Bracket update: While in ACC middle mess, Clemson's NCAAs resume still solid |
While Clemson is in the middle of the pack in the ACC,
Brad Brownell's Tigers are in good standing with the metrics tracked for NCAA Tournament teams.
Clemson is only one spot lower in the NCAA's NET metric than last Thursday, at No. 27 now, despite Saturday's one-point home loss to NC State. The Tigers are in a jumbled mess for ACC Tournament seeding over the final three weeks of the regular season, however. Clemson, at 7-7 in league play, is currently in the middle as a 7-seed for the DC conference tournament, with three teams ahead at 8-6 in ACC action (Pitt, NC State and Wake Forest) and four more teams tied or within a game below it (Florida State 7-7; Syracuse 7-8; Boston College and Virginia Tech 6-8). The Tigers are eliminated from an ACC 3-seed or better and has all that competition for a double-bye No. 4 seed, facing Florida State Saturday (7:45 p.m./TheCW), Pitt next week at home (February 27), Syracuse at home in March (March 5) and rounding out the conference slate at Wake Forest (March 9). Regarding NCAA resume, the Tigers have four NET Quadrant 1 wins -- two road Top 10 in those -- and are one of 20 teams in the Top 36 to have at least four Q1 wins. Clemson has managed 17 wins total against the No. 9-ranked strength of schedule. CBS Sports dropped Clemson one spot to a projected 6-seed on Monday, facing Grand Canyon in a Pittsburgh pod. ESPN's Joe Lunardi hasn't released a full updated bracket, but he had Clemson as a 5-seed late on Saturday after the NC State result. The NC State defeat is just inside the qualification for a Q2 loss currently, with the Wolfpack at No. 75 (Q2 is NET spots 31-75 for home games). The lone Q3 loss is the home OT 3-point defeat to Georgia Tech, and the 7 p.m. tip Wednesday at Georgia Tech is also a Q3 game (ACCN). The Tigers have also possibly helped maintain a Top 30 NET by the series of close defeats lately, with one-point deficits to No. 17 Duke, No. 41 Virginia and NC State. Clemson NCAA Tournament profile Record: 17-8 Road/neutral record: 8-4 Strength of schedule: 9 Record vs. NET Quadrant 1: 4-3 (Wins: 85-77 at No. 5 Alabama; 80-76 at No. 9 UNC; 74-66 versus No. 36 TCU; 79-70 at No. 47 Pitt) Quadrant 3/4 losses: 1 (93-90 to No. 141 GT at home) Result-based metric average: 19.5 Predictive metric average rank: 28.5 NET ranking: 27 Non-conference record: 10-1 (NET rankings and other metrics per WarrenNolan.com)
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