Why Clemson's Side of ACC Tournament is Favorable For March Madness Seeding

Saturday marked the final day of the regular season in the ACC, and the Clemson Tigers now know where they will end up next week in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, there’s plenty of opportunity to boost their resume before Selection Sunday next week.

Following their win over Georgia Tech at home this past weekend, Clemson is the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament going into next week. The seed gives it a bye on Tuesday, meaning the Tigers’ first game will be on Wednesday night against a possible two teams that will play the night before.

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Head coach Brad Brownell’s group was in the driver’s seat for a double-bye for a majority of the conference campaign, at one point sharing a first-place spot with the Duke Blue Devils on Feb. 7. Then, the Tigers lost four of their final six games to have them playing on Wednesday to open the postseason.

Clemson will play the winner of the No.12/13 game, which will be between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the program suffered a loss against both of those teams during their four-game losing streak in February.

If the Tigers win that game, they would play No. 4-seeded North Carolina, which defeated them in Chapel Hill earlier in the week. The most notable storyline of this game is that the Tar Heels will not have freshman superstar Caleb Wilson, who broke his right thumb ahead of the matchup against Duke on Saturday.

Brownell would have a trio of Duke, Florida State or California if the Tigers get past both of those opponents, but it would most likely end up being the Blue Devils, the current No. 1 team in the country.

So, why is it favorable?

Clemson has an opportunity to erase wins over opponents that it has fallen to over the months of February and March. Its NET is 36th in the country, but a second-round win against either the Hokies or Demon Deacons will take away one of the worst losses the Tigers have seen all year.

North Carolina, 23rd in the NET, would be a Quad 1 win if Clemson gets that far. A win like that would help move the team up, potentially a seed.

And that seed movement is the difference of seeing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are currently a No. 8 seed in bracket projections, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. A win in the opening round would put them against Arizona, a 29-2 team.

A strong showing in the ACC Tournament and Clemson could bump it to a No. 7 seed, potentially higher if the Tigers are able to run the table and play into the weekend. That would be a tall task, seeing teams like Duke and North Carolina, but it would leave the selection committee with a late riser that could be a sleeper in the tournament.

All focus will be on Virginia Tech or Wake Forest, however, until then. All it takes is a hot shooting day once again for Clemson to be on the ropes of another potential upset against either of those teams.

Brownell said that the advantage will be in how their next opponent will already have a game played under its belt, meaning the Tigers can’t come out flat.

“The challenge in those things, the first game is like, the other teams won a game, so they’re used to the environment and sometimes building momentum, and you don’t,” he said after the win over Georgia Tech. “We had to deal with it last year with SMU.

For the veterans of the group, like Dillon Hunter and RJ Godfrey, that’s something they will not look to do. After losing to Boston College in the ACC Tournament in Clemson’s first game two seasons ago, the duo is looking to make a run instead of getting upset again.

“I feel like even, you know, obviously we want to win the ACC Tournament, so we’ve got to put the work in tomorrow, Monday to get prepared for it,” Godfrey said after the game on Saturday, “but we just got to be consistent in our work and buy into the gameplan that the staff makes for us.”