Bracketology update: Tigers move up in latest ESPN projection

Clemson moved up to a 7-seed for ESPN and has a pair of winnable road games ahead. (Photo by Merrell Mann)

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Fri Jan 27 11:12:03 GMT-04:00 2023

The Clemson men's basketball team is coming off the strongest first-half performance in a conference schedule in school history.

Leading the league by 1.5 games currently (9-1), Brad Brownell's bunch earns the "(AQ)" for automatic qualifier by the bracket projections as the ACC's pace-setter currently.

That said, there's still some skepticism on the Tigers, and that has a major power conference leader a little lower than you would expect.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi moved the Tigers up to a projected 7-seed on Friday in a Des Moines, Iowa pod facing old ACC foe Maryland and opposite a Kansas-Vermont matchup. Virginia paces the conference predictions as a 3-seed there and a closer-to-home Greensboro, NC, placement.

Elsewhere, Bracketville's latest projection has Clemson getting the Greensboro pod as a 6-seed and facing Kentucky in round one.

Despite the impressive ACC mark, a lackluster non-conference slate -- and a couple losses in it -- are a drag on the resume.

According to WarrenNolan, Clemson has a No. 339-ranked non-conference strength of schedule -- and the Tigers went 8-3 against it. Two losses fell in that worst tier with the NCAA's NET tourney resume tool in Loyola-Chicago at a neutral site (76-58) and South Carolina on the road (60-58).

Since that Loyola-Chicago defeat in December, however, the Tigers have notched a pair of Quadrant 1 wins (68-65 at Virginia Tech and 75-74 at Pitt) and three more Q2 victories. Not facing the toughest conference slate to this point, Clemson also added a pair of Q4 wins (72-51 over GT and 83-70 over Louisville).

Overall, Clemson's schedule is rated 156th overall.

Looking ahead, the trip to Florida State is firmly a Q3 game Saturday (5 p.m./ACCN) and the trip to Boston College will be the same on Tuesday (7 p.m./ACCN).

Miami next Saturday in Littlejohn will likely be a Q2 game and away at UNC the week after will likely be the next shot at a Q1 win.

The other top opportunities to boost the resume before the ACC Tournament are NC State (road on Feb. 25; No. 43 NET) and Virginia (road on Feb. 28; No. 15 NET).

Clemson's won every home game this season, but it'll have to take that show on the road with six of the final league games away. The remaining home dates are Miami, Florida State (Feb. 15), Syracuse (Feb. 22; 97 NET) and Notre Dame (Mar. 4; 183).

Clemson NCAA resume

Record: 17-4

KPI: 33

SOR (Strength of record): 33

BPI: 49

KenPom: 58

Sagarin: 45

NET: 56

Record vs. NET Q1: 2-2

NET SOS: 156

NON-CON SOS: 339

Road/neutral record: 5-4