Analysts Make Bold Claim About Clemson Basketball's NCAA Tournament Ceiling

The Clemson Tigers Men's Basketball team has been off to a fantastic start to the season, but how long can they keep it going?

ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf recently re-ranked all of the college basketball teams they believe to be vying for spots in the NCAA tournament based on their potential to make a run in March.

While the Tigers seem favored to make it back to the tourney for a second year in a row, they aren't expected to go very far.

Clemson was included in the fourth-tier, labeled "can win a tournament game."

"For some of these squads, a tournament win would be a high mark, considering preseason projections. For others, it would feel like a disappointment," said Medcalf.

Winning just a single game would certainly be considered disappointing, given they made it to the Elite Eight last season.

This team has a chance to finish the regular season in a better spot than they did last year. That doesn't mean they will do better in the tournament, but it does show that they should not be underestimated.

As of right now, the Tigers have a 13-4 overall record and a 5-1 record in conference play.

Through 17 games last season, they were sitting at 12-5. The conference record, however, was just 1-4, but their slow start in ACC play turned into an above .500 record by the end of the year.

Senior guard Chase Hunter's breakout has been a large reason for their success. He is by far their most valuable player on offense.

Hunter has been at Clemson for six campaigns now. He has started for the last three, but has seen a big jump in productivity this year.

The Georgia native is currently averaging 17.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. The most impressive part, though, is that he is doing so while shooting 50.2% from the field.

He leads the ACC with 44.8% from deep on 5.6 shots per game.

With a guard that can score and shoot like that, anything is possible in March.