Clemson Tigers Men’s Basketball Team Makes Much Deserved Power Rankings Appearance

The Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team has been on a mission to prove their legitimacy throughout the season.

After advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, they entered this campaign as one of the teams expected to fight for an at-large bid amongst other bubble contenders.

They have been working tirelessly to prove they are above that tier all year.

In their non-conference schedule, they went 8-3.

That includes an impressive victory over the then-No. 4 ranked Kentucky Wildcats at Littlejohn Coliseum. A home loss to the Memphis Tigers doesn’t look as damaging any longer, and their other losses were true road games against the Boise State Broncos and South Carolina Gamecocks.

Those back-to-back losses dropped them out of the AP Top 25, and somewhat surprisingly, they remained unranked for seven consecutive weeks despite playing at a high level during ACC play.

That was, until they pulled off another win against a top-five team, defeating the No. 4 ranked Duke Blue Devils at home to get back to No. 23 in the rankings.

They didn’t rest on their laurels after the major victory, as they destroyed the North Carolina Tar Heels in their first game as a ranked team in nearly two months.

Those two victories have helped Clemson move off the bubble, and they are now considered a lock for the 2025 NCAA Tournament by most metrics.

It also helped push them into the top 25 of the power rankings put together by Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

“Brad Brownell's team has now won eight of its past nine games, with the lone loss coming in three overtimes to Georgia Tech. The Tigers' only other loss since mid-December was on the road at Louisville. Their metrics are consistently solid across the board, and they are now 9-4 against Quadrants 1 and 2. It's an incredibly sound résumé,” Borzello wrote.

With a 20-5 overall record and 11-2 mark in conference, the Tigers have done a wonderful job solidfiyng their standing as one of the better teams in the country.

The job is not yet done, however, as four of their final six games will be played on the road.

Only one of their final six opponents, the SMU Mustangs, currently have a winning record in the ACC.

The Tigers have to be sure to not underestimate any of their opponents, as losses outside of the top two quadrants would really hurt their NCAA Tournament outlook.

Clemson certainly wants to stay in at least the six-seed line with a legitimate chance to move up if they run the table and advance deep in the ACC Tournament in March.

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