Where Selection Sunday NCAA Tournament projections have Clemson

Clemson could play as close as Charlotte but with a tougher road out of the first weekend.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Sun Mar 17 12:05:57 GMT-04:00 2024

While the hopes of a higher seed and a potentially easier first-round matchup are gone, there is a chance Clemson could play closer to home in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Going into Sunday’s NCAA Tournament selections (6 p.m./CBS), the Tigers are pegged by ESPN for a Charlotte pod as a 7-seed and facing Colorado State, with Tennessee as the top seed on the weekend (a No. 2) facing St. Peter’s within the Midwest Region (Detroit).

At CBS Sports, Clemson is picked as an 8-seed in the Memphis pod, facing Northwestern and opposite No. 1 Houston and St. Peter’s in the South Region (Dallas).

According to the BracketMatrix average, Clemson is pegged as a 7-seed.

Going into Sunday’s action, Clemson’s NET ranking went up one to No. 35, with a strong five wins versus NET Quadrant 1 opponents – two in the Top 10 (No. 8 UNC and No. 9 Alabama) and three overall in the upper tier of those Q1 wins (victory at No. 40 Pitt also). Clemson had zero upper tier Q1 wins last year.

Another difference from Clemson’s failed 2022-23 bid is the number of bad losses—two in Quadrant 4 and four total in the Q3/Q4 area in 2023 compared to just one Quadrant 3 loss this campaign (No. 127 Georgia Tech). The overall strength of schedule is vastly different as well, with a No. 23 ranking this year compared to a No. 132 total SOS last season.

Clemson last played in the NCAA Tournament in the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign, where all the games were contained to Indiana. The 7th-seeded Tigers fell 60-56 to 10-seed Rutgers in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The previous appearance in 2017-18 was a Sweet 16 run.

The Tigers first made the NCAA Tournament in 1979-80 with 13 total tries going into 2024, with three coming in the Brad Brownell era to this point. The closest regional pod near Clemson’s campus for the Tigers was Atlanta in the 1987 season.

Clemson NCAA Tournament resume

Record: 21-11

Road/neutral record: 9-7

Strength of schedule: 23

Record vs. NET Quadrant 1: 5-4 (Wins: 80-76 at No. 8 UNC; 85-77 at No. 9 Alabama; 85-68 versus No. 27 Boise State at home; 74-66 versus No. 42 TCU at neutral site; 79-70 at No. 40 Pitt)

Quadrant 3/4 losses: 1 (93-90 to No. 127 GT at home)

Result-based metric average: 26

Predictive metric average rank: 31.5

NET ranking: 35

Non-conference record: 10-1

(Metrics per WarrenNolan.com)