Bracketology update: Tigers see NET surge, experts disagree on Clemson projections

ESPN has Clemson as its last team in the NCAA Tournament field still going to Louisville.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Fri Feb 17 10:41:11 GMT-04:00 2023

With conference tournaments on the horizon, Clemson men’s basketball heads to Louisville Saturday (7 p.m./ACCN) in as precarious a spot as can be for NCAA Tournament hopes, but Wednesday’s emphatic blowout has Brad Brownell’s Tigers still in the mix.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi kept Clemson as the ‘last team in’ in his NCAA Tournament field, which would set up a First Four matchup in Dayton to start the Big Dance. Elsewhere, CBS Sports projects Clemson on the outside-looking in.

In the NCAA’s NET resume ranking, the Tigers vaulted 14 spots after the 40-point win over Florida State and settled a couple places lower at No. 66 going into the weekend.

With that as an example, an impressive win at last-place Louisville could move the ranking up quite a bit more, but as a Quadrant 4 game, it does not move the needle on upper-tier NET Quadrant wins, where the Tigers stand at 2-4 against Q1 and 5-0 versus Q2.

Judging versus a couple more bubble examples, Wisconsin is seen as one of the last teams in the projected field by both ESPN and CBS and the Badgers have a 5-6 record against Q1 opponents and 4-4 against Q2 with a 33rd-ranked strength of schedule and a 110th-best non-conference strength of schedule. UNC is a team the sites disagree with one call as a last team in and another as a last team out – and they feature an 0-9 record against Q1 opponents but a 7-1 mark versus Q2 against the No. 9 strength of schedule and non-conference strength of schedule.

Despite a school record for conference wins already, Clemson is fighting uphill against a 343rd-ranked non-conference slate, which it had two Q4 losses in as well, and that likely means a very strong finish to the conference season and some success in Greensboro’s ACC Tournament could be needed. The next Q1 win opportunity comes next Saturday at NC State, which is seen as comfortably in the NCAA field currently with a No. 38 NET/6-7 record vs. Q1-Q2/No. 78 SOS-No. 250 non-con SOS.

Clemson NCAA Tournament profile

Record: 19-7

KPI: 55

SOR (Strength of record): 55

BPI: 57

KenPom: 73

Sagarin: 57

NET: 66

Record vs. NET Q1: 2-4 (wins over No. 48 Pitt and No. 68 Virginia Tech on the road)

Q4 losses: 2 (by two at No. 256 South Carolina, by 18 in neutral site game with No. 264 Loyola-Chicago)

NET SOS: 123

NON-CON SOS: 343