Surging Clemson Eyeing Top-Four Seed in ACC Tournament
It's undeniable that the Clemson basketball team learned from its mistakes after the first COVID-19 pause of the season.
The Tigers have now won five in a row, including two since their latest pandemic hiatus, and after Saturday's win over Miami, Clemson sits fifth in the ACC standings at 9-5 (15-5 overall) and are in control of their own destiny with two games remaining.
Clemson currently ranks as a sixth seed in ESPN's Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology, and if Brad Brownell's team can win its last two games of the regular season this week and make a run in the ACC tournament, they could see themselves as high as a top-four NCAA seed on Selection Sunday.
Clemson's schedule throughout the first half of the season saw them facing a test virtually every week; but the Tigers now have the most favorable road to a top-four finish of any of their competition.
Even with one of the easier roads to finish out the season, Brownell, like most coaches, wants the Tigers to focus one game at a time.
"Well I mean obviously, the best part about (getting a double-bye) is that it means you've won the rest of your games probably," Brownell said. "And that means we would be 11-5 and 17-5 or something and you know we'd be putting ourselves in a great position. We're trying to win every game."
The Syracuse Orange await the Tigers in their next matchup on Wednesday, and Clemson will finish out its regular season in a makeup game against Pittsburgh on Saturday.
The Tigers can focus one game at a time, but Brownell knows his guys have the opportunity to make a special run this year.
"You know, we certainly have talked to our guys about (getting the double-bye)," Brownell said. "About a week ago we started talking about how we have an opportunity to make a strong finish and us, along with a lot of other teams, are all in a position to maybe make a chance to make a run at the top-four seed."
Louisville sits in fourth place directly above the Tigers at 8-4 in ACC play, and the Cardinals take a trip to face 16th-ranked Virgina Tech on Wednesday and conclude their regular season at home against No. 15 Virginia.
If Louisville beats beat Virginia Tech, a loss will drop the Hokies equal with the Tigers and North Carolina at 9-5 in the ACC, but will see VT above Clemson in the standings due to the Tigers' loss in the matchup back in December.
Clemson is in a similar situation above North Carolina, and if the Tarheels and Tigers both win out, Clemson holds the tiebreaker between the two. UNC will face Syracuse on Monday, only two days before the Orange turn around and play Clemson, and the Heels play Duke to finish the year in a matchup that's hard to predict.
Georgia Tech remains in the hunt at 9-6 but will need help in the way of losses if they want a chance at resting for the first two rounds of the ACC tournament.
Brad Brownell is searching for only his second top-four ACC finish, with the first coming during the 2017-2018 campaign.
"That would be great going into a tournament, but it's not something that we talk about every day," Brownell said. "We're just trying to prepare for the next team, win the next game and kind of let most of that stuff take care of itself. NCAA Tournament bids and high seeds and finishes...we talk about it in general terms a little bit but for the most part it's, 'What do we got to do today?'"
The Tigers' next game against Syracuse on Wednesday is scheduled for a 5 p.m. tipoff and will be televised on the ACC Network.
