regular-season title in school history. They did it again this season. The Tigers also beat North Carolina State, which means they’ve beaten three ACC teams from the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area in consecutive games for the first time since 1967.
Scott played a huge role on this team, with his skill and leadership as a graduate-transfer. He played all 31 games, only started in eight, but was fifth on the team in minutes played. Scott averaged 5.7 points, 1.4 assists, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.8 steals per game. He was also second on the team in free throw percentage at 78.7 percent.
We got a chance to catch up with Scott who just recently returned to his hometown of Edmond, OK.
Q: Coming from Tulsa, after playing at Charlotte, what were your intentions this year for transferring to Clemson?
First, playing for Team USA last summer in Italy and winning a gold medal was special and that was something special that I will never forget. Then as far as the season goes, just to be able to showcase my talents on the best stage in college basketball. Being able to play against Duke, Florida State and UNC night-in and night-out was something I looked for and wanted to be able to say I did. Luckily I was able to have success and win against these types of teams and we were able to do things that nobody in Clemson basketball history had done this year and also nobody in the country was able to do either with the three wins over top 6 teams in the country, it was just special overall.
Q: Obviously, your college career is overdue to the COVID-19 pandemic. How do you feel about the way this was handled? What do you think an alternative could have been so that college basketball could’ve ended the season?
I feel like the ACC and NCAA did the right thing when handling the situation. It’s very disappointing for me to have my season and career ended abruptly especially with what we could’ve done going into the postseason, but at the end of the day, I respect the decision. I wish I went out under different circumstances but sometimes we don’t get to have it exactly the way we want it to go.
Q: What are your plans now that college/college ball is over?
My plan is to continue playing; I’m training right now and I am currently in the process of hiring an agent.
Q: You have a lot of clout in Edmond. I remember when you were in high school at Memorial particularly. You transferring from Santa Fe felt like an NBA free agent leaving their squad for another. Each game was must-see TV. That being said, do you plan on giving back to Edmond in any way, or do you plan on putting the Curran Scott legend to rest?
I definitely want to give back to Edmond and Edmond basketball especially. This is my home and I love this place. Like I said I am going to continue playing but I would definitely want to do something in the summer like host kids camps or something like that. I have also thought about my post-playing career and I thought about the possibility of coming back and helping coach somewhere down the line. Time will tell but I would love to be able to give back to the place I call home.
Q: Lastly, coming from Santa Fe and Memorial, you come from a great pedigree. Who are a few players that you looked up to while coming up here in Oklahoma? How’d they influence you?
There were many different people who had an influence on me and who I looked up to coming up in Oklahoma. I would say the first is Xavier Henry. I used to watch his highlights on Youtube as a kid and that was someone I always looked up to. Other guys, from Edmond more specifically, were guys like Obi Muonelo, Josh Richardson and James Woodard. These were guys I saw having success and I saw how hard they worked so it made me want to work that much harder and be able to have successful basketball careers like them.
Just like other college and high school seniors, the current chapter has closed, but as you read above, Scott plans to open another chapter in the professional ranks. Stay tuned for more updates on Scott’s progress in the near future.
